Estimation of some properties of Champlain clays with the Swedish fall cone

Abstract

A large number of laboratory tests, carried out to determine index and physical characteristics of Champlain marine clays, using conventional testing procedures and the Swedish fall cone tests, have led to reliable relationships between the cone penetration and certain characteristics.The purpose of this study has been to establish a rapid method of estimating some index and physical characteristics of this clay. The method described in this paper allows the estimation of clay properties, such as liquid limit, compression index, preconsolidation pressure, undisturbed and remolded shear strength, sensitivity, water content, void ratio, and unit weight, within as little as half an hour and using a single undisturbed specimen. When testing according to conventional procedures, the determination of these characteristics takes several days or even weeks.This paper presents the method of estimation and the procedure used to establish the relationships between the results obtained by conventional methods and those derived using the Swedish fall cone.