Mathematical model for the determination of the pre-consolidation pressure using the graphical method.

It is known that the one-dimensional (1D) compression behavior is commonly represented by the e-logp' curve, which is obtained from the oedometer test. Five numbers of mathematical models were adopted to best fit the experimental data from the consolidation test. It is observed that Fredlund and Xing (1994)'s (FX) model, which is commonly used for the representation of the soil–water characteristic curve (SWCC), gives the best performance in best fitting the experimental data of e-logp' curves. Subsequently, the graphical method is adopted to determine the pre-consolidation pressure (P_c) by adopting FX model. Consequently, the equations are proposed for the determination of the P_c of the soil from the fitting parameters in FX model. The proposed method provides an alternative method for the determination of the P_c. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]