ABSTRACT
The prediction of settlement rates that simple geotechnical systems (e.g., shallow foundations) may undergo under live loads represents a fundamental step in design processes. To this aim, the theory of uncoupled consolidation earliest provided by Terzaghi (1923) and Rendulic (1936) for saturated soils with incompressible constituents still represents a valuable reference framework for civil engineers. However, natural soils are often in unsaturated conditions and solutions deriving from the above mentioned theory could not be adequately representative of the real trend of settlements with time and, in general, could lead to an excessive overestimation of maximum values of expected settlements.
