Undrained triaxial strength and stress–strain characteristics of a glacial till soil

Abstract

Undrained triaxial compression tests were carried out on reconstituted and nominally undisturbed tubed samples of a lodgement till from the Vale of St. Albans in Hertfordshire, England. The soil is a matrix-dominant, chalky boulder clay of Anglian age with little discernable engineering fabric. Electron microscope observations showed the presence of crystalline calcite in tube samples.The test results were examined within the general framework of critical state soil mechanics using normalizing procedures to take account of the different states and stress histories of the samples. These analyses demonstrate the practical importance of accounting for the current state and stress history in the interpretation of soil test data.The present results form a self-consistent pattern of behaviour. Differences between reconstituted and tubed samples were found only at small strain and may be attributed to cementing in tubed samples, which is broken down during reconstitution and during relatively large straining in recompression and shearing. Key words: boulder clay, cemented soil, critical state, shear strength, soil mechanics, stiffness, till, triaxial test.