Recorded discussion at Session 1

Mr. A.G. Cook, South Australian Highway Department, asked Mr. Don Douglas if he considered the effects of consolidation and creep in the plate bearing tests. Mr. Douglas replied in the affirmative as he felt consolidation movements would take place quickly in unsaturated rocks. He described a job on clayey material in which overnight tests were considered, which was as long a duration of tests as was feasible to carry out. He said they also studied the ratio of drained to undrained modulus and established from triaxial tests in the laboratory that this ratio was approximately 1.26. They then applied that factor to the results of the short-term plate bearing tests to eliminate long-term settlements.