Predictions of the OCR from Piezocone Tests in Quaternary Clays

As indicated by the profile of overconsolidation ratio (OCR), the stress history of a soil deposit is one of the dominant factors that influence the engineering behavior of soils. A commonly used method to obtain the parameter is the laboratory oedometer test, which is of low accuracy and time consuming because of inevitable sample disturbance. These difficulties can be overcome by in situ pizeocone penetration test, which provides continuous measurement of cone resistance, sleeve friction, and pore water pressure induced during the penetration. Though many methods have been proposed to estimate the preconsolidation pressure and overconsolidation ratio of clay deposits, their validity still needs to be proved. In this study, existing empirical methods for interpreting stress history of clays through piezocone tests are briefly reviewed. It is shown that regional correlations are valid. Piezocone tests utilizing a Vertek-Hogentogler CPTU truck that have been completed at different sites in the Jiangsu province of China. Existing correlations are compared with these field test data. It is shown that the correlation based on normalized net tip resistance is pretty accurate for determining the overconsolidation ratio of Quaternary clay deposits.