Abstract: The consolidation properties of two saturated clays were studied by laboratory tests under different temperatures. Results showed that: the effect of temperature on the expansion of soil particles and the contraction of void ratio was small; high temperature induced thermal expansion could affect the deformation to some extent， so the compression index became smaller as the temperature increased. However， such an effect diminished due to better permeability; the pre-consolidation stress decreased with increasing temperature. The material parameter γ for two clays was calculated by back analysis. The clay with larger γ had smaller normalized pre-consolidation stress under the same temperature; the higher temperature led to less excess pore water pressure due to higher permeability coefficient because the viscosity of pore water at higher temperatures became weaker. It was found that the permeability coefficient increased with larger void ratio and grain size.

Key words: saturated clay, temperature, thermal consolidation, viscosity, permeability coefficient