SETTLEMENT POTENTIALITY ANALYSIS OF CLAY SOILS, NORTH JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA

Abdulelah A. Bahabri
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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET)
Volume 6, Issue 11, Nov 2015, pp. 55-70, Article ID: IJCIET_06_11_007
Available online at
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ISSN Print: 0976-6308 and ISSN Online: 0976-6316
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SETTLEMENT POTENTIALITY ANALYSIS
OF CLAY SOILS, NORTH JEDDAH, SAUDI
ARABIA
Dr. Abdulelah A. Bahabri
Faculty of Earth Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
ABSTRACT
Usually, constructors built on clay-rich soils are subjected to settlement
due to compressive deformation as a result of decreasing in void space that
due to rearrangement of clayey-sized grain. Settlement of the clay-rich soil
leads to damage in constructions owing to decreasing in ground stability. The
settlement potentiality of clay soils was increasing with increasing of both
clayey-sized material content and plasticity index. The studied clay soil
samples are classified as high plasticity clays (CH) and inorganic silts of high
compressibility (MH). The mV-values of the studied soil samples are ranging
from 0.00305cm2
/gm and 0.02cm2
/gm and from 0.00263cm2
/gm to 0.08389
cm2
/gm for clay-soil samples and silty soil samples respectively. The
expansion index of the studied samples ranges from 0.000041 to 0.00509 and
from 0.000038 to 0.001187 for clay soil samples and silty soil samples. The
compression index of the studied samples ranges from 0.10426 to 0.3547 and
from 0.13386 to 0.40062 for clay-rich soil samples and silty soil samples
respectively.
Key words: Consolidation, Compression Index, Void Ratio, Clay-Rich Soils,
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Cite this Article: Dr. Abdulelah A. Bahabri. Settlement Potentiality Analysis
of Clay Soils, North Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Civil
Engineering and Technology, 6(11), 2015, pp. 55-70.
http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/issues.asp?JType=IJCIET&VType=6&IType=11
1. INTRODUCTION
The ground heave that results from fine-grained clay-rich soils settlement was
considered as a multi-factor soil problem that controlled by combination of material
type, amount and type of clay mineral species, microstructure, moisture water content,
dry density and void ratio. Clay minerals generate cohesion while clay sizes can be
cohesionless.
Most mechanical characteristics of clay-rich soil depends mainly on the type and
percent of clay mineral species, the interactions between clay mineral surfaces and

pore water, the sedimentary history (marine or freshwater depositional environment)
and the consolidation history (normally consolidated or over-consolidated).
The colloidal size of clay mineral particles and their electrical charge make them
hydrate and interact so that their hydraulic conductivity and stress/strain properties are
quite different from those of sandy soils. Concerning clay mineral–water interactions,
kaolinite and smectite represent the extremes of hydration and gel-forming capacity
potentials, while illite and chlorite are intermediate in these respects (Wagner, 2013).
On the contrary, silty soils are on the border between clayey and sandy soils. They are
fine-grained like clays but cohesionless like sands. Silty soils possess undesirable
engineering properties. They exhibit high capillarity and susceptibility to frost action,
yet they have low permeabilities and low densities.
Usually, the structures which built on fine-grained soil exposed to settlement,
some types of settlements can be predictable and others are tolerable. In any event,
knowledge of the causes of settlement and a means of computing (or predicting)
settlement quantitatively are important to the geotechnical engineer.
In the case of dry state, the void species of fine-grained soils are filled with air;
and because air is compressible, rearrangement of soil grains can occur rapidly.
Whereas, saturated fine-grained soil its voids are filled with incompressible water
which must be extruded from the soil mass before soil grains can rearrange
themselves (McCarthy and David, 2006).
Settlement of fine-grained soils represents one of the most regular causes for
foundation failure. So that, it is very important to identifying the settlement
mechanism. When loads will be occurred on the ground, the elastic deformation of
ground will be happened at once and therefore can be easily to correct. The
consolidation of clay-rich soils in the long-term may be taken many years to be
completed.
The compressibility of fine-grained soils was mainly owing to one or more with
respect to one another of mechanical deformations, particles rearrangement, particle
sliding, removal of pore water and physicochemical reasons. The physicochemical
reasons have an effective task in compressibility of fine-grained soils based upon the
composition of clay mineral species and potentiality of exchangeable cations (Olson
and Mesri 1970; Mitchell 1993).
Settlement of the subsoil causes damage to the structures due to ground instability
problems (Osman, 2006; Sohail et. al., 2012). Fine-grained soils show a high grade of
deformation under load or stress because a higher settlement and damages can occur
late after construction termination (Pusch, 2006). The engineering properties of
common soils depend to a large extent upon the amount and characteristics of the
clay-size material contained in the soils. In general, higher clay contents in a soil
causes higher plasticity, greater shrinkage and swell potential, lower hydraulic
conductivity, higher compressibility (Prinz and Strauß, 2006). The purpose of this
work is to present the fundamental concepts regarding settlement analysis for clay-
rich soils, north Jeddah, Saudi Arabia as well as the estimation of foundation
settlements will be described.
2. LOCATION, SOIL EXPLORATION AND METHODOLOGY
After collection preliminary information for the studied area, the actual subsurface
soil explorations were done by drilling more than twenty boreholes covering the area
(Fig. 1). The drilling was straight rotary using 5 inches steel casing. Drilling and

