CAN. GEOTECH. I. VOL.

20, 1983

Modulus of elasticity of a very dense glacial till determined by plate load tests

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WILLIAM
R. FISHER
Jordan Gorrill Associates, 562 Congress Street, P.O. Box 7050, Downtown Station, Portland, ME 04112, U.S.A.
Received April 29, 1982
Accepted September 2, 1982
The modulus of elasticity of a very dense glacial till deposit located in central Maine has been determined by in-situ plate
load tests. The results of these tests are presented and the values of modulus of elasticity evaluated.
Le module d'ClasticitC d'un dCpBt de moraine glaciaire tr2s dense dans le centre du Maine a CtC dCterminC partir d'essais de
chargement de plaques in situ. Les rksultats de ces essais sont prCsentCs et les valeurs du module d'Clasticit6 sont haluCes.
[Traduit par la revue]

Can. Geotech. I., 20, 186-191 (1983)

Introduction
Settlements of structures supported by shallow foundations bearing on dense glacial till are generally small
and consist mainly of elastic compression of the till as a
result of the imposed loads. Typically, this elastic
compression results in settlements sufficiently small that
their influence on the performance of most structures is
negligible. However, facilities such as paper machines
are sensitive to small total and differential settlements,
and settlements related to elastic compression of even a
dense glacial till can significantly influence their operation. The purpose of this note is to present the results of
three in-situ plate load tests done on a very dense glacial
till deposit located at the site of a proposed paper mill in
Skowhegan, Maine. The in-situ modulus of elasticity,
E,, of the till determined from these tests was used to
design and evaluate the performance of shallow spread
footings and mat foundations for the proposed paper
machine.

Soil conditions
The subsurface conditions encountered at the site
consist of silty clay, glacial till, and phyllitic schist
(bedrock). A plan view and an interpretive subsurface
profile along the alignment of the paper machine
building are shown in Fig. 1. The silty clay, a late
glacio-marine deposit, is brown, stiff to hard, and
contains traces of coarse sand and fine gravel.
The glacial till is an unsorted mixture of clay, silt,
sand, gravel, cobbles, and boulders. The surficial l-2 m
of the till is brown in color and the remaining underlying
till is gray. Grain-size analyses of samples of the till
taken at plate load test locations are plotted in Fig. 2.
Values of N, determined by the standard penetration
test, ranged from 50 to 70 blows per 30 cm, indicating
that the till is very dense. In view of its very dense
condition, the till is considered to be basal, deposited
during the last glacial advance about 10 000 years ago.
The paper machine building was designed to be supported by shallow foundations bearing on the dense
glacial till, as shown in Fig. 1. The groundwater table
sloped downward from el. 53.0 m at the south end of the
building to el. 49.5 m at the north end. Generally the
groundwater table was within 3.5m of the ground
surface.

Previous studies
Published values of E, for glacial till could only be
located for projects and studies done in Canada. These
values varied widely and were largely dependent on the
apparent denseness of the till and method of determination. Table 1 presents a summary of published values of
In-situ plate load tests
E, for glacial till, the related degree of stiffness or
denseness, and the method of testing. The data indicate Testing program
Three plate load tests were done at the locations
that higher values of E, result from in-situ tests such as
plate load and pressuremeter tests than from laboratory shown in Fig. 1. A summary of elevations and soils
tests. Published values of E, determined from plate load encountered immediately beneath each test location is
tests on very dense, overconsolidated, glacial tills presented in Table 2.
ranged from 97 to 69 1 MPa (14- 100 ksi) and, in dense,
The general procedure used for the plate load tests
apparently normally consolidated, glacial till, from 38 was as follows.
to 69 MPa (5.5-10 ksi). The plate load test was selected
1. The test area was excavated to within about 0.3 m
as the most appropriate method of determining E, for the (1 ft) of proposed foundation grade el. 51.8 m (el.
glacial till at the project site.
168.5 ft) using a Caterpillar D-8 Dozer.
0008-3674183/010181-06$01 .OO/O
01983 National Research Council of Canada/Conseil national de recherches du Canada

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TABLE1. Summary of published values of modulus of elasticity of glacial till

Reference

Project
location

Undrained compressive
strength, q, MPa (ksi) or
penetration resistance,
NZ,blows/30 cm

Klohn (1965)

Northern Sask.

q = 1 (22)

DeJong and
Harris (197 1)

Edmonton, Alta.

