Interpretation of odometer test data for natural clays

Abstract

Recently, two alternative approaches have been proposed to determine the yield stress from odometer test data; one is the work per unit volume approach, and the other is the bilogarithmic with the In(1+e)-In p plot or the log (1+e)-log p plot. In this paper by examining these approaches, their advantages and limitations are identified, and their yield stresses are theoretically verified as identical for the odometer. By comparing the advantages and limitations of both approaches, it is observed that the In (1+e)-log p approach can interpret the odometer test data for natural clays, and the defined yield stress is interpreted as being responsible for the critical state of structure collapse. The validity of the In (1+e)-log p approach is verified through systematic analyses on the odometer test data for undisturbed Ariake clays and Shimabara clay. Lastly, the analysis implications are given for some useful parameters based on the odometer test data.