ISSN: 1945-7545
CODEN: GTJODJ
Page Count: 14

Geotechnical Properties of Hackensack Valley Varved Clays of New Jersey

Saxena, SK
Associate professor of civil engineeringMember of ASTM, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Ill

Hedberg, J
Reseach associate and professorProfessormember of ASTM, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass

Ladd, CC
Reseach associate and professorProfessormember of ASTM, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass

Abstract

A special testing program was conduted on 127-mm (5-in.) diameter samples of varved clay from Hackensack Meadows, the site of a glacial lake near Secaucus, New Jersey. The program included constant rate-of-strain consolidation tests, measurement of K₀ versus OCR, permeability tests on cubic samples to determine k_h/k_v, undrained-unconsolidated triaxial compression tests run on specimens cut at various inclinations, K₀ consolidated-undrained direct simple shear tests to establish s_u (σ_vc)^1/2 versus OCR, and K₀ consolidated-undrained triaxial compression and extension tests on normally consolidated samples.

This paper presents the results of the tests and compares the data to that obtained on other varved clays. The basic properties of the Hackensack Valley varved clay are very similar to those for Connecticut Valley varved clays from Amherst and Northhampton, Massachusetts. Two major problems are still unresolved: the in-situ value of k_h/k_v versus that measured in the laboratory, and the value of undrained strength for horizontal loading, s_u(h).

Keywords:
soils, clays, varved clays, soil tests, consolidated-undrained tests, unconsolidated-undrained tests, direct shear tests, triaxial shear tests

Paper ID: GTJ10386J
DOI: 10.1520/GTJ10386J
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