JANBUs SOLUTIONS FOR

MODULUS REPRESENTATION AND

CONSOLIDATION OF SOILS

Arnfinn Emdal, Norwegian University of Science and Technology,

Trondheim, Norway

Written at Utah State University, October 1999

Lecture notes
Reduced version for:
M.Sc. HPD

TABLE OF CONTENTS

BACKGROUND

SETTLEMENT CALCULATIONS

LABORATORY TEST RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION

3.1

Oedometer curve plotting.

3.2

Load stepping in the oedometer test

MODULUS AND STRESS DEPENDENCY

4.1

What is relevant?

4.2

Preconsolidation pressure pc

4.3

Oedometer and modulus curves for various soils

DERIVATION OF STRESS AND STRAIN FUNCTIONS FOR THREE SOIL TYPES 8

5.1

General

5.2

Constant modulus (a=1)

5.3

Granular soils (a=0.5, chosen)

5.4

Clays (a=0)

A FEW EXAMPLES

11
12

6.1

Wide surface load primary consolidation settlement

12

6.2

Ground water withdrawal in sand.

13

6.3

Example from Dunn, Anderson and Kiefer

14

LOADING AND UNLOADING

15

JANBUs SOLUTIONS FOR MODULUS REPRESENTATION AND

CONSOLIDATION OF SOILS
Arnfinn Emdal, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

Written at Utah State University, September 1999

1 Background
Janbus modulus concept aims at being an engineers tool for prediction of deformations of soil
subjected to external load, typically to find settlements as a function of surcharge on soil surface or
from ground water drawdown. More specific to find the effect of any change in effective stresses
whatever the reason for the change. Further, the stress dependency of the soil stiffness is clearly
exposed, as the analysis always goes through the estimation of a modulus [Pa] and its variation, the
calculation of strains [], including plotting these versus depth, and finally estimating the settlement
contribution from the various soil strata.
The approach has two advantages:
1) The intermediate step of estimating the modulus vs effective stress-relation displays the best
knowledge of the soils preconsolidation, and also how the specific soil behaves compared to what is
implicit in the model.
2) Displaying the strain profile with depth, elucidates where the strain appears in the soil, and its
distribution with depth. The latter has clear impact on the consolidation time, as strains deepseated in
the soil requires longer consolidation time than shallow strains do.
The Norwegian soils are dominated by clays in the lower regions of the country, in the areas below
the marine level. The clays may be very soft and normally consolidated, but may also be strongly
overconsolidated due to the presence of the ice sheet that in Scandinavia withdrew appr. 10000 years
ago. In many areas, large sand and silt deposits can be found above the clay, with significant variations
in density and relative porosity. (The Lake Bonneville sediments may have large similarities with the
Norwegian soils except for the quick clay phenomenon.)
The development of Janbus concept was undertaken in the early 60ies, and published. A full
description is in Janbus book (in Norwegian) (1970). Here a compact review of the concept will be
given.

2 Settlement calculations

Figure 1 Principle sketch of settlement calculation

A simplified description of settlement calculation

For a soil element, and a soil profile, the process of strain evaluation and settlement becomes:
1) Find initial vertical stress
Using the best knowledge of the stress distribution
versus depth.

2) Determine total stress increase from external load q:

After long time: u 0 '= , i.e. at the
end of the primary consolidation.

' =

3) Onedimensional confined modulus, M:

Found from the oedometer test.

d' = M d

4) Strain in the element from ' becomes:

0 ' + '

0'

5) The settlement contribution from the element:

d = dz

6) Total settlement:

= dz

In the following the focus will be on the stiffness formulation.

d '
M

3 Laboratory test results and interpretation

3.1

Oedometer curve plotting.

