Hollow cylinder tests on natural structured soft clay: effects of sampling and sample preparation
Hollow cylinder tests on natural structured soft clay: effects of sampling and sample preparation
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One of the challenges in the characterization of natural structured soft soils lies in the selection of representative soil specimens for laboratory testing. Sample disturbance as well as the natural soil variability may affect the results of laboratory tests and lead to important discrepancies between in situ and laboratory data. When it comes to Hollow Cylinder (HC) testing, those aspects become even more relevant. The large dimensions of HC specimens prevent the use of conventional sampling techniques (tube samples). This extended abstract presents results of an experimental study aimed at evaluating the effects of sampling and sample preparation on the behaviour of block specimens of Ballina clay tested in the HC apparatus. A brief description of the sampling campaign and the assessment of sample quality, carried out via CT scanning, are presented. An important aspect evaluated in this study is the change in pore water pressure caused while boring the inner cavity, and its potential impact on the stress-strain behaviour of tested samples. Results from HC anisotropic consolidation tests are presented to demonstrate the minimum disturbance of tested specimens when prepared according to the methodology proposed in this study.
Sebastian Mendez Velasquez; Jubert Pineda; Kaiwen Ouyang; George Kouretzis; David M. Potts
International Conference on Advances and Innovations in Soft Soil Engineering (ICAISSE2026)
Field and Laboratory Testing
https://doi.org/10.53243/ICAISSE2026-79
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