Settlement Potentiality Analysis Of Clay Soils, North Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
sampling were collected up to a depth ranging from 35m to 40m. Twenty four
undisturbed samples were selected.
The initial moisture water content was estimated according to ASTM D 2216
(2005). The specific gravity was determined according to ASTM 854 (2006).
Similarly, the consistency limits (liquid limit and plastic limit) were done according
to ASTM D4318 (2005). The Unified Soil Classification System (USCS) was used for
classifying these soils samples.
The consolidation tests of the studied clay-rich soil samples were done according
to (ASTM D 2435-96) by cutting it by mechanical saw machine from a hard soil
block to pieces of 6.35cm diameter and 1.9cm high. Then, these samples were placed
carefully in the mould of oedometer. Initial pressures (P) 0.1, 0.125, 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 4,
8, 16 and 32 kg/cm2
were applied on each sample.
The initial reading of the dial gauge was taken at zero time, then the valve water
was opened and allowed the water to be imbibed the soil sample until it saturated and
corresponding time observations are made and recorded until deformation has nearly
ceased. Normally, this is done over a 24 hour period. Then, a graph is prepared using
these data, with time along the abscissa on a logarithmic scale and dial readings along
the ordinate on an arithmetic scale. From each graph of time versus dial readings, the
void ratio (e) and coefficient of consolidation (CV) that correspond to the specific
applied pressure (P). For each loading, the void ratio (∆e) was evaluated by
subtracting the changing in void ratio from the initial void ratio (e0). All test results
were tabulated (Tables 1 and 2).
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Physical as well as settlement properties of fine-graind soils of the studied area will be
discussed as follows:
3.1. Grain size
The grain size distribution of clayey sediments plays a vital factor effecting on their
engineering behavior. The amount of swelling as well as plasticity of clayey-
sediments increases by increasing the amount of clay-size (< 0.002 mm) materials,
that due to increasing the specific surface area of these materials. The studied soil
samples are predominantly by more or less smoothed grading curves that produce a
considerable amount of voids between their particles (Fig. 2). Furthermore, according
to the Unified Soil Classification System (USCS), the studied clay soil samples were
classified into high plasticity clays (CH), and high inorganic silts (MH, Table 1 and
Fig. 3).

Figure 1 Geological map (modified after Alqahtani and Abu Seif, 2013) and
subsurface profile of some selected boreholes
Figure 2 Grain size distribution curves of representative samples