From the textbook of Dunn, Anderson and Kiefer an example is taken to show how the test results can
be presented. The incremental values of effective stress (d) and strain (d) is computed, and the
relation M= d/d is found.
Table 1 Oedeometer results. Example from Dunn, Anderson and Kiefer. Page 146.
Effective
stress on
each load
step

Strain at
end of
each load
step

Log(effecti Strain at
Change in
ve stress) end of load stress
step
between
load steps
n and n-1
[]
[]
[]
0 #NUM!
0
0.0025 1.079181
0.0025
12
0.003 1.380211
0.003
12
0.004 1.681241
0.004
24
0.005 1.982271
0.005
48
0.0125 2.283301
0.0125
96
0.0355 2.584331
0.0355
192
0.082 2.885361
0.082
384
0.1295 3.186391
0.1295
768

[kPa]
0
12
24
48
96
192
384
768
1536

Change in
strain between
load steps n
and n-1
[]

Effective Modulus
stress
value for
plotting
of M
[kPa]
[kpa]

0.0025
0.0005
0.001
0.001
0.0075
0.023
0.0465
0.0475

6
18
36
72
144
288
576
1152

4800
24000
24000
48000
12800
8347
8258
16168

The oedometer result is plotted in effective stress versus strain (:) in arithmetic scale. The e:logp,
or :logp which is commonly used represents the same data, but may tend to hide some of the
information in the results while other information clearly is shown, the logarithmic strain function for
clays is an example of this.

log-stress

stress

500

1000

1500

2000
0

0.02

0.02

0.04

0.04

0.06

0.06

strain

strain

0
0

0.08

0.08

0.1

0.1

0.12

0.12

0.14

0.14

(a)
Figure 2 Oedometer curve in (a) arithmetic scale and (b) in logarithmic scale

(b)

The derivative of the oedometer curve directly gives the tangent modulus (oedometer modulus or
confined modulus, M) of the soil, at the actual stress level. Hence, by plotting the derived M-values
versus , a stress dependent soil stiffness is found.
The drawing clearly shows
the difference in stiffness in
the overconsolidated area
and in the normally
consolidated area. It also
shows that a stiffness in OCarea from this test is very
hard to interprete. The slope
inclination in the OC-range in
the log-scale does hide this
fact.

60000
50000

Modulus

40000
30000
20000

Modulus number m = slope

of NC-line. Here, m = 14.

10000
0
0

500

1500

1000
stress

This corresponds with a Cvalue of 0.16 (log-scale), as

given in Dunn, Anderson,
Kiefer.

Figure 3 Constrained modulus, M=d/d, versus effective stress, . All values in kPa.

A closer look at the oedometer curve shows that the stress-strain development in the low stress range
is rather linear, meaning that in this range the soil stiffness is constant, ot close to constant.

stress
0
0
0.002

strain

0.004
0.006

50

100

150

200

250

This closeup of the

low stress part of the
curve shows a
normal behavior for
an oedometer test.
The initial load steps
are very soft,
whereas the
stiffness below pc is
close to constant.

0.008
0.01
0.012

Here this stiffness

called MOC =
250/(.009-.0022)=
37,000 kPa.

0.014

Figure 4 Close up of the low stress range of the oedometer curve. All stress values in kPa.

As every settlement problem deals with soil at various depths, the use of stress dependent moduli is
important. Again, the logarithmic strain function from conventional analyses of settlements in clay
takes care of this.
These two charts (:) and (M:) is Norwegian standard for oedometer presentation, and is taken
into use also other places in Europe. From these one can find preconsolidation pressure pc (or range
of), the stiffness of the material in overconsolidated stress range and for stresses above pc and,
unloading stiffness (if unloading-reloading is done during the test) may be found, a parameter which is
important to know in analyses including e.g. excavations/unloading. The relation between the loading
stiffness and unloading stiffness is often used in analysis software. In stiff soils, the unloading
modulus may take very large values. An example from oedometer tests on sand (Grande/Schantz,
Germany shows this. In clays, MOC 3 to 10 times the M at pc may be found.
3.2

