Discussion of 'Assessing Overconsolidation Ratios in Soil with Piezocone: Referencing Soil Index Properties' by Steven R. Saye, Alan J. Lutenegger, Jorge Santos, and Bryan P. Kumm

摘要

The authors have presented an inverted stress history and normalized soil engineering parameters (SHANSEP) approach toward using cone penetrometer data in the interpretation of stress history profiles in various types of soils. In their review of prior works on this topic, a method developed by the discusser and his research team is acknowledged; however, there is implication that our approach was essentially empirical in nature. To set the record straight, our linking of overconsolidation ratio (OCR) to normalized cone tip resistance (Q) in clays was made on the basis of a hybrid analytical formulation by combining spherical cavity expansion with critical state soil mechanics. In our solutions, both the total cone tip resistance (q_t) and penetration porewater pressures (u_2) were considered within an effective stress framework (in contrast to SHANSEP, which is a total stress approach).