Synonyms
Compressibility; Consolidation; Deformation; Settlement; Volume reduction
Definition
Reduction of volume primarily through rearrangement of soil grains in a soil mass from shear and sliding at inter-particle contacts, disruption of particle aggregations, grain crushing, and expulsion of water from the voids of the soil.
Introduction
Soil is a multiphase medium consisting of mineral grains which enclose voids that may be filled with gas, liquid, or a combination of both. For most soils, the gas is air and the liquid is water. When stress is applied to a soil sample, its volume decreases. Loads giving rise to stresses can be due to weight of foundations, superstructure, chemical and moisture environments, and temperature. The effects of stress changes are generally the most important and the most studied. Change in volume of the soil mass may be due to: (a) compression of the solid soil particles, (b) compression of liquid/water and air within the voids, or (c) escape of water...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Adeyeri JB (2015) Technology and practice in geotechnical engineering. Advances in civil and industrial engineering (ACIE) book series. IGI Global Publishers, Hershey
Biot MA (1941) General theory of three-dimensional consolidation. J Appl Phys 12:155–164
Bryant L, Mauldon M, Mitchell JK (2003) Impact of pyrite on properties and behavior of soil and rock. In: Culligan PJ, Einstein HH, Whittle AJ (eds) Proceedings soil and rock America 2003, vol 1. Glückauf, Essen, pp 759–766
Casagrande A (1936) The determination of the preconsolidation load and its practical significance. In: lst international conference on soil mechanics and foundation engineering, Cambridge
Cernica JN (1984) Geotechnical engineering. HRW, New York
Coduto DP, Kitch WA, Yeung MR (2016) Foundation design: principles and practices, 3rd edn. Pearson, New York
Coussy O (2004) Poromechanics. Wiley, Hoboken
Cuccovillo T, Coop MR (1999) On the mechanics of structured sands. Géotechnique 49(6):741–760
Fredlund DG, Rahardjo H, Fredlund MD (2012) Unsaturated soil mechanics in engineering practice. Wiley, Hoboken, p 944
Lambe TW, Whitman RV (1969) Soil mechanics. Wiley, New York
Leroueil S, Magnan J-P, Tavenas F (1990) Embankments on soft clays. Ellis Horwood series in civil engineering (trans: Wood DM). Ellis Horwood, Chichester
Macciotta R (2016) Consolidation. In: Bobrowsky PT, Marker B (eds) Encyclopedia of engineering geology. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12127-7_68-1
McDowell GR, Bolton MD (1998) On the micro-mechanics of crushable aggregates. Géotechnique 48(5):667–679
Meade RH (1964) Removal of water and rearrangement of particles during the compaction of clayey sediments – review. U.S. Geological survey professional paper 497-B. U.S. GPO, Washington, DC
Mitchell JK, Soga K (2005) Fundamentals of soil behavior, 3rd edn. Wiley, Hoboken
Nakata Y, Kato Y, Hyodo M, Hyde AFL, Murata H (2001) One-dimensional compression behaviour of uniformly graded sand related to single particle crushing strength. Soils Found 41(2):39–51
Olson RE, Mesri G (1970) Mechanisms controlling the compressibility of clay. J Soil Mech Found Div, ASCE 96(SM 6):1863–1878
Pestana JM, Whittle AJ (1995) Compression model for cohesionless soils. Géotechnique 45(4):611–631
Sabatini PJ, Bachus RC, Mayne PW, Schneider JA, Zettler TE (2002) Geotechnical engineering circular no. 5. Evaluation of soil and rock properties. Report No. FHWA-IF-02-034
Schiffman RL, Ladd CC, Chen A (1964) The secondary consolidation of clay. Paper presented at the Rheology and Soil Mechanics IUTAM Symposium, Grenoble
Seed HB, Mitchell JK, Chan CK (1962) Swell and swell pressure characteristics of compacted clays. Highw Res Board Bull 313:12–39
Taylor DW (1948) Fundamentals of soil mechanics. Wiley, New York
Terzaghi K (1943) Theoretical soil mechanics. Wiley, New York
Terzaghi K, Peck RB, Mesri G (1996) Soil mechanics in engineering practice, 3rd edn. Wiley, New York
van Olphen H (1977) An introduction to clay colloid chemistry, 2nd edn. Wiley Interscience, New York
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this entry
Cite this entry
Adeyeri, J.B. (2018). Compression. In: Bobrowsky, P.T., Marker, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Engineering Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73568-9_63
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73568-9_63
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-73566-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-73568-9
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences