• Title/Summary/Keyword: swelling soils

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A study on the improvements of geotechnical properties of in-situ soils by grouting

  • Chang, Muhsiung;Mao, Tze-wen;Huang, Ren-chung
    • Geomechanics and Engineering
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    • v.10 no.4
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    • pp.527-546
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    • 2016
  • This paper discusses improvements of compressibility, permeability, static and liquefaction strengths of in-situ soils by grouting. Both field testing and laboratory evaluation of the on-site samples were conducted. The improvement of soils was influenced by two main factors, i.e., the grout materials and the injection mechanisms introduced by the field grouting. On-site grout mapping revealed the major mechanism was fracturing accompanied with some permeation at deeper zones of sandy soils, where long-gel time suspension grout and solution grout were applied. The study found the compressibility and swelling potential of CL soils at a 0.5 m distance to grout hole could be reduced by 25% and 50%, respectively, due to the grouting. The effect on hydraulic conductivity of the CL soils appeared insignificant. The grouting slightly improved the cohesion of the CL soils by 10~15 kPa, and the friction angle appeared unaffected. The grouting had also improved the cohesion of the on-site SM soils by 10~90 kPa, while influences on the friction angle of soils were uncertain. Liquefaction resistances could be enhanced for the sandy soils within a 2~3 m extent to the grout hole. Average improvements of 40% and 20% on the liquefaction resistance were achievable for the sandy soils for earthquake magnitudes of 6 and ${\geq}7.5$, respectively, by the grouting.

Predicting soil-water characteristic curves of expansive soils relying on correlations

  • Ahmed M. Al-Mahbashi;Muawia Dafalla;Mosleh Al-Shamrani
    • Geomechanics and Engineering
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    • v.33 no.6
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    • pp.625-633
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    • 2023
  • The volume changes associated with moisture or suction variation in expansive soils are of geotechnical and geoenvironmental design concern. These changes can impact the performance of infrastructure projects and lightweight structures. Assessment of unsaturated function for these materials leads to better interpretation and understanding, as well as providing accurate and economic design. In this study, expansive soils from different regions of Saudi Arabia were studied for their basic properties including gradation, plasticity and shrinkage, swelling, and consolidation characteristics. The unsaturated soil functions of saturated water content, air-entry values, and residual states were determined by conducting the tests for the entire soil water characteristic curves (SWCC) using different techniques. An attempt has been made to provide a prediction model for unsaturated properties based on the basic properties of these soils. Once the profile of SWCC has been predicted the time and cost for many tests can be saved. These predictions can be utilized in practice for the application of unsaturated soil mechanics on geotechnical and geoenvironmental projects.

Alkali-activated GGBS and enzyme on the swelling properties of sulfate bearing soil

  • Thomas, Ansu;Tripathia, R.K.;Yadu, L.K.
    • Geomechanics and Engineering
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    • v.19 no.1
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    • pp.21-28
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    • 2019
  • Use of cement in stabilizing the sulfate-bearing clay soils forms ettringite/ thaumasite in the presence of moisture leads to excessive swelling and causes damages to structures built on them. The development and use of non-traditional stabilisers such as alkali activated ground granulated blast-furnace slag (AGGBS) and enzyme for soil stabilisation is recommended because of its lower cost and the non detrimental effects on the environment. The objective of the study is to investigate the effectiveness of AGGBS and enzyme on improving the volume change properties of sulfate bearing soil as compared to ordinary Portland cement (OPC). The soil for present study has been collected from Tilda, Chhattisgarh, India and 5000 ppm of sodium sulfate has been added. Various dosages of the selected stabilizers have been used and the effect on plasticity index, differential swell index and swelling pressure has been evaluated. XRD, SEM and EDX were also done on the untreated and treated soil for identifying the mineralogical and microstructural changes. The tests results show that the AGGBS and enzyme treated soil reduces swelling and plasticity characteristics whereas OPC treated soil shows an increase in swelling behaviour. It is observed that the swell pressure of the OPC-treated sulfate bearing soil became 1.5 times higher than that of the OPC treated non-sulfate soil.

