Consolidation Analysis by the Extended Taylor Method (ETM)

The Taylor t method is extended for improving the estimation of the end-of-primary (EOP) settlement pδ and coefficient of vertical consolidation vc. The extended Taylor method (ETM) utilizes the same graphical procedure of the conventional Taylor method, but this procedure is repeated twice at any two U values greater than 52.6% instead of the one used in the Taylor method at 90%; U is the average degree of consolidation. The ETM explicitly relates vc to the slope of the initial linear portion of the tδ-t curve as well as the EOP settlement pδ; tδis the settlement at time t during consolidation. The ETM can be applied with a minimum of four consolidation data points for estimating pδ and vc. Two types of EOP settlements are distinguished; firstly, local EOP settlement piδ obtained by matching experimental results to theory at a particular U value; secondly, global EOP settlement pδ obtained by extrapolation using two or more local EOP settlements. The ETM explains the observed differences in vc values estimated by the existing methods in terms of the differences in pδ values obtained by these existing methods. Experimental results are used to validate and compare the extended Taylor method with existing methods.