The great part of load is supported temporarily with pore pressure when the load is applied to compacted soils wet of optimum moisture content. The magnitude and the dissipation process of the pore pressure is an important factor for the stability of earthdams and other earth fills.
The pore pressure, volume of drained pore fluid, and vertical displacement are measured during the consolidation of compacted soils wet of optimum and it is shown that the consolidation of the soils progresses more rapidly as the initial pore pressure or the compressibility of the soils is great.