Load stepping in the oedometer test

The general practice in Norway differs little from other countries, but the time on each loading step is
lower, compared with the commonly used 24 hour practice. For clays the load step time is usually in
the range 30 to 60 minutes. A consolidation test is therefore completed in one working day. The aim is
to ensure completion of the primary consolidation before the next step is started, and this is normally
assessed during the first loadsteps of the test, by use of Taylor-construction.
There will undoubtedly also occur secondary consolidation during each load step. The amount of
secondary consolidation strains generated during the test may be discussed, but, as it is impossible to
avoid secondary effects, one choose to stay at the 60 minute line as well as at the 24 hour line in a elogp-diagram with creep-curves present, see Bjerrums diagram. The danger of this may be an erratic
estimation of the preconsolidation pressure, this is discussed in the Chapter on Time dependency.

4 Modulus and stress dependency

4.1

What is relevant?

Settlements due to presence of clay are inevitable unless the design aims at a fully compensated
situation. In magnitude, the settlements in clay, and the uncertainties connected to these are usually
much larger than what is experienced from strains in sands and overconsolidated material.
Nevertheless, the importance of possible deformations will always be given by the involved structures,
not by the soil, and stiffness description of sands and OC-clays are therefore also important.
4.2

Preconsolidation pressure pc

The overconsolidation ratio (OCR) is frequently used, and it is normal to relate other parameters to
OCR. OCR does indicate relatively how far below pc the insitu effective stress po is, but it does not
really indicate how the material should be expected to behave. For a heavily overconsolidated soil, the
OCR in upper area is very large, (po is small), and decreasing whith depth (po increases). However,
the reason to believe that the behaviour of the soil will be very different in the various depths is little.
The importance is in knowing when the effective stress condition passes pc. This is valid for both
sands and clay, as sand also shows clear memory from earlier preconsolidation stresses.
Determination of pc in sand is not done in the laboratory, as all native soil structure disappears
when the sand is sampled. To find this parameter, insitu measurements are needed, as e.g. with
screwplate or similar tools. Still it will be a very hard problem to solve. The best way to estimate this
is probably from assessment of the geology of the area.

4.3

Oedometer and modulus curves for various soils

The figure shows an assembly of results from various soft and stiff soils. (leire=clay)

Figure 5 Oedometer tests on soil with large variation in stiffness.

Grossly the modulus curves could be divided in three categories, constant, parabolic, and linear, but
with large variation in the inclination of the curves for sand and clay.
Janbu chose a general
formulation to be able to
model the various modulus
curves that was seen in the
results. The stress is made
dimensionless by division
with athmospheric pressure.

M-function with m =1 for

varying stress exponent a
1000
900
800
1

700

0.5

600

0.25

500

400

-0.5

300

-1

200
100
0
0

Effective stress/atm.stress

Figure 6 Effect of stress exponent.

5 Derivation of stress and strain functions for three soil types

5.1

General

The previous chapter states that the soil behavior may grossly be divided in three categories.
1) Constant stiffness with effective stress, valid for any material that behaves like this, typical for
overconsolidated clays.
2) Linearly increasing with effective stress. Typical for normally consolidated clays, i.e. clays in
the stress range above pc.
3) Parabolic increase with effective stress. Valid for sands and coarse silts, or any granular
material.
Janbus general equation for confined modulus is
'
M = m a
a

(1 a )

where m is the modulus number, is the actual effective stress level, a is the stress equivalent to
one atmosphere (in SI: 100000kPa), and a is called the stress exponent.
(By choosing the correct value for a one can express the modulus equation in ones own preferred
units.)
If a soil element is exposed to a change from stress condition 0 to stress condition =0+ ,
one can derive the following expression for the strain that this stress increment will give:

M=

d =

'
d '
= m a
d
a
1
m a

'

a

(1 a )

( a 1)

d '

'
'
1

m a 0 ' a

( a 1)

d '
'

5.2

1
m a

' a
a
a a
0'

a
a
1 ' 0 '


am a a

Constant modulus (a=1)

The stress exponent a=1 gives constant stiffness

M = m a ,
and the strain

1 ' 0 ' ' '

=
m a a m a
M .

not very surprisingly, and suites OC-materials.

