Significance of Atterberg limits on compressibility parameters of alluvial deposits – New correlations

Various methods and empirical correlations are available to predict consolidation parameters. Use of empirical correlations for consolidation parameters can not be generalized for all places and all soils. Empirical correlations should be used only after verifying their feasibility for a particular region or type of soils. Consolidation testing is expensive and reliability is poor due to sampling disturbance. Time is required to investigate with more time to finalize the soil report. Normally a soil report excludes the consolidation tests. In such cases empirical correlations are very useful to estimate consolidation settlement of shallow foundations. The test results and datasets containing index and consolidation parameters are used to conduct a statistical study to determine suitable correlations for estimating consolidation response of alluvial soil. This statistical analysis is carried out in order to obtain the most suitable and practically applicable relationships. New correlations are proposed for prediction of compression index and compression ratio using liquid limit, plasticity index, water content, void ratio and porosity (n₀) for alluvial deposits of Surat city and surroundings situated in the Gujarat state of India. Correlations obtained using Atterberg limits having higher value of correlation coefficient. These correlations are use for prediction of compressibility parameters for all zones of Surat city and SUDA (Surat Urban Development Authority) region of South Gujarat in India.