3.2. Initial moisture content
The variation in moisture water content nearly considered as one of the most
controlling parameters affecting volume change of clay-rich soil. Generally, the
thickness of the unit cell structure of clay mineral species is very small but when
water molecules were absorbed into clay structures, its thickness will be increased and
leads to swelling. The moisture water content of fine-grained soils plays a vital role in
their swelling capability. When, the fine-grained soil sample has higher ability to be
compressed and highly swell or shrink it will be considered as a detrimental impact on
the stability of the ground (Muntohar, 2002). When the clay-rich soils are wet, the
surfaces of negative charged of 2:1 clay mineral species will attract water molecules
of positive charge and allows the water molecules to penetrate within the sheeted
layers of clay minerals and then clay structure will be expanded. The initial moisture
water content of the studied fine-grained soils varies from 17.22% to 40.83%. (Table
1)
3.3. Specific Gravity
The specific gravity of any clay soil sample affects volume changes. In dense fine-
grained soils, more clay particles are captured into unit volume than in loose ones,
therefore, when the clay-rich soil is wetted greater movement will occur in dense one
than in another loose sample. The specific gravity of the soil samples fluctuated from
2.62 gm/cm3
to 2.76 gm/cm3
(Table 1).
3.4. Consistency limits
From geotechnical point of view, the consistency limits are considered as basic
characteristics that extensively used in classification of fine-grained soil and indirect
quantification of fine-grained soil swell potentiality. When clayey rich sedimentary
rocks having a high plasticity index values, that considered to have the capacity for
swelling behavior (Abdullah et al., 1999). The plasticity index (PI) is generally used
as a good indicator of swelling potentiality (Seed et. al., 1962), whereas swelling clay
mineral species give PI greater than 50% (Grim, 1962). The liquid limit of the studied
fine-grained soil samples is higher than 65% (ranging from 72 to 88, Table 1), so that
these soil samples are considered as very high swelling potentialities (Chen (1988).
The plasticity chart (Fig. 3) shows that the silty soil samples plot below the A-line.
That means these materials have a considerable percentages of active clay mineral
species such as montmorillonite (Holtz and Kovacs, 1981). Further, both materials
(clay-rich and silt-rich soil samples) are very highly and extremely high plastic and
swelling potential respectively.
Williams (1980) used the clay content and values of plasticity index as a
successful technique to identify clayey-rich sediments volume change where the
plasticity index values increase proportionally with the clay-sized material content
(%). Consequently, depend upon the value of plasticity index and the percent of clay-
sized materials, the expansion level of the studied fine-grained soil samples were
ranging from low for silty soil samples and from high to very high for clay soil
samples (Fig. 4).

Figure 3 Plasticity chart of the studied samples
Figure 4 Swelling potential classification of the studied samples (after Williams,
1980)
3.7. Compressibility and Settlement Characteristics
The void ratio (e) was plotted after consolidation against pressure (P) on a logarithmic
scale. The plots showed an initial compression followed by expansion. During
compression, some vital changes will be happened in the structure of fine-grained and
the clay does not relate the initial structure within expansion. These changes during
compressibility state of the studied fine-grained soil samples can be represented by
one of the following measured coefficients.

3.7.1. Coefficient of volume change (mv)
The coefficient of volume change (mv) of the clay soils can be definite as changes in
volume per increasing in the effective stress. The units of mv are the inverse of
pressure (cm2
/kg). The changes in soil volume can be defined as terms of either void
ratio or specimen thickness. For an increase in pressure (P) from Po- to P1 the void
ratio decreases from eo to e1, then:
   
01
10
001
10
0
v
1
1
1
m
 






HH
H
ee
e
(1)
 
Δ
1
e1
Δe
m
Ο
v

 (2)
The mV values are mainly depending upon the pressure values over which it is
determined. The value of mV values of the studied samples fluctuated between
0.00305cm2
/gm and 0.02cm2
/gm and from 0.00263cm2
/gm and 0.08389cm2
/gm for
clay-rich soil samples and silty soil samples respectively (Table 2).
3.7.2. The compression index (Cc)
In Figure (6), the upper curve (compression curve) exhibits the relationship between
void ratio and pressure as the pressure is increased. The lower one shown (expansion
curve) was obtained by unloading the soil sample during the consolidation test after
the maximum pressure has been reached where the fine-grained soils tend to swell
causing movement and associated dial readings to reverse direction. The compression
index is defined as the linear portion slope of the e-log P plot and is dimensionless.
For any two points on the linear portion of the plot:



0
1
10
c
log
C


ee
(3)
The compression index of the studied samples ranges from 0.10426 to 0.3547 and
from 0.13386 to 0.40062 for clay-rich soil samples and silty soil samples respectively
(Table 2).
3.7.3. The expansion index (Cv)
The expansion index is dimensionless and can be determined from the linear portion
slope of the e-log P, in the case of expansion part of the curve plot. For any two points
on the linear portion of the plot:



0
1
10
V
log
C


ee
(4)
The expansion index of the studied samples ranges from 0.000041 to 0.00509 and
from 0.000038 to 0.001187 for clay-rich soil samples and silty soil samples
respectively (Table 2).

