Conceptual Model of Expansive Rock or Soil Swelling

Abstract

The paper presents a simple yet efficient way to track the void ratio, the water content, and the degree of saturation of a swelling material during saturation. The research aimed to quantitatively describe the drying and wetting processes of the swelling material, which should enable their better understanding and easier modelling. Two identical tall samples, named “twins”, were formed by consolidating the paste prepared from the swelling material in which montmorillonite is the dominant mineral. The twins were together exposed to one-dimensional drying. After drying, lasting for 40 days, one twin was dissected to determine its water content profile. The other twin was subjected to 1D wetting (ponded infiltration experiment) with a constant water column for a period of 21 days and then dissected to determine the moisture profile. The sample preparation reduces uncertainties about the initial state. The results show that during wetting, the material follows a path in the e-w plot which is parallel to the full saturation curve. After reaching some degree of saturation, the path becomes parallel to the residual (shrinking) line. The proposed model predicts the primary and secondary phases of swelling, and under appropriate conditions, it assumes the tertiary phase.