The Application of Hydraulic Method to Geotechnical Compression Test

The geotechnical consolidation test is used to detect the soil deformation under all levels of vertical load. Consolidation parameters play a vital role in the basal design of the buildings. But the lever consolidometer covers too large area, and needs high labor intensity. The pressure consolidometer is not convenient to find leak, noisy, and is affected by the power supply. We developed the hydraulic consolidation system, which is aid to make consolidation tests of the soil samples. The hydraulic consolidation system is composed of the hydraulic pump used as a pressure source, the hydraulic piston cylinder used as the load transfer device, intelligent instrument and solenoid valve. Through the comparison of the test by three methods, it proved that the test results are identical. The coefficient of variation of the parameters is less than 0.1, while its efficiency is 31.33 times higher than the lever test, 6.86 times higher than the pressure method.