Compilation of Consolidation Properties Data of Champlain Sea Clay from Ottawa Region

Estimation of consolidation settlements in fine-grained soils due to various civil infrastructure loads is traditionally based on results derived from consolidation tests performed on undisturbed soil samples, combined with the data of other soil properties. In many geotechnical engineering applications, consolidation settlements are also estimated using empirical consolidation parameters derived from basic soil properties. This approach relies on correlations from the literature to bypass the time-consuming and expensive sampling techniques, laboratory testing, and other associated expenses. However, these correlations may not provide reasonable consolidation settlement estimations as these correlations are typically developed without considering the influence of stress history, geology, salinity of pore water, gradation, soil fabric, and chemical properties of the soils. This is especially true for Champlain Sea clay deposits from Eastern Ontario region of Canada that are typically with heterogeneous site conditions and exhibit spatial variability of soil properties. In this paper, data from the published literature and industrial and government reports on sensitive Champlain Sea clays were gathered for the Ottawa region. The data collection and clean-up methodology towards enhancing the reliability of the gathered data is comprehensively discussed. The summarized data from this study can be used with a greater degree of confidence towards developing reliable correlations in the estimation of consolidation settlements in geotechnical engineering practice.