A stress path method for computing the settlement of normally consolidated clays is presented. The proposed method introduces the characterization of the stress-strain behavior that eliminates unnecessary experimental cost due to uncertainty in the design stress path. For arbitrary control of the eŠective stress during consolidation, a technique of back-pressure equalization, which enforces the immediate drained condition on the soil specimen without change of the eŠective stress state, was used. To account for nonlinear anisotropic response in computing the consolidation strains, the iteration procedure was designed. For the proposed method, the stress path experiments on the normally consolidated kaolin were conducted. An example illustrating the feasibility of proposed method in precisely calculating the settlement is shown for a circular footing on the clay stratum.
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