Experimental study on consolidation of marine clays in alternating electric current field

Consolidation of clays takes place when the driving forces for pore water flow exceed the forces tending to hold the water to clay particles. There are theoretically two ways to consolidate soft clays. One is to enhance the driving forces for pore water flow and the other is to reduce temporarily the forces tending to hold the water. This paper deals with the latter idea by making use of electrochemical properties of clay soils. In order to reduce the forces tending to hold pore water, an electrical disturbance was imposed on clays by AC loading. A series of consolidation tests of marine clays showed that consolidation can take place by AC loading whose magnitude is larger than a critical value. Initial swelling and subsequent consolidation were observed. The initial volume increase is unique characteristic of the AC consolidation.