Geotechnical Characterization and Random Field Modeling of Desiccated Clay

AbstractAn extensive set of in situ and laboratory test data is presented for a footing load test site east of Houston, Texas, in desiccated Beaumont clay. The in situ test program included standard and cone penetration tests (CPTs), the latter of which was selected for statistical analysis to produce vertical and horizontal random field model parameters for corrected cone tip resistance. Given the relatively high sampling frequency of the cone tip resistance in the vertical direction, the vertical random field model parameters were determined using the modified Bartlett’s test statistic with fitted autocorrelation models subject to a strict fitting criterion. Horizontal random field model parameters were generated by collapsing the two-dimensional distribution of the CPTs to a one-dimensional representation and by using less stringent evaluation of the autocorrelation. The results of this study indicate that Beaumont clay exhibits greater inherent spatial variability than previously reported at other cla...

[1]  Charles C. Ladd,et al.  New design procedure for stability of soft clays , 1974 .

[2]  Charles C. Ladd,et al.  Stability Evaluation during Staged Construction , 1991 .

[3]  Gregory B. Baecher,et al.  Estimating Autocovariance of In‐Situ Soil Properties , 1993 .

[4]  Armin W. Stuedlein,et al.  Displacement of Spread Footings on Aggregate Pier Reinforced Clay , 2008 .

[5]  Claudio Cherubini,et al.  Large Sample Spacing in Evaluation of Vertical Strength Variability of Clayey Soil , 2002 .

[6]  P. Brooker,et al.  INACCURACIES ASSOCIATED WITH ESTIMATING RANDOM MEASUREMENT ERRORS , 1997 .

[7]  G. Baecher.  Reliability and Statistics in Geotechnical Engineering , 2003 .

[8]  Raymond J. Krizek,et al.  STOCHASTIC FORMULATION OF SOIL PROPERTIES. , 1975 .

[9]  Gordon A. Fenton,et al.  Effect of sample location on the reliability based design of pad foundations , 2007 .

[10]  Rachel Lomax.  Stability and Statistics , 2005 .

[11]  Steven L. Kramer,et al.  Reliability of Spread Footing Performance in Desiccated Clay , 2012 .

[12]  Kok-Kwang Phoon,et al.  Identification of statistically homogeneous soil layers using modified Bartlett statistics , 2003 .

[13]  W. C. Krumbein,et al.  An introduction to statistical models in geology , 1965 .

[14]  Charles C. Ladd,et al.  Engineering Properties of Boston Blue Clay from Special Testing Program , 1999 .

[15]  T. Berre,et al.  Shear strength of normally consolidated clays , 1973 .

[16]  Gordon A. Fenton,et al.  Estimation for Stochastic Soil Models , 1999 .

[17]  Tom Lunne,et al.  SAMPLE DISTURBANCE EFFECTS IN SOFT LOW PLASTIC NORWEGIAN CLAY , 1997 .

[18]  Vadlamani Ravi,et al.  Statistical modelling of spatial variability of undrained strength , 1992 .

[19]  Mark B. Jaksa,et al.  Closure to “Inaccuracies Associated with Estimating Random Measurement Errors” by Mark B. Jaksa, Peter I. Brooker, and William S. Kaggwa , 1999 .

[20]  M. Jaksa.  The influence of spatial variability on the geotechnical design properties of a stiff, overconsolidated clay. , 1995 .

[21]  K. Phoon,et al.  Characterization of Geotechnical Variability , 1999 .

[22]  Kok-Kwang Phoon,et al.  Geostatistical analysis of cone penetration test (CPT) sounding using the modified Bartlett test , 2004 .

[23]  Michael W. O'Neill,et al.  Geotechnical Characterization of Desiccated Clay , 1983 .

[24]  Erik H. Vanmarcke,et al.  Random Fields: Analysis and Synthesis. , 1985 .

[25]  G. Fenton.  Random Field Modeling of CPT Data , 2000 .

[26]  S. Lacasse,et al.  Uncertainties in characterising soil properties , 1996 .

[27]  E. Vanmarcke.  Probabilistic Modeling of Soil Profiles , 1977 .

[28]  Erik H. Vanmarcke.  Probabilistic Characterization of Soil Profiles , 1978 .

[29]  Ken Been,et al.  WORK AS A CRITERION FOR DETERMINING IN SITU AND YIELD STRESSES IN CLAYS: REPLY , 1987 .

[30]  Michael W. O'Neill,et al.  Spatial Variability of CPT Parameters at University of Houston NGES , 2014 .

[31]  Bruce Bowerman.  Time series and forecasting , 1979 .

[32]  Armin W. Stuedlein,et al.  Random Field Model Parameters for Columbia River Silt , 2011 .

[33]  Kok-Kwang Phoon,et al.  Reliability-Based Design of Foundations for Transmission Line Structures , 2006 .

[34]  Michael W. O'Neill,et al.  ENGINEERING PROPERTIES OF OVERCONSOLIDATED PLEISTOCENE SOILS OF TEXAS GULF COAST , 1995 .

[35]  Michael W. O'Neill.  National Geotechnical Experimentation Site: University of Houston , 2014 .

[36]  Kok-Kwang Phoon,et al.  Random field characterisation of stress-normalised cone penetration testing parameters , 2005 .