Sustainable Study of Local Lateritic Soils Compressibility

An investigation on the compressibility and settlement duration of a lateritic soil of Yaoundé, Cameroon, was performed to check on its ease to carry loads of civil engineering structures. The increase in settlement with water content is more accentuated with a stronger load than a weaker one. The compaction also considerably decreases the compressibility of these soils, rendering the action of water almost null on the variation of settlement except when the compaction is not made with the optimum Proctor. These significant observations compel us to consider only, for a lateritic soil or another soil, the compressibility characteristics under immersion conditions. The findings of this work agree with the principle of the odometric test described in the French Standard NF P 94 900.