Table 1 Physical property of the studied samples (*)
Sample
No
Depth
(m)
Soil Type
Size Fraction (%)
MoistureWater(%)
SpecificGravity
(g/cm3
)
Consistency Limits
ActivityRatio(A)
Water Content
Dry Unit Weigh
(g/cm3
)
Gravels
Sand
Silt
Clay
LL PL PI Initial Final Initial Final
1 8-8.5
CLAY(CH)
F-CLAY 0 13 22 65 27.17 2.639 87 41 46 0.71 27.17 32.0 1.37 1.43
2 8-8.5 L-CLAY(S) 6 11 20 63 17.48 2.625 82 29 53 0.84 17.48 24.06 1.61 1.61
3 11-11.5 SL-CLAY 11 18 24 47 32.82 2.779 79 32 47 1.00 32.82 40.39 1.24 1.31
4 11-11.5 SF-CLAY 5 26 15 54 20.52 2.641 86 32 54 1.00 20.52 22.45 1.64 1.47
5 12.-13 SF-CLAY 7 24 16 53 27.34 2.619 88 31 57 1.08 27.34 26.8 1.45 1.54
6 12.3-13 F-CLAY 0 11 22 67 28.11 2.632 87 42 45 0.67 28.11 31.26 1.4 1.44
7 12.5-13 F-CLAY 0 12 24 64 20.38 2.641 88 40 48 0.75 20.38 27.88 1.42 1.52
8 15.5-16 SF-CLAY 8 23 14 55 22.11 2.661 87 32 55 1.00 22.11 26.45 1.53 1.56
9 17-17.4 F-CLAY 0 11 27 62 18.55 2.653 86 41 45 0.73 18.55 20.65 1.63 1.71
10 29-29.5 L-CLAY (S) 7 12 24 57 31.27 2.653 88 29 59 1.04 31.27 33.95 1.35 1.4
11 9.5-10
SILT(MH)
SILT 0 13 74 13 40.83 2.648 75 58 17 1.31 40.83 32.42 1.27 1.43
12 10.9-11.2 SILT 0 12 73 15 36.26 2.629 78 61 17 1.13 36.26 38.14 1.27 1.32
13 13-13.5 SILT 0 14 70 16 22.89 2.704 77 61 16 1.00 22.89 30.36 1.49 1.49
14 14-14.5 SILT 0 9 74 17 31.85 2.662 75 60 15 0.88 31.85 31.23 1.37 1.46
15 14-15.5 SILT (S) 7 17 68 8 26.93 2.631 73 60 13 1.63 26.93 29.11 1.94 1.49
16 15.5-16 SILT (G) 14 9 68 9 33.39 2.647 73 61 12 1.33 33.39 30.45 1.32 1.47
17 16-16.5 S-SILT 9 27 57 7 25.9 2.627 75 58 17 2.43 25.9 24.42 1.54 1.60
18 18.5-19 SILT 0 10 78 12 28.25 2.633 72 61 11 0.92 28.25 30.92 1.38 1.45
19 20-20.3 SILT 0 13 79 8 28.13 2.620 72 60 12 1.50 28.13 30.71 1.42 1.45
20 21.5-23 SILT 0 11 77 12 17.22 2.631 74 62 12 1.00 17.22 21.81 1.64 1.67
21 26-26.5 SILT (S) 6 18 67 9 25.71 2.651 76 61 15 1.67 25.71 31.22 1.39 1.45
22 26-26.5 SILT (S) 7 17 68 8 21.1 2.647 74 61 13 1.63 21.1 27.38 1.54 1.54
23 27.5-28 S-SILT 5 28 59 8 21.38 2.643 74 60 14 1.75 21.38 27.37 1.49 1.53
24 30.5-31 SILT 0 12 74 14 34.83 2.638 73 59 14 1.00 34.83 36.63 1.27 1.34
25 33.5-34 SILT 0 11 76 13 24.57 2.657 73 60 13 1.00 24.57 23.32 1.54 1.64
* SILT: Silt, SILT (G): Silt with Gravel, SILT (S): Silt with Sand, F-CLAY: Fat Clay, L-CLAY (S): Lean Clay with Sand, S-SILT: Sandy Silt and SF-CLAY: Sandy Fat Clay, LL: Liquid limit, PL:
Plastic limit and PI: Plasticity index

