Estimation of Horizontal Coefficient of Consolidation for Soft Clay by Flat DMT

Flat DMT를 이용한 연약지반의 수평 압밀계수 산정

The flat Dilatometer test(flat DMT) has been known as an in-situ testing method which is simple and robust to use, and reliable for site stratification and evaluation of soil properties. It was designed and proposed by Marchetti in 1975 to characterize the properties of soils. There are many researches that have been done to evaluate the horizontal coefficient of consolidation from the dissipation test results of flat DMT on normally consolidated and slightly overconsolidated clays. The representative estimation methods of estimating the horizontal consolidation coefficient are DMT-C method which uses a C-reading dissipation curve and DMT-A method which uses a A-reading dissipation curve. This paper represents a comparison analysis of those two methods in obtaining the horizontal coefficients of consolidation. The reference values are also obtained by CPTU and other laboratory tests. The applicability of using flat DMT to characterize the consolidation behavior is also reviewed for two sites. According to the results, DMT-A method is not suitable for silty clays possibly because of the compressibility characteristics. As for the normally consolidated and slightly overconsolidated clays, the results obtained from the two methods are comparable with each other as well as with the laboratory test results.