We recently received samples from a commercial development along Park Avenue in Brandon Manitoba, where the design team needed reliable effective stress parameters for a deep foundation system. The soils in this part of the Assiniboine River valley tend to be fine-grained lacustrine deposits with moderate plasticity, so a consolidated undrained triaxial test with pore pressure measurement was the right choice. Running the test under CSA + CSA + CSA + CSA + CSA + ASTM D2850 (also CFEM Ch 2) (also CFEM Ch 2) (also CFEM Ch 2) (also CFEM Ch 2) (also CFEM Ch 2) gave the engineers the cohesion and friction angle data they needed. For projects where total stress analysis is sufficient, we also perform unconsolidated undrained tests, but in Brandon Manitoba the saturated clay layers under the water table almost always require effective stress interpretation. Complementing the triaxial work with a corte directo test helps cross-validate residual shear behavior, while the ensayo de consolidación provides settlement parameters that complete the picture for foundation design.
Lacustrine clays in Brandon Manitoba require effective stress triaxial testing; CU tests with pore pressure measurement yield reliable phi and cohesion values for foundation design.