Abstract
Ariake clays have been widely deposited around Ariake Bay in Japan. The basic characteristics of Ariake clays are very soft and sensitive. How to assess quantitatively the quality of soil samples and correct the mechanical properties for sample disturbance is a well-known, but a not well-understood issue in geotechnical engineering. In this study, the undisturbed Ariake clays were deliberately disturbed to various levels of disturbance. A series of consolidation tests were then performed in order to investigate the effect of sample disturbance on the mechanical parameters. A simple index for providing a quantitative measure of the degree of sample disturbance is proposed in this paper. In addition, an approach of correcting the consolidation yield stress and the compression index for sample disturbance is also proposed based on the proposed index of sample disturbance. The existing data available are used to verify further the validity of the proposed method. The application of the proposed method is also discussed for a natural soil deposit.
