• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.23-32
• /
• 2010

This study was especially conducted to find out the characteristics of the lightweight air-mixed soil (slurry density 10 kN/$m^3$) containing silt related to water. Compression strength, permeability, and capillary height of the lightweight air-mixed soil were studied, and also to support these studies, the structure of that soil was analyzed in detail. Air bubbles of various sizes are inside the lightweight air-mixed soil, and its distribution in a location is almost constant. A numerous tiny pores are inside the air bubbles so that the lightweight air-mixed soil can be saturated with water. Porosity is also estimated through the image analysis. Peak strength of the lightweight air-mixed soil is not dependent on water, but behavior of stress-strain is affected by the water. Permeability is about $4.857{\times}10^{-6}cm/sec$, which is a little bit higher than the clay's permeability. Capillary rise occurs rapidly at the beginning of the test until the lapse of 100 minutes and then its increase rate becomes slow. The capillary rise causes the increase of the density of the lightweight air-mixed soil, and thus it is required to pay attention to this phenomenon during structure design and maintenance of the lightweight air-mixed soil.