Poisson's Ratio for Unloading and Reloading

Hi,

My geotech team is using PLAXIS 2D to predict the settlement from 100-ft deep soft soil. During our check on input parameters, we found that the Poisson's Ratio for Unloading and Reloading (Vur) considerably affected the settlement amount in soft soil. We used Soft soil model for the ground.

PLAXIS reference recommends use Vur=0.2 if there is no other evidence from laboratory testing. I would like to ask you 1) How the Poisson's ratio can be determined from laboratory testing, and 2) Why using Vur=0.2 is recommended and reasonable.

I attached a graph showing the rate of settlements in soft soil condition, and the graph presents that using smaller value for Vur considerably reduced the settlement from both two difference models.

Thanks in advance.

Jinho Park