Table 2 Consolidation characteristics of the studied samples (*)
Sample
No
Depth
(m)
Soil Type
Void Ratio
Degree of
Saturation (S)
Volume of Sample
(cm3
) CV CC
mv
(cm2
/kg)
T50
PC
(Kg/cm2
)
OCR
Initial Final Initial Final Initial Final
1 8-8.5
CLAY(CH)
F-CLAY 0.8947 0.8419 80 100 38.81 37.73 0.000395 0.22179 0.01211 6 3.2 3.7647
2 8-8.5 L-CLAY (S) 0.6949 0.6316 66 100 40.55 38.84 0.00509 0.14402 0.00463 5 4.5 5.2941
3 11-11.5 SL-CLAY 1.22 1.124 75 100 37.31 35.69 0.000229 0.3547 0.0166 10 1.96 1.95
4 11-11.5 SF-CLAY 0.6117 0.5825 89 100 40.66 39.93 0.001052 0.10426 0.00737 25 2.45 2.333
5 12.-13 SF-CLAY 0.7561 0.7014 95 100 40.66 39.39 0.000253 0.15966 0.01035 10 4.2 2.8
6 12.3-13 F-CLAY 0.9475 0.8245 78 100 37.31 34.95 0.000041 0.30916 0.02 50 2.6 2.1667
7 12.5-13 F-CLAY 0.8607 0.7334 63 100 37.31 34.75 0.000105 0.292 0.01421 22 2.6 2.3337
8 15.5-16 SF-CLAY 0.7380 0.7032 80 100 37.31 36.56 0.00042 0.23093 0.00305 6 7.2 4.8
9 17-17.4 F-CLAY 0.6303 0.5471 78 100 38.81 36.83 0.0016 0.15336 0.00642 15 5 2.907
10 29-29.5 L-CLAY (S) 0.9664 0.8985 86 100 40.35 38.96 0.00011 0.29774 0.0061 22 6.5 3
11 9.5-10
SILT(MH)
SILT 1.1099 0.8545 97 100 37.31 32.70 0.000015 0.40062 0.0264 35 2.2 2.316
12 10.9-11.2 SILT 1.063 0.998 90 100 40.35 39.08 0.000484 0.2251 0.00747 5 4.5 4.1013
13 13-13.5 SILT 0.8486 0.8184 73 100 37.31 36.70 0.000097 0.14996 0.08389 27 5.2 4
14 14-14.5 SILT 0.9431 0.8285 90 100 37.31 35.11 0.000067 0.3635 0.0311 30 2 1.575
15 14-15.5 SILT (S) 0.831 0.7645 85 100 40.35 38.89 0.00135 0.2685 0.00536 20 6 4.1379
16 15.5-16 SILT (G) 0.9051 0.8046 98 100 38.81 36.77 0.000728 0.3031 0.0387 2.9 1.5 1.0714
17 16-16.5 S-SILT 0.6973 0.6414 98 100 37.31 36.08 0.001187 0.21188 0.01621 2 2.4 1.411
18 18.5-19 SILT 0.8834 0.8130 84 100 40.35 38.84 0.000048 0.2417 0.00415 50 9 4.8649
19 20-20.3 SILT 0.8438 0.8040 87 100 38.06 37.19 0.000234 0.15942 0.00377 11 6.1 2.9048
20 21.5-23 SILT 0.6049 0.5719 75 100 37.31 36.54 0.000234 0.13386 0.00263 12 7.5 3.75
21 26-26.5 SILT (S) 0.9070 0.8267 75 100 37.31 35.74 0.000566 0.23806 0.0175 4 2.8 1.273
22 26-26.5 SILT (S) 0.7482 0.7242 75 100 38.81 38.28 0.000363 0.19072 0.00489 7 6 2.7273
23 27.5-28 S-SILT 0.7769 0.7255 73 100 37.31 36.23 0.000499 0.1665 0.00553 5 4.9 1.96
24 30.5-31 SILT 1.0717 0.9653 86 100 40.35 38.28 0.000157 0.2624 0.00474 15 7.23 2.419
25 33.5-34 SILT 0.7244 0.6155 90 100 40.66 38.09 0.000038 0.2858 0.00463 60 8.5 3.1
* CC: Compression Index, CV: Expansion Index, mv: Coefficient of Volume compressibility, OCR: Over Consolidation Ratio, PC: Pre-Consolidation Pressure and T50: Time–deformation

