Talk:Soil consolidation

Suggested changes in historical remarks about theoretical approaches

Dear all, I would suggest the following updates about two main theoretical approaches and historical remarks. Changing the sentence “The theoretical framework of consolidation is therefore closely related to the diffusion equation, the concept of effective stress, and hydraulic conductivity” as follows: “The theoretical framework of consolidation is therefore closely related to the concept of effective stress, and hydraulic conductivity. The early theoretical models were proposed one century ago, according to two different approaches, by Karl Terzaghi and Paul Fillunger (Reference) . The Terzaghi’s model is currently the most utilized in engineering practice and is based on the diffusion equation.”

Furthermore, I would suggest widen the section “History and terminology” as follows. “The first modern theoretical models for soil consolidation were proposed in the 1920s by Terzaghi and Fillunger, according to two substantially different approaches (Reference). The former was based on diffusion equations in eulerian notation, whereas the latter considered the local Newton’s law for both liquid and solid phases, in which main variables, such as partial pressure, porosity, local velocity etc., were involved by means of the mixture theory. Terzaghi had an engineering approach to the problem of soil consolidation and provided simplified models that are still widely used in engineering practice today, whereas, on the other hand, Fillunger had a rigorous approach to the above problems and provided rigorous mathematical models that paid particular attention to the methods of averaging of the involved variables. Fillunger’s model was very abstract and involved variables that were difficult to detect experimentally, and, therefore, it was not applicable to the study of real cases by engineers and/or designers. Nevertheless, this provided the basis for advanced theoretical studies of particularly complex problems. Due to the different approach to the problem of consolidation by the two scientists, a bitter scientific dispute arose between them, and this unfortunately led to a tragic ending in 1937. After Fillunger’s suicide, his theoretical results were forgotten for decades, whereas the methods proposed by Terzaghi found widespread diffusion among scientists and professionals. In the following decades Biot fully developed the three-dimensional soil consolidation theory, extending the one-dimensional model previously proposed by Terzaghi to more general hypotheses and introducing the set of basic equations of poroelasticity. Today, the Terzaghis’ one dimensional model is still the most utilized by engineers for its conceptual simplicity and because it is based on experimental data, such as oedometric tests, which are relatively simple, reliable and inexpensive and for which theoretical solutions in closed form are well known.”. The citede reference may be:Guerriero V. 2022, with title, 1923–2023: One Century since Formulation of the Effective Stress Principle, the Consolidation Theory and Fluid–Porous-Solid Interaction Models. Geotechnics, MDPI, vol 2, 961-988, doi=10.3390/geotechnics2040045. This is a recent review paper which discusses in detail all consolidation model equastions, from the different approaches of Terzaghi and Fillunger, up to the very recent dual- and multiple-porosity models for porous fractured media. Maybe, also the theory section may be widened comparing Terzaghi and mixture theory approach (by Fillunger). Any suggestion is welcome, thanks. Aftershock81 (talk) 21:01, 26 December 2022 (UTC)

Added source

The added citation (terzaghi,1943) stats literally: "Every process involving a decrease of the water content of a saturated soil without replacement of the water by air is called a process of consolidation" Maybe initially soil mechanics in engineering practice was cited or its a different version. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.37.166.247 (talk) 09:50, 10 May 2013 (UTC)

Tag change

We should lose the "geology" tag, and instead call this Consolidation (soil). While geology is the study of the earth and its processes its a bit too general. Also the people most concerned with consolidation are engineers. GeoEng 21:53, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

I agree. --Sjhan81 08:10, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

As I understand this topic, consolidation is usually undesirable in agriculture, (where it is well researched on that basis) and is desirable in building and earthworks (where it is also widely researched on THAT basis). This article seems to deal with neither, actually, and is of interest precisely because of other geology-related interests (which, not being a geologist, I cannot delineate entirely!) And, in agriculture and engineering, recovery from compression is doubtful,(subsidence is more common) and I suspect again only relevant to geology. Mydogtrouble (talk) 15:52, 15 December 2009 (UTC)

I don't agree. Consolidation as defined in this article belongs to soil mechanics theory. Edafology is what you're thinking about: that's the study of soil for agricultural purposes. Soil mechanics is a branch of civil engineering for highway specialists and building constructors, related to foundations. There is no reason why a crop could consolidate a soil. However, the foundations of a building or the truck loads on a highway do consolidate soil. The theory developed by Terzaghi is of no use to a geologist (that deals with much larger loads, created by kilometers of soil and rock) and certainly not useful to an edafologist, which deals by subsidence by leaching of fine particles by water, not with the loads added by structures you design. Consolidation is a civil engineering problem not related (well, tangetially) to geology or edafology. You could learn a bit about it easily, just read about Terzaghi and Casagrande and the revolution they created in foundation design. No modern building or bridge could be constructed without it.Ciroa (talk) 10:37, 13 September 2017 (UTC)

Anyone here? (check in)

I might be able to add a source or two and expand this a bit. Endercase (talk) 17:29, 27 March 2017 (UTC)

Added tags

Technical- not 100% if applies this is a technical topic. But all variables need to be defined and there is some room for inprovement Sources tag-The older tag was non-standard I added a tag to help attract editors to help out here. Endercase (talk) 17:38, 27 March 2017 (UTC)

Changing page title to 'Soil compression'

The page would be more clear when consolidation is considered as an (important) special case of soil compression. This would require an modified title, though. The page with modified title would create a proper place for explaining the difference between primary soil compression and the compression of elastic materials.

Also, the present intermingling of the explanation of compression and consolidation does not help an inexperienced reader. I intend to add basic text on the compressibility of soil and elastic materials. This would ask for some restructuring of the page, so I first propose a title change for discussion. Compression and consolidation could also be treated on separate pages, as an alternative, but this would involve adapting many links. AbvT45 (talk) 08:57, 22 April 2020 (UTC)

AbvT45, content decisions are for the community to make, not admins. You need a meaningful discussion here to establish WP:CONSENSUS. Leaving a neutrally phrased note (avoiding WP:Canvassing) on the talk pages of the projects shown at the top of this talk page will attract some knowledgeable input. Hope that helps, Cabayi (talk) 09:23, 14 June 2020 (UTC)

@AbvT45 and Cabayi: I lean towards preferring the current title. "Consolidation" is increasingly used in contexts involving volume increase (swelling) too, and its meaning has been shifting from "any reduction in volume" (whether instantaneous, pore pressure driven, or creep-driven) to "delayed change in volume" (due to pore pressure dissipation, both compression and swelling). I've been tweaking this article very slowly over the last few years to make it flow better and more consistent in its presentation of terminology, but haven't quite finished yet! Deryck C. 15:07, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

Students of soil mechanics are more likely to search for the term consolidation. I, for instance, came across this page when I was looking for the meaning of consolidation. Compression means something slightly different. Bbanerje (talk) 21:52, 17 June 2020 (UTC)

@Bbanerje: Your comment has encouraged me to finish rearranging the material in this article to give a more logical flow. Let me know what you think? Deryck C. 00:13, 18 June 2020 (UTC)

Anything that improves clarity is always welcome. Bbanerje (talk) 21:12, 24 June 2020 (UTC)

I see very little support for my suggested title change. As I am a very inexperienced Wikipedia editor, I decide not to pursue my initiative.AbvT45 (talk) 14:42, 10 December 2020 (UTC)