LABORATORY TESTS ON INTRINSIC COMPRESSION BEHAVIOR OF RECONSTITUTED CLAYS

Research on quantitative evaluation of the compression behavior for reconstituted clays usually provides a reference framework for interpreting the corresponding characteristics of natural sedimentary clays.The intrinsic compression line(ICL) was proposed by Burland in 1990.the void index was introduced for normalizing the compression curves of various reconstituted clays having an initial water content of 1.0~1.5 times(preferably 1.25 times)the liquid limit.the properties of reconstituted clays were also termed ‘intrinsic’ properties since they were inherent to the soil and independent of the natural state.In this paper,extensive oedometer tests are carried out on four different clays.They are reconstituted and extended to 0.7~2.0 times the liquid limits.The test results suggest that the compression behavior for reconstituted clays is in fact not the ‘intrinsic' properties proposed by Burland,which is not only affected by soil liquid limit but also affected by soil initial water content.A modification based on the test data is presented on the expressions of e*100 and C*c defined by Burland.Extensive oedometer test data are also collected on various reconstituted soils with distinct liquid limits and initial water contents to verify the validity and applicability of modified expressions.