3.7.4. The pre-consolidation pressure
Pre-consolidation pressure usually illustrates the historical state of stress and
effectively influences the performance of cohesive soils and presented as one of very
significant geotechnical parameter in civil engineering. Generally, it is estimated
graphically from experimental data of e and log P plot (Senol and Ahmet, 2000)
Figure 5 shows the presentation of void ratio vs. log of pressure (P) of some
representative curves where these curves are characterized by generally curves with
smooth slopes, followed by more or less steep slopes. In soil mechanics, while the
former are called the recompression curves, the latter are called the virgin
compression curves (Cetin, 2004). The pre-consolidation pressure the studied samples
ranges from 1.96 to 7.2 (Kg/cm2
) and from 1.5 to 9 (Kg/cm2
) for clay-rich soil
samples and silty soil samples respectively (Table 2).
3.7.5 Settlement types
The experimental curves were achieved by drawing the readings of dial gauge of the
consolidation test against time in minutes of logarithmic scale (Fig. 6). Each curve
can be subdivided into three distinguished parts. The uppermost part (initial
compression) represents a parabolic relationship between time and compression as
well as shows a small compression of air and soil.
The lowermost part usually represents a linear (but not horizontal) and followed
by the middle part of the curve which called primary consolidation. Beyond the point
of intersection, compression of the soil continues at a very slow rate of an indefinite
period of time and is called secondary compression (Craig, 1979).
The above classification of settlement types has done only to facilitate
understanding and modeling of phenomena. However, the three types may occur
simultaneously. In most cases, secondary consolidation has little influences on the
behavior of a structure, because their magnitude is considerable smaller than the other
settlement types. The classification of fine-grained soils mostly was done according to
the secondary settlement which can be significant. Usually, the designers allow 5 to
10% of the estimated total settlement for secondary settlement (Nunes, 1971).
4. CORRELATION BETWEEN SOME PHYSICAL AND
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
In the last decay, many researchers were performed to correlate the physical
properties with the mechanical properties of soils (Abdel-Rahman, 1982;
Khamehchiyan and Iwao, 1994; Yilmaz, 2000; USDA, 2004; Al-Busoda, 2009; Al-
Kahdaar and Al-Ameri, 2010). This approach was adopted from the earlier researcher
in the field of soil mechanics and foundation engineering. Strong relationships have
been distinguished between coefficient of volume change (mv), compression index
and specific gravity of the studied samples (Fig. 7) as well as final void ration and
compression index (Fig. 8) and over consolidation ratio (OCR) and pre-consolidation
pressure (PC, Fig. 9).

Figure 5 Void ratio versus logarithm of loaded pressure (P) of the studied fine-
grained soil samples

Figure 6 Illustrates three phases of settlement of fine-grained soil: immediate
settlement, primary consolidation settlement and compression settlement.

Figure 7 Correlation of coefficient of volume change (mv) and compression index and
specific gravity of the studied samples respectively
Figure 8 Correlation of final void ration and compression index and specific gravity
of the studied samples respectively

Figure 9 Correlation between over consolidation ratio (OCR) and pre-consolidation
pressure (PC) of the studied samples respectively
5. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
The present work can be considered as a model for the settlement behavior of clay
soil Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The outputs experimental results were allowing to reaches
the followings:
1. The constructions which built on clay-rich soil are subject to settlement results from
rearrangement of clayey-sized grains and decreasing in void ratio.
2. The studied soil samples are predominantly by more or less smoothed grading curves
that produce a considerable amount of voids between their particles and were
classified into clays of high plasticity (CH) and inorganic silts (MH).
3. The settlement potentiality of the studied soil was increasing with increasing of clay-
sized materials content and the plasticity index of these soils.
4. The physical parameters and mechanical properties of the clay-rich soil must be
integrated to better understand their behavior when subjected to loads of
constructions.
5. Through matching correlation data among these parameters, it was clearly indicated
that, clay-sized material content, void ration and plasticity had been considered as the
major parameters influencing other physical and mechanical properties of the studied
soil.
6. An adequate safety factor must be put in mined of designers of any construction on
this type of fine-grained soils of high ability to be compressed.
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SETTLEMENT POTENTIALITY ANALYSIS OF CLAY SOILS, NORTH JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA