œdometer
(iːˈdɒmɪtə(r))
Also (rare) ödometer.
[f. Gr. οἴδ-ηµα swelling, swollen condition + -ometer.]
A device for measuring the swelling of a gel when water is absorbed or the compressibility of soil.
| 1915 W. W. Taylor Chem. Colloids xi. 158 Reinke used the oedometer, by means of which he measured the pressure of imbibition, to determine the velocity of the process. 1926 C. Terzaghi in Colloid Symposium Monograph IV. 73 My own tests performed with coarse grained sands, by using a method which in every respect corresponds to the Ödometer method for measuring the swelling pressure of gels. 1938 Nature 24 Sept. 584/2 From the results of tests made with the Terzaghi oedometer together with calculation of the distribution of pressure from the building, it is possible to estimate the amount of settlement to be expected. 1969 Lambe & Whitman Soil Mech. ix. 116 In the oedometer test, stress is applied to the soil specimen along the vertical axis, while strain in the horizontal directions is prevented. |