COMPRESSIBILITY RELATIONS FOR PEAT AND ORGANIC SOIL

A new technique is formulated to predict the ultimate settlement (prim ary and secondary) of normally consolidated organic soils on the basis of the organic content. Data from a large number of oedometer tests o n samples collected from organic soil deposits in Central Florida exhi bit a definitive relationship of ultimate settlement versus organic co ntent. These laboratory test results are analyzed using the Gibson and Lo rheological model to develop expressions for primary and secondary compressibilities in terms of organic content and consolidation press ure. It is shown how the compressibility relations predicted by the au thors' approach concur with extensive data collected by other research ers. The usefulness of the authors' analytical relations is displayed by showing how the expected ultimate settlement of an organic soil sub jected to a given pressure increase can be computed readily by using t hem.