Suction controlled oedometer tests of Maryland Clay in Newcastle

To investigate the compression behavior of Maryland clay in Newcastle, Australia, a series of suction-controlled oedometer tests were carried out using a UPC (Technical University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain) suction-controlled oedometer cell. The compression tests were conducted on totally reconstituted soil specimens collected from a field expansive soil monitoring site near Newcastle, under different matric suctions ranging from 0 to 400kPa. The current paper presents the preliminary results of the suction-controlled oedometer tests. Some problems encountered in the tests such as diffused air trapped in the base plate are also discussed.