Characteristics of Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity in Steel Making Slag and Sludge according to Mixing Rate of Bentonite (벤토나이트 혼합율에 따른 제강 슬래그 및 슬러지의 투수 특성 변화)

  • Woo, Won-Jae
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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    • v.3 no.1
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    • pp.52-61
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    • 2000
  • Permeability is important factor in the geotechnical problems, such as seepage discharge and dissipation of excess pore water pressure. The Kozeny-Carman equation works well for graded soils but serious discrepancies are found in clays. Major factor for these discrepancies is the tortuous flow path and unequal pore size. To estimate the permeability of fine grained soils, a permeability equation in which swelling potential is coupled with Kozeny-Carman equation is proposed in this study. To verify proposed equation, a series of variable head permeability test was carried out for steel making slag and sludge mixed with bentonite. The coefficients of permeability which is measured in the laboratory is compared with the values by the proposed equation. From the comparison, it is shown that the proposed equation can predict the coefficient of permeability of clays with satisfaction. As steel making slag and sludge is industry waste, it is reused as material of road foundation and cement but the rate of use is low. It mixed sodium-bentonite with high swelling property and permeability decrease effect. Then, Admixture investigates reuse possibility as liner of waste fill.

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Geotechnical characteristics of the collapsed $\bigcirc\bigcirc$tunnel slope in Yeosu-Suncheon area (여수-순천 도로확장공사 구간 $\bigcirc\bigcirc$터널 붕괴사면 지반특성)

  • Kim, Seung-Hyun;Koo, Ho-Bon;Lee, Jeong-Yup;Rhee, Jong-Hyun;Kim, Seung-Hee
    • Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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    • 2008.03a
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    • pp.848-857
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    • 2008
  • In September 2007, the collapses of slopes and landslides are happened at Jeonlanamdo due to heavy rains accompanied with Typoon "Nari". The study area is the tunnel portal slope in new road construction site. This slope consists of pyroclastic rocks and has lots of faults. Particularly, the residual soils of the slope is deteriorated with yellowish mudstone layer as a results of chemical and physical weathering. This has a variety of swelling clay minerals and might be moved easily down at the gentle terrain. The inner factor of $\bigcirc\bigcirc$tunnel portal slope's collapse is the geological weak zone, the convergent topography, the inferiority of drainage and the heavy rain act on the failure as direct trigger.

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Mechanical properties and microstructures of stabilised dredged expansive soil from coal mine

  • Chompoorat, Thanakorn;Likitlersuang, Suched;Sitthiawiruth, Suwijuck;Komolvilas, Veerayut;Jamsawang, Pitthaya;Jongpradist, Pornkasem
    • Geomechanics and Engineering
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    • v.25 no.2
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    • pp.143-157
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    • 2021
  • Expansive soil is the most predominant geologic hazard which shows a large amount of shrinkage and swelling with changes in their moisture content. This study investigates the macro-mechanical and micro-structural behaviours of dredged natural expansive clay from coal mining treated with ordinary Portland cement or hydrated lime addition. The stabilised expansive soil aims for possible reuse as pavement materials. Mechanical testing determined geotechnical engineering properties, including free swelling potential, California bearing ratio, unconfined compressive strength, resilient modulus, and shear wave velocity. The microstructures of treated soils are observed by scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, and energy dispersive spectroscopy to understand the behaviour of the expansive clay blended with cement and lime. Test results confirmed that cement and lime are effective agents for improving the swelling behaviour and other engineering properties of natural expansive clay. In general, chemical treatments reduce the swelling and increase the strength and modulus of expansive clay, subjected to chemical content and curing time. Scanning electron microscopy analysis can observe the increase in formation of particle clusters with curing period, and x-ray diffraction patterns display hydration and pozzolanic products from chemical particles. The correlations of mechanical properties and microstructures for chemical stabilised expansive clay are recommended.

Introduction of Barcelona Basic Model for Analysis of the Thermo-Elasto-Plastic Behavior of Unsaturated Soils (불포화토의 열·탄소성 거동 분석을 위한 Barcelona Basic Model 소개)

  • Lee, Changsoo;Yoon, Seok;Lee, Jaewon;Kim, Geon Young
    • Tunnel and Underground Space
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    • v.29 no.1
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    • pp.38-51
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    • 2019
  • Barcelona Basic Model (BBM) can describe not only swelling owing to decrease in effective stress, but also wetting-induced swelling due to decrease in suction. And the BBM can also consider increase in cohesion and apparent preconsolidation stress with suction, and decrease in the apparent preconsolidation stress with temperature. Therefore, the BBM is widely used all over the world to predict and to analyze coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical behavior of bentonite which is considered as buffer materials at the engineered barrier system in the high-level radioactive waste disposal system. However, the BBM is not well known in Korea, so this paper introduce the BBM to Korean rock engineers and geotechnical engineers. In this study, Modified Cam Clay (MCC) model is introduced before all, because the BBM was first developed as an extension of the MCC model to unsaturated soil conditions. Then, the thermo-elasto-plastic version of the BBM is described in detail.

