Determination of consolidation behaviour of Halic, dredged material by using a seepage-induced consolidation test

Purpose - To establish relationships between effective vertical stress-void ratio and hydraulic conductivity-void ratio on high water content dredged clays, which are then used to predict the field consolidation behavior. Design/methodology/approach - The large strain consolidation model is used for numerical modeling of large-strain self-weight consolidation. Material parameters determined from seepage-induced consolidation tests provided satisfactory predictions of field compression behavior. Findings - It is shown that realistic estimates of self-weight consolidation behavior of dredged sea bottom sediments stored on land can be made by using a seepage-induced consolidation test system and an appropriate consolidation model such as CS2, which is very important in storage capacity design and reclamation planning of such storage areas. Originality/value - In this paper, the findings are presented of an experimental investigation of the consolidation behavior of Golden Horn dredge material using a seepage-induced testing system. The experimentally determined consolidation properties have yielded useful relationships for the variation of void ratio with effective stress and coefficient of permeability with void ratio, and use of these has enabled a realistic prediction of the observed behavior.