Statistical Analysis on Physical Properties of Shanghai Soft Clay

Abstract

This paper studies the statistical properties of the basic physical parameters of the Shanghai soft clay based on data obtained from extensive literature review and tests conducted by the authors. With the database compiled, the statistics of these parameters are assessed, and regression analyses are conducted to obtain the empirical relationships among them. The goodness-of-fits of normal distribution, log-normal distribution, exponential distribution and uniform distribution are assessed for each parameter using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) method. The results show that the normal distribution is suitable for initial water content, specific gravity, plasticity index, liquidity index and unit weight, the log-normal distribution is suitable for initial void ratio and plastic limit, the exponential distribution is suitable only for liquid limit, and the uniform distribution is not recommended.