Studies on the Agricultural Use of the Water-swelling Polymer -I. Basic Experiment (수팽윤성(水膨潤性) 고분자(高分子) 화합물(化合物)의 농업적(農業的) 이용(利用)에 관(關)한 연구(硏究) -제(第) I 보(報) 기초시험(基礎試驗)을 중심(中心)으로)

  • No, Yeong-Pal;Jung, Yeun-Tae;Chung, Gun-Sik;Kim, Young-Ha
    • Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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    • v.20 no.3
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    • pp.209-216
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    • 1987
  • The experiments were carried out in lab. as well as in pots, to develop the agricultural usage of water swellable polymer, a kind of polyacrylic acid(K-sorb) synthesized by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST) recently. The changes of soil physical properties and the influences to crops were investigated with various levels of K-sorb. When the K-sorb mixed with soils and soaked up distilled water, the volume of soils increased with the increase of soil available water contents and increase of K-sorb application levels. The rate increase of soil available water was higher in the coarse textured soils than in the fine while the swelling rate of soil volume showed adverse tendencies. A positive linear regression was observed between the contents of available soil water and levels of K-sorb. K-sorb application decreased bulk density and hardness due to the increase of porosity after soybean cultivation. The permeability in coarser textured soils such as sandy and coarse loamy families was decreased with the increase of K-sorb but in the medium textured soils it was opposite. At higher levels of K-sorb, about 0.5%, the permeability abruptly decreased due to dispersion and vertical movement in silty soils, while it was not changed in fine clayey soils but has the same trend with silty soils. In the plot of 0.3% of K-sorb application, the growth of soybean such as number of pods and stem length etc. increased and the yield also increased about 1.2-1.8 times of control. The optimum amounts of K-sorb were slightly different according to soil texture but estimated from regression curves were about 0.2% to 0.35% of soils in dry weight bases.

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Effect of Salinity on Mechanical Characteristics of Stabilized Dredged Soil (고화준설토의 역학적 특성에 대한 염분의 영향)

  • Kim, Yun-Tae
    • Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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    • v.27 no.9
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    • pp.47-53
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    • 2011
  • Marine dredged soils taken from navigation channels or construction sites of coastal area usually have a lot of salt in pores of clayey soils. This paper investigates effect of salt on mechanical characteristics of non-salt and salt-rich stabilized dredged soil. The stabilized dredged soil (SDS) consisted of dredged soil and cement. Several pairs of SDS with non-salt and salt-rich dredged soils, noted as N-SDS and S-SDS, respectively, were prepared to compare their strengths and compressibility characteristics. The microstructures, strength and compressibility characteristics of N-SDS and S-SDS specimens at 7 and 28 days of curing time were evaluated using scanning electronic microscope (SEM), unconfined compression test, and oedometer test. It was found that salt concentration of clayey soil affected not only the formation of soil structure but also the strength development of mixture. The compression index and swelling index of S-SDS were also greater than those of N-SDS, which indicated that the compressibility of mixture increased due to salt concentration. Salinity in clayey soil had a negative effect on the strength development and compressibility characteristics of stabilized dredged soils.

Experimental and modelling study of clay stabilized with bottom ash-eco sand slurry pile

  • Subramanian, Sathyapriya;Arumairaj, P.D.;Subramani, T.
    • Geomechanics and Engineering
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    • v.12 no.3
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    • pp.523-539
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    • 2017
  • Clay soils are typical for their swelling properties upon absorption of water during rains and development of cracks during summer time owing to the profile desorption of water through the inter-connected soil pores by water vapour diffusion leading to evaporation. This type of unstable soil phenomenon by and large poses a serious threat to the strength and stability of structures when rest on such type of soils. Even as lime and cement are extensively used for stabilization of clay soils it has become imperative to find relatively cheaper alternative materials to bring out the desired properties within the clay soil domain. In the present era of catastrophic environmental degradation as a side effect to modernized manufacturing processes, industrialization and urbanization the creative idea would be treating the waste products in a beneficial way for reuse and recycling. Bottom ash and ecosand are construed as a waste product from cement industry. An optimal combination of bottom ash-eco sand can be thought of as a viable alternative to stabilize the clay soils by means of an effective dispersion dynamics associated with the inter connected network of pore spaces. A CATIA model was created and imported to ANSYS Fluent to study the dispersion dynamics. Ion migration from the bottom ash-ecosand pile was facilitated through natural formation of cracks in clay soil subjected to atmospheric conditions. Treated samples collected at different curing days from inner and outer zones at different depths were tested for, plasticity index, Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS), free swell index, water content, Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC), pH and ion concentration to show the effectiveness of the method in improving the clay soil.