N
q

Eisenstein and
Morrison (1973)
Radhakrishna and
Klym (1974)

Edmonton, Alta.

N = 111
q = 0.8 (16)
N > 200
q = 1.3-2.9 (28-60)

Soderman et al. (1968)

Toronto, Ont.

Southern Ont.

=
=

111
0.8 (16)

q = 0.05 (1.0)

NOTE:UU = unconsolidated, undrained; CU = consolidated, drained.

Method of
determination

Modulus of elasticity, E,,

MPa (ksi)

Plate load test

Excavation rebound
Triaxial UU test
Unconfined compr. test
Foundation settlement
Triaxial UU test
Triaxial CU test
Consolidation test
Pressure meter

324-697, ave. = 497 (72)

608-1220, ave. = 967 (140)
31-152, ave = 76 (11)
83-283, ave. = 145 (21)
280-490, (41-7 1)
10 (1.5)
97 (14)
21 (3)
55-245, ave. = 173 (25)

Plate load test

Pressure meter
In-situ shear box
Triaxial CU test
Plate load test

97-207, ave. = 180 (26)

97-290, (14-42)
138-332, (20-48)
41-242, ave. = 138 (20)
38-69 (5.5-10)

CAN. GEOTECH. J. VOL. 20, 1983

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ANCILLARY
FACILITIES
A

A'

PLT-I

PLT-2

PLT-3

PAPER MACHINE BUILDING

WAREHOUSE

PLATE LOAD TEST

LOCATION
0

25

50

75 FEET

I
I
L
1

6 0 1k

-F

'

2
Ia
>
'j

L I M I T S OF PAPER MACHINE BUILDING

GROUND SURFACE
SILTY CLAY

- - - - -- - - - - - -

50C=--~ELEVATION
OF
P L A T E LOAD TEST
40-

L I M I T S OF
WAREHOUSE
-

- -- AVERACC
'An r&nP%hY
IUL r u u t u u n I ION
GRADEI EL. 52

GLACIAL T I L L

/&

30

//A\

P H Y L L l T l C SCHIST BEDROCK

FIG. 1. Plan view of project and interpretive subsurface profile.

FIG. 2. Grain size distribution curves, brown and gray glacial till (PLT = plate load test).

NOTES

TABLE2. Summary of elevations and shallow subsurface soil at plate load test locations

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Elevation (m)
Plate load
test No.

Ground
surface

Test
level

Groundwater

Depth
(m)

Soil beneath plate

54.9

51.7

53.0

2
3

53.5
53.3

51.2
51.0

51.1
51.8

0-0.6
0.6-1.5
0-1.5
0.6-1.5

Brown gravelly sandy silt (till)

Gray slightly gravelly sandy silt (till)
Gray slightly gravelly sandy silt (till)
Gray slightly gravelly sandy silt (till)

FIG. 3. Plate load test setup.

2. A drainage ditch, about 0.6 m (2 ft) in depth, was

excavated around the perimeter of the test area and
back-filled with crushed stone. The ditch was drained by
use of a sump pump.
3. Final excavation of the test area, 1.1 m (3.5 ft) in
diameter, was done by hand and the base steel bearing
plate placed over a leveling course of epoxy-type grout.
The 25.4-mm (1-in.) thick steel loading plates were
stacked with decreasing diameter from 813 mm (32 in.)
to 305 rnm (12 in.) in 102 mm (4-in.) increments.
4. The reaction load, consisting of a flat-bed trailer
loaded with 54.5 t (60 short tons) of concrete blocks was
placed over the plates. A photo of a typical test setup is
shown in Fig. 3.
5. Deflections of the plate were measured at three
equidistant points on the perimeter of the bottom plate.
The dial indicators were attached to a reference beam;
they were graduated to the nearest 0.25 mm (0.001 in.).
The reference beam was a 3.7-m (12-ft) long piece of
203-mm (8-in.) W shape steel beam and was centered

