Yield stress evaluation of Finnish clays based on analytical piezocone penetration test (CPTu) models

A well-established analytical model based on spherical cavity expansion and critical state soil mechanics theories is applied to piezocone soundings for profiling the yield stress and overconsolidation ratio of five soft sensitive test sites located in Finland. Yield stress is related to three piezocone parameters: net cone resistance, excess porewater pressure, and effective cone resistances. Input geoparameters include the effective stress friction angle, defined at both peak strength and at maximum obliquity, and the model directly provides the operational value of the undrained rigidity index. The piezocone-evaluated profiles compare favorably with results from laboratory constant-rate-of-strain consolidation tests for all the investigated sites. Based on the obtained experimental results, simplified correlations valid for Finnish soil conditions are derived. Their validity is assessed based on the bias factor, coefficient of variation, and coefficient of determination, showing a fairly good agreement between the predicted and the target values.