An Experimental Study on the Consolidation Characteristics with Loading Rate

재하속도에 따른 압밀특성에 관한 실험적 고찰

The purpose of this study is to establish a proper criterion for the constant rate of loading consolidation(CRLC) test which is a kind of the continuous loading consolidation(CLC) and widely used as alternative methods to the incremental loading consolidation(ILC)test. With those results, the preconsolidation pressure estimated by the CRLC test turned out to be comparatively larger than that of the ILC test, and it is increased in proportion to the applied loading rates. However, the compression index in the CRLC test is less influenced on by the loading rates. The coefficient of consolidation and permeability in the CRLC test are dependent on excess pore pressure ratio mainly. In other words, if the pore pressure ratios are too low, the coefficient of consolidation and permeability become smaller than those of the ILC test. On the other hand, if the excess pore pressure ratios are too high, the coefficient of consolidation and permeability become so larger than those of the ILC test. Therefore, loading rates should be carefully determined to generate proper excess pore pressure ratio inside the soil specimen. From this study, good results are obtained from the CRLC test if the excess pore pressure ratios were in the range of 2.5 to 6.0 %, performed with loading rates between 0.0015 and 0.005 $kgf/cm^2/min$.