MECHANICAL-PROPERTIES OF RECONSTITUTED BOTHKENNAR SOIL

The basic behaviour of one-dimensionally normally consolidated and lightly overconsolidated reconstituted Bothkennar soil was investigated in laboratory triaxial stress path tests. The main programme of tests established a state boundary surface, containing critical state lines and one-dimensional and isotropic compression lines, and evaluated the basic material parameters. The compressibility of Bothkennar soil was found to be similar to that for high plasticity clay but the critical state friction angles were comparable with the values normally associated with coarse-grained soils. Additional tests demonstrated that the effect of ageing, over periods up to 200 hours, was to increase the apparent overconsolidation ratio. The results of a small number of tests on intact samples were examined within the basic framework developed for the reconstituted material. They illustrate the importance of accounting for the current states in interpreting the behaviour of intact and reconstituted samples.