Stress History Effects on Consolidation and Permeability Behavior of Fine-Grained Soils

Abstract Practical situations wherein the soil is subjected to static stress reversals are many, and in this context, understanding the engineering behavior of soil in the field subjected to such static stress reversals gains importance. The present paper deals with the study of the effect of static cyclic loading on compressibility and permeability behavior of fine-grained soils of different clay mineralogical composition, both in the undisturbed and remolded states. The static stress reversals enable the soils to reach a “near equilibrium state” in terms of volume change, whether the soil is initially in the undisturbed state or in the remolded state. The stress history of a soil has been shown to have definite influence on the coefficient of consolidation and permeability of fine-grained soils. Soil clay mineralogy has been observed to control the nature of variation of the behavior of soils subjected to static stress reversals.