Causes of soil settlement
In engineering calculation, it is accepted that settlement due to applied pressure is composed of 3 parts:
1. Distortion because of elastic stresses (Se)
2. Primary consolidation due to squeezing out of pore water (Sc)
3. Secondary compression due to creep in soil structure (Ss)
Is consolidation only time-dependent?
What is the most important part?
How can we compute primary consolidation?
Ref.
DP Coduto, Foundation Design: Principles and Practices, 2nd ed., Prentice Hall, 2001