over the bearing plates and supported at each end by a

0.3-m (I-ft) piece of 8-in beam oriented at right angles to
the alignment of the reference beam.
6. The plates were then loaded. Loads were increased
in increments producing a contact stress of 95 kPa
(2 ksf ) from 0 to 380 kPa (8 ksf ). From 380 kPa (8 ksf)
to 760 kPa (16 ksf) the bearing pressures were increased
in increments of 190 kPa (4 ksf). For bearing pressures
from 0 to 380 kPa (8 ksf) the incremental pressures were
maintained for a minimum of 15 min, or until the rate of
settlement was less than 0.13mm/h (0.005in./h),
whichever was longer. Loads applied incrementally,
causing contact stresses from between 380 kPa (8 ksf)
and 760kPa (16 ksf) were maintained for a minimum
time of 60 min, or until the rate of settlement was less
than about 0.05 mm/h (0.002 in. /h), whichever was
longer. The maximum contact stress of 760 kPa (6 ksf)
was maintained for about 14 h at location PLT-3 to 18 h
at PLT-1, with rates of settlement of 0.03mm/h
(0.001 in./h) at PLT-3 to 0.01 mm/h (0.0005 in./h) at
PLT-1. The elapsed time for the plate load tests ranged
from 23 h at PLT-1 to 21 h at PLT-3.
7. The plates were unloaded and the test setup
dismantled.
8. A test pit was then dug beneath the location of the
plates to a depth of 1.6 m (5 ft) below the test level and
representative soil samples obtained for laboratory
testing.

Test results
Load-settlement curves for the plate load tests are
presented in Fig. 4. The modulus of elasticity for each
test was determined by assuming that the circular plate
was rigid and the till was a semi-infinite elastic solid.
The relationship of elastic settlement of a rigid loaded
circular area bearing on a semi-infinite solid is (Bowles
1968):

where S = settlement (mm), q = contact pressure (kPa),

B = plate diameter (mm), p = Poisson's ratio, E, =
modulus of elasticity (kPa), and I = shape factor.

CAN. GEOTECH. J. VOL. 20, 1983

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A V E R A G E P L A T E C O N T A C T PRESSURE

- kPa

P L A T E LOAD TEST- 2
I
I
1
I

FIG.4. Plate load test results.

For the plate load tests, B = 810mm, p = 0.4

(assumed), and I = 0.88. By rearranging terms and
applying appropriate conversion factors, the expression
in terms of E, is:
6009

E, = -

(kpa)

The modulus of elasticity was computed using the

above expression and values of q and S from the straight
line portion of the load-settlement curve. Because a net
settlement of the plate occurred with each of the tests,
the settlements are not entirely elastic. As a result, the
use of the term apparent E,, as proposed by Klohn
(1965), is recommended to qualify the value of E,
determined. The values of apparent E, determined from

these tests are:

Test No.

Apparent E, , MPa (ksi)

PLT-1
PLT-2
PLT-3

103 (15.0)
112 (16.2)
130 (18.8)

Conclusions
The purpose of this note has been to present the
apparent in-situ modulus of elasticity of a very dense
glacial till in the State of Maine as determined by plate
load tests.
The results of the three tests indicate that the apparent
E, of the glacial till at the site ranges from 103 (15.0 ksi)

NOTES

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to 130M P a (18.8 ksi). These values fall within the lower

end of the range of published values for deposits of very
dense glacial till in Canada.
BOWLES,J. E. 1968. Foundation analysis and design.
McGraw-Hill, Inc., New York, NY.
DEJONG,J., and HARRIS,M. C. 1971. Settlements of two
multistory buildings in Edmonton. Canadian Geotechnical
Journal, 8, pp. 217-235.
EISENSTEIN,
Z., and MORRISON,
N. A. 1973. Prediction of
foundation deformations in Edmonton using an in situ

191

pressure probe. Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 10, pp.

193-210.
KLOHN,E. J. 1965. The elastic properties of adense glacial till
deposit. Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 2, pp. 116-140.
RADHAKRISHNA,
H. S., and KLYM,T. W. 1974. Geotechnical
properties of a very dense glacial till. Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 11, pp. 396-408.
SODERMAN,
L. G., KIM,Y. D., and MILLIGAN,
V. 1968. Field
and laboratory studies of modulus of elasticity of a clay till.
Symposium on Soil Properties from In Situ Measurements,
Highway Research Board Publication No. 243.