Dear All,
Its recognised that soil has a stress history and is site specific,
and soil parameters vary with depth, moisture content, pore water
pressure etc. Just looking at the number of classification systems
around it shows the diversity of soils. With the widespread use of
geotechnical finite element (FE) modelling, it is about time to
quantify soil parameters for a selection of typical soil types (e.g.
British Soil Classification System, BSCS, detailed in BS 5930,
1981 which classifies soils from well graded GRAVEL (GW)
through to CLAY of extremely low plasticity (CE) and Peat (Pt)). My
aim is to enable FE users to get a feel for the range and
relationships of soil parameters in order to get a better idea of
typical values if laboratory soil tests are unavailable. These
typical values are not intended to be used for design purposes, but
to allow FE users to run their geotechnical problems using
general/initial soil parameters, prior to more detailed analysis with
more accurate soil data or data from in-situ measuring devices. I am
attempting to create a soil parameter database of world-wide soils,
and am looking to you to send me as much soil data (electronic in
Microsoft Excel Format if possible) in as much detail as possible.
If the site where the soil was taken from is sensitive please change
the soil name (e.g. Clay site 1), but please send me real accurate
data. If you obtained the data from elsewhere, please provide the
source reference, so other people can refer to the original document.
What do you get out of this ? Well you will be put on a mailing list
and will be sent a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet on a 5.25 inch floppy
disk of all the data when the database is initially released (due
sometime in April 1999). If there is a good frequent response,
subsequent releases will be considered. The sceptics among you will
consider this a fool-hardy task, which could be misleading, include
erogenous data and liable to be mis-used by the unwary or new FE
users. My answer to this criticism is that this is an initial step
to quantify a very complex problem, that is only attempting to give
FE users an overview, to allow them to make more informed judgements
on soil parameter selection. Remember you don't have to use the data
in the database.
Many thanks.
Your Sincerely,
Dr Karl Phillips
Rm15, Bldg 138, DERA Chertsey, Chobham Lane, Chertsey,
Surrey. KT16 0EE. United Kingdom.
Email: [log in to unmask]
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