Answer Happy

(d) List four factors that affect the time taken for primary consolidation settlement to occur. [4] (e) A soil profile consists of a clay layer between layers of sand, the water table being in the upper sand layer. Before the construction of a raft foundation for a large reservoir, piezometers were placed in the saturated clay layer. The whole process of filling the reservoir may be approximated to applying rapidly a single pressure increment of 200kPa uniformly throughout the clay layer. One year after filling the reservoir, the piezometers indicated a distribution of excess porewater pressure as indicated in Figure Q-e. Estimate the average degree of consolidation at this time. [5] Figure Q-e :