Measurements of suction versus water content for bentonite–sand mixtures

2010 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 583-594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Setianto Samingan Agus ◽  
Tom Schanz ◽  
Delwyn G. Fredlund

Compacted soils have been widely used as landfill barriers because of favorable characteristics such as low coefficient of permeability and high swelling. Compacted bentonite–sand mixtures are normally unsaturated and therefore suction can be used as a behavioral indicator in addition to generally used factors such as water content and dry density (or void ratio). This study focused on investigating suction characteristics of bentonite–sand mixtures. Suction was measured using various techniques for compacted bentonite–sand mixtures. The laboratory results were analyzed to provide an understanding of the suction concept in expansive soils. It was found that suction depends primarily on the water content and the bentonite content of the mixture, and suction in expansive soils changes with the time of hydration.

1994 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 478-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hideo Komine ◽  
Nobuhide Ogata

Compacted bentonites are attracting greater attention as back-filling (buffer) materials for repositories of high-level nuclear waste. However, since there are few studies about the swelling characteristics of compacted bentonites, it is first necessary to clarify the fundamental swelling characteristics in detail. For this purpose, various laboratory tests on the swelling deformation and swelling pressure of compacted bentonites were performed and the results analyzed. The following conclusions were drawn from the study. (i) The curve of swelling deformation versus time is strongly dependent on the initial dry density, vertical pressure, and initial water content. The maximum swelling deformation, however, is almost independent of initial water content, and the maximum swelling deformation increases in proportion to the initial dry density, (ii) The maximum swelling pressure increases exponentially with increasing initial dry density, whereas the maximum swelling pressure is almost independent of initial water content. (iii) The swelling mechanism of compacted bentonite was considered on the basis of the swelling behavior of swelling clay particles such as montmorillonite. Furthermore, a model of the swelling characteristics and a new parameter (swelling volumetric strain of montmorillonite), which were able to evaluate the swelling characteristics of compacted bentonite, were proposed. Key words : bentonite, laboratory test, nuclear waste disposal, swelling deformation, swelling pressure.


2008 ◽  
Vol 39 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 38-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Victoria Villar ◽  
Antonio Lloret

1994 ◽  
Vol 353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuji Torikai ◽  
Seichi Sato ◽  
Hiroshi Ohashi

AbstractIn an attempt to determine the thermodynamic properties of water in bentonite, the vapor pressure of water in compacted bentonite was measured as functions of water content and temperature, under external pressure-free conditions. The relative partial molar Gibbs free energy ΔGH2O, enthalpy ΔHH2Oand entropy ΔSH2O of tne waler in bentonite were determined at temperature of 298.15K. The interlayer distance of montmorillonite in bentonite was also measured by X-ray diffraction.It is probable that one fourth of the total water included in the bentonite at water content of 20.3wt% and dry density of 1.76 × 103kg/m3 is nearly free water; the water is not regarded as dilute electrolytic solution but the solution with higher ionic strength. Another one fourth of the water in the bentonite at the water content is bound water; the partial molar entropy of the bound water referred to pure water is from a half to whole of solidification entropy of pure water. The remainder is regarded as intermediately bound water.


2013 ◽  
Vol 405-408 ◽  
pp. 548-553
Author(s):  
Xin Zhong Wang ◽  
Rui Liu ◽  
Shu Jun Peng

The compaction characteristics of the lime-treated expansive soils from the planning airport in China's Ankang were studied through the heavy compaction tests. The results show that all these elements such as lime content, water content, soil height, wetting time have a certain effect on dry density. As the lime quality ratio increases, the optimum water content under heavy compacting standard of improved soils increases but the maximum dry density decreases. With the increase of lime content, the effect of water content on dry density decreases while the water content near to its optimum value. Soils with the lower height have higher dry density when compaction energy, lime content and water content unchanged. As the wetting time increases, the maximum dry density shows a decreasing tendency until after 48 h it remained stable. It indicates that with the same lime content the order of primary factors influence on dry density are water content, wetting time, soil height. Finally, the lime stabilizing principle to expansive soil is explained through by applying scanning electron microscope technique.


2002 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 938-959 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Tripathy ◽  
KS Subba Rao ◽  
D G Fredlund

This paper addresses the behaviour of compacted expansive soils under swell–shrink cycles. Laboratory cyclic swell–shrink tests were conducted on compacted specimens of two expansive soils at surcharge pressures of 6.25, 50.00, and 100.00 kPa. The void ratio and water content of the specimens at several intermediate stages during swelling until the end of swelling and during shrinkage until the end of shrinkage were determined to trace the water content versus void ratio paths with an increasing number of swell–shrink cycles. The test results showed that the swell–shrink path was reversible once the soil reached an equilibrium stage where the vertical deformations during swelling and shrinkage were the same. This usually occurred after about four swell–shrink cycles. The swelling and shrinkage path of each specimen subjected to full swelling – full shrinkage cycles showed an S-shaped curve (two curvilinear portions and a linear portion). However, the swelling and shrinkage path occurred as a part of the S-shaped curve, when the specimen was subjected to full swelling – partial shrinkage cycles. More than 80% of the total volumetric change and more than 50% of the total vertical deformation occurred in the central linear portion of the S-shaped curve. The volumetric change was essentially parallel to the saturation line within a degree of saturation range of 50–80% for the equilibrium cycle. The primary value of the swell–shrink path is to provide information regarding the void ratio change that would occur for a given change in water content for any possible swell–shrink pattern. It is suggested that these swell–shrink paths can be established with a limited number of tests in the laboratory.Key words: expansive soils, oedometer tests, swell–shrink behaviour, shrinkage tests.


2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 124
Author(s):  
Wilis Diana ◽  
Edi Hartono ◽  
Anita Widianti

Expansive soils experience volumetric changes due to water content changes. These volumetric changes cause swell and shrink movement in soils, which in turn will inflict severe damage to structures built above them. A Proper understanding of how the expansive soil behaves during the wetting/drying process is essential for assessing the mitigation action of expansive soil hazard and design suitable foundation. The structures that build above expansive soil bed are susceptible to heave and to withstand swell pressure, thus the swell pressure must be considered in the design. This study focuses on swelling properties of two expansive clay from Ngawi, East Java and Wates, Yogyakarta. Laboratory test on disturbed samples is used to identified and to measured swelling properties. A series of swelling test was performed under constant soil dry density. The influence of initial water content and surcharge pressure on swelling properties (i.e swell percent and swell pressure) of compacted samples were investigated. The swelling properties test used ASTM standard 4546-03 method B. It was found that the lower initial water content the higher the swell percent, but the swell pressure seems not to be affected by initial water content. At the same initial water content, swell percent decrease with the increase of surcharge pressure, but swell pressure remains unchanged.


2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 452-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satoru Shimobe ◽  
Giovanni Spagnoli

Soil compaction is an important operation during the construction of road embankments, railway subgrade, earth dams and compacted clay liners for waste disposal. Soil compaction is usually controlled based on the ratio of the dry density of the soil to the soil water content. However, this relationship presents problems in both the laboratory and in the field when using excess compaction energy levels in cohesive soils with a high natural water content, including differences in the compaction