Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Estimation of the Residual Stress in Clay Sampled from the Field

Abstract

Owayo AA and Ou CY

The objective of this study is to establish a reliable way to determine the residual stress in clay sampled from the field. During saturation in triaxial test, using residual stress as back pressure as opposed to the traditional saturation methods leads to better sample quality. In this research the residual stress within the sample is measured and compared against the one that can be predicted with the help of the equation proposed by Skempton based on the account of change in total stress during sampling. The results do not exhibit any predictable trend, in fact sometimes the prediction is quite good while the rest of the time not good. Thus in the absence of a perfect sample, the use of Skempton’s equation is more reliable.