5.3

Granular soils (a=0.5, chosen)

Tests on sand show that in most cases a stress exponent close to 0.5 will represent the stress-straincurve quite well. The stiffness expression becomes
'
M = m a
a

(1 0.5 )

= m a ' ,

and the strain

0 '
2 '
.

m a
a

10

Table 2 Typical modulus numbers for sand

Material type:
Loose, fine sand
Medium dense sand
Dense, coarse

Modulus
number
m < 150
150 < m < 250
m > 250

Modulus numbers and relation to relative porosity and to Ko is shown in the following figures from
Janbu, 1970, on fully saturated (a) and dry (b) sand.

Figure 7 Modulus numbers for sand, from Janbu, 1970

A simple stiffness and strain-evaluation:

A soil element at depth 5m in a medium dense sand, =18kN/m3 ,GW at terrain level can typically
have a start stiffness of 250x(100x5x8)=15,800kPa. A stress increase of e.g. 200kPa will give a new
stiffness of 250x(100x(5x8+200))=38,700kPa. An estimate of the strain from the 200kPa load
increase may be found from taking an average value of these: 200/(15800+38700)/2=0.73%, or by
using the strain equation (2/250)( ((5x8+200)/100)- (5x8)/100)) = 0.73%.
Note!
The square-root-simplification may in certain cases not be satisfying. One may find values for m
and a directly from the laboratory curves by picking a couple of M--pairs and combine to find the
two unknown parameters.

11

5.4

Clays (a=0)

For the normally consolidated clays, a linear idealization is used.

The stiffness expression becomes:
'
M = m a
a

(1 0 )

= m ' ,

and by including the definition of modulus, M=d/d one gets:

d '
= m '
d
1 d '
,
d =
m '
'
1 1
1
'
= d ' = [ln '] 0 '
m 0 ' '
m
M =

and the expression for strain in NC-clay becomes

1 '
.
ln
m 0'

This matches very well with the -logp- representation by using a linear curve in the log-diagram.

= C log

'
.
0'

The relation between m and C is:

1
C
C
.
=
=
m ln 10 2.3
Modulus numbers for NC-clays varies in the range 10-30, and has a strong relation to the water
content w of the soil. This is shown in the following figure.

Figure 8 Modulus number m for clay versus water content w. From Janbu, 1970.

12

6 A few examples
6.1

Wide surface load primary consolidation settlement

The case is simply set as in the figure, with OC-clay on top, typical for a desiccated (dry crust) clay
that can be characterized by constant modulus.
The NC-clay has a modulus number of 17, and is simply expected to have a linear modulus vs
effectives stress relation. The effective stress profile is drawn, and the strain is evaluated at 4 levels.
Settlement from OC-clay: 1.5 cm, from NC-clay: 21 cm.

Figure 9 Simple analysis of surface load on OC-clay above NC-clay

13

6.2

Ground water withdrawal in sand.

14

6.3

Example from Dunn, Anderson and Kiefer

The example from this book regards the effect of ground water drawdown from surface level to depth
15.5m. The soil strata are 25m sand over 9m NC-clay. The clay data are as given in Ch. 3.1, and in the
following a spreadsheet-based calculation of the stresses, strains and settlement is shown.
Stresses [kPa] before
drawdown vs depth [m]
0

200

400

600

Stresses [kPa] after

drawdown vs depth [m]
800

200

400

Change in eff.stress [kPa]

vs depth [m]

600

800

sigtot_0

sigef_0

sigef_final
10

15

15

15

20

20

20

25

25

25

30

30

30

porepressure

40

150

10

eff.stress

100

dsigef

sigtot_final

10

35

50

35

effective stress

35

porepressure

40

40

Figure 10 Example stress profiles with data from Dunn, Anderson and Kiefer.
Total
Final
settlement [m]

