The Consolidation and Strength Behavior of Mechanically Compressed Fine-Grained Sediments by Brendan Casey B. Eng. in Civil and Environmental Engineering, University College Cork, 2009 S.M. in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2011 Submitted to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the field of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology June 2014 © 2014 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. All rights reserved. Signature of Author………………………………………………………………………………… Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering May 2 nd , 2014 Certified by………………………………………………………………………………………... John T. Germaine Senior Research Associate of Civil and Environmental Engineering Thesis Supervisor Accepted by...……………………………………………………………………………………… Heidi M. Nepf Chair, Departmental Committee for Graduate Students