A Closed-Loop Controlled Equipment for Soil Consolidation Tests

A novel equipment for consolidation tests of soil samples is described.The equipment consists of a press and an oedometric cell equipped with a closed-loop control architecture.Closed loop control is used for regulating the compression process of a soil sample according to the dynamical behavior of the interstial pressure in such a way to emulate natural conditions.The equipment allows to perform consolidation tests of a new kind and to collect data for deducing consolidation curves with accuracy and,in comparision with classical methodologies in a very short time.