Sand

Clay

0.322 0.105 0.217

Total
Final
settlement [m]

Strain[] vs depth[m]
0.02

Clay

Total
Final
settlement [m]

0.280 0.063 0.217

0.02

0.04

10

10

10

15

15

15

Depth

20

20
25

25

30

30

30

35

35

35

40

40

40

(b)

Clay

0.248 0.031 0.217

0.02

0.04

20

25

(a)

Sand

Strain[] vs depth[m]

Strain[] vs depth[m]

0.04

Depth

Depth

Sand

(c)

Figure 11 Strain profiles and surface settlement with modulus numbers in sand msand=150, 250 and 500 in (a), (b)
and (c) respectively.

15

The example simply shows that the strain field in sand is significant if the sand is loose and saturated,
with msand typically in the lower range. In (a), 30% of the settlement would come from the sand. The
more realistic values for the example would perhaps be msand of 250 and more as in (b) and (c).
Note that the settlement due to strain in the clay layer equals exactly the value in the example in the
book. A coincidence maybe

7 Loading and unloading

Loading and unloading of soil is very common. In clays we know that this gives the effect of
preconsolidation, as well as swelling when the load is taken away. For sands, the situation is similar,
and some examples are shown below.
0

50

Stress (kPa)
100
150

50

100

200

250

0
0.005

Strain

0.01
0.015
0.02
0.025
0.03

60000

Modulus (kPa)

50000
40000
30000
20000
10000
0
150

200

250

Stress (kPa)

Figure 12 Oedometer test on sand with loading-reloading cycles. Work by Tom Schantz, Stuttgart, and Lars
Grande, Trondheim.

16

First load cycle

First load cycle

Stress (kPa)
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

80000

0
0.002

70000

Strain

0.004
0.006
0.008

60000

0.01
0.012
50000
M (kPa)

0.014

40000

a)
30000

20000

Comparison with theoretical fit

80000

10000

70000
0

60000

M (kPa)

10

20

30

40

50

60

Stress (kPa)

50000
40000

b)

30000
20000
10000

First load cycle

Stress (kPa)

0
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

10

100

0.008

Stress (kPa)

0.0085

c)

0.009

Figure 13 The first load cycle from the test.

Tom Schantz/Lars Grande.
a) Oedometer curve
b) Modulus curves
c) Theoretical fit to the virgin curve
d) The reloaded oedometer curve in
-logp-diagram.

Strain

0.0095
0.01
0.0105
0.011
0.0115
0.012
0.0125

(d)

The test is performed on sand in the laboratories at the Technical University of Stuttgart. It shows that
the sand repeatedly comes back to a virgin condition. It may not show very clear on the oedometer
curve in Figure 12a), but the development of stiffness in Figure 12b) reveals this fact.
The interpretation of these curves in Janbus modulus concept would be a modulus number of
m=180 and an stress exponent a=0.43 so that the theoretical modulus-curve is

17

'
M = m a
a

(1 a )

'
= 180 100

100

(1 0.43)

The first load cycle from the test is blown up, and studied separately. It has been loaded to a level
of 27kPa before unloading to 4kPa and reloaded to 50kPa.
The modulus show a very stiff unloading, and a less stiff reloading which falls down to a virgin
behaviour at stresses above pc. A fit between the laboratory curve and the theoretical curve is shown.
Finally, a plot of the reloading curve (from 4kPa to 50kPa) is shown in -logp, merely to show the
problem that such a presentation in this case hides the vital information of the preconsolidation
pressure level.
Janbus early work also show some
loading-reloading curves on a low to medium
dense Klaebu sand.
Modulus number m=200, a=0.5.

Figure 14 Loading-reloading curves on sand. Janbu (1970) and (1985).