Abstract:Expansive soil has been studied for eighty decades because it is prone to cause geotechnical engineering accidents. The results of the moisture content effects on the expansive pressure were not consistent in the literatures. In this paper, swelling deformation and pressure tests were conducted to clarify the effects of the initial water content on the swelling properties. The relation of expansive stress and initial moisture content was accurately described with a Gaussian distribution, unlike in the previous… Show more
“…However, on the wet side of OMC, the orientation of soil particles is much higher than that of the dry side, and therefore, the quantity of face-to-face contact also increases. As shown in Figure 16(a), the ∆P/P 0 value initially increased with increasing water content up to the optimum content range which is in good agreement with previous studies [61]. According to the earlier explanations, the reason for this can be attributed to the state of particle focculation with the edge-to-face contact and large voids between particles.…”
Section: Comparison Of the Efect Of Initial Water Content And Bofs St...supporting
In terms of geotechnical engineering, swelling soils are among the most important soil groups whose characteristics should be determined in detail before design studies. These types of soils cause significant damage to engineering structures. For this reason, it is expected that the swelling behavior of the soils will be known in advance to minimize the damage that may occur in the structures. Within the scope of this study, the swelling pressures of bentonite clay with 10 different water content were determined by keeping all conditions the same to reveal the effect of water content on soil swelling behavior. In this context, bentonite-type (montmorillonite content) clay, which has a very swelling property when it comes in contact with water, was used in the experiments. The fixed volume swelling pressure test method was used in the experiments and all samples were compressed at the same rate and placed in the swelling test device. In all samples left to swell with pure water, measurements were made for 10 days and the effects of swelling pressures on the initial water content were discussed. Thereafter, another swelling soil was stabilized using basic oxygen furnace slag (BOFS) during different curing times, and after performing the swelling pressure test, the results were compared with the findings obtained from different initial water contents. According to the results, while the swelling pressures increase in the regions close to optimum water content, significant decreases are observed in swelling pressure values in wetter and drier regions than in optimum water content. Finally, the results indicated that the application of BOFS, albeit small, after the proper curing time can significantly affect the swelling behavior of bentonite, even more than changing the initial water content.
“…However, on the wet side of OMC, the orientation of soil particles is much higher than that of the dry side, and therefore, the quantity of face-to-face contact also increases. As shown in Figure 16(a), the ∆P/P 0 value initially increased with increasing water content up to the optimum content range which is in good agreement with previous studies [61]. According to the earlier explanations, the reason for this can be attributed to the state of particle focculation with the edge-to-face contact and large voids between particles.…”
Section: Comparison Of the Efect Of Initial Water Content And Bofs St...supporting
In terms of geotechnical engineering, swelling soils are among the most important soil groups whose characteristics should be determined in detail before design studies. These types of soils cause significant damage to engineering structures. For this reason, it is expected that the swelling behavior of the soils will be known in advance to minimize the damage that may occur in the structures. Within the scope of this study, the swelling pressures of bentonite clay with 10 different water content were determined by keeping all conditions the same to reveal the effect of water content on soil swelling behavior. In this context, bentonite-type (montmorillonite content) clay, which has a very swelling property when it comes in contact with water, was used in the experiments. The fixed volume swelling pressure test method was used in the experiments and all samples were compressed at the same rate and placed in the swelling test device. In all samples left to swell with pure water, measurements were made for 10 days and the effects of swelling pressures on the initial water content were discussed. Thereafter, another swelling soil was stabilized using basic oxygen furnace slag (BOFS) during different curing times, and after performing the swelling pressure test, the results were compared with the findings obtained from different initial water contents. According to the results, while the swelling pressures increase in the regions close to optimum water content, significant decreases are observed in swelling pressure values in wetter and drier regions than in optimum water content. Finally, the results indicated that the application of BOFS, albeit small, after the proper curing time can significantly affect the swelling behavior of bentonite, even more than changing the initial water content.
“…The lower swelling stress values were noted at the wet side of the optimum as the dry density increases. The results concord with the outcome of the investigation conducted by [32] on the swelling pressure and meso-mechanism of Gaussian distribution under constant volume conditions, which revealed that the relation of expansive stress and initial moisture content depends on the change in the microstructure with diverse moisture contents. In addition, dry density and vertical stress influence expansive properties were also correlated with swelling stress.…”
Unsaturated swelling soil behaviour is governed by the matric suction, thus the predetermination of swelling stress for expansive unsaturated soil requires rigorous procedures. However, some swelling stress equations assume full saturation of the soil, which leads to the over-design of infrastructure. This study focused on the validation of predictive swelling stress models that correlate suction with other soil properties. Three models were developed, and independent data were used for the validation of the developed models. The predicted swelling stress values were compared to the values predicted by the randomly selected predictive models from the literature. Series of initial studies include the determination of basic soil characterization and swelling stress along with soil mineralogical compositions were conducted to determine their geotechnical properties with their corresponding degree of expansiveness. The replicated expansive soils were also studied for suction, using filter paper techniques to obtain the soil's unsaturated parameters. Based on the obtained experimental results, three models were developed using a mathematical software package (NCSS11). Independent data obtained from a group of final year students working on the swelling stress response of expansive unsaturated soils at the geotechnical engineering Laboratory from the University of Johannesburg were used for the validation. The developed models showed good agreement with the independent data, having a coefficient of determination (R 2 ) of 0.858, 0.931, and 0.890 for Eq. 4, 5, and 6, respectively. Compared to models selected from literature, which recorded R 2 values of 0.796 and 0.636 with an average variance of 0.097 and 0.257 respectively. The correlation variables showed that the degree of expansion represented by swelling stress demonstrated a proportionality with the moisture capacity along the drying and wetting path of the suction curves. Results suggest that the developed models can reasonably predict the swelling stress of compacted expansive soils at high suction values.
“…group index results. Accordingly, soils found in the study area are bad to medium subgrade category, which need different thickness of capping layer for pavement construction (Changxi et al , 2019 and Han et al , 2020).…”
Purpose
This paper aims to present physical and geotechnical study in terms of experimental field and laboratory investigations of the subgrade soils in severely damaged and highly degraded road section with numerous potholes between Chencha to Ezo towns of Ethiopia needs to be addressed for a robust pavement.
Design/methodology/approach
Eighteen soil samples were collected from 18 km road stretch at a kilometer interval by considering variation and composition of soils along the road alignment. The field density with dry density, natural moisture content, consistency limit, compaction and California Bearing Ratio (CBR) were determined.
Findings
Soils were classified predominantly as silty-clay that replicates its expansive nature, characterized as bad to medium subgrade. The average optimum moisture content and maximum dry density are 17.18% and 1.83 g/cc, whereas the average CBR and swell as 8.40% and 1.49%, respectively. The investigated results indicated that the indispensable way for a stable and durable road subgrade in the existing silty clayey soil requires a capping layer. The results were uploaded into ArcGIS platform to create interactive maps for spatial distribution, composition and strength of the subgrade properties.
Originality/value
Experimental investigation of subgrade soils by scientific procedures and presenting important properties through integrated approach using ArcGIS Mapping for the road pavement design and construction purpose of under developed areas like Chencha-Ezo. ArcGIS-based mapping of all required and numerical subgrade properties with a single click using ArcGIS tool is the main significance and contribution of this study. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is original, and all the references are properly cited.
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