Abstract
The purpose of this study is to estimate the sample scale effect on consolidation characteristics, permeability and secondary consolidation of an organic soil. Large sized specimens of organic soil, having a diameter of 300mm and a thickness of 100, were prepared for consolidation tests. Specially designed automated large size consolidation apparatus, capable of measuring the ring friction and the horizontal coefficient of consolidation, was used to investigate. Consolidation on large sized specimen is found to provide high quality data without the influence of disturbance and non-homogeneity. Compared to ordinary soils, organic soil was found to possess significantly longer coefficient of consolidation anisotropy between horizontal and vertical directions. It was also found that preloading of the organic soil specimen to 1.5 times the final consolidation pressure would reduce its coefficient of secondary consolidation in normally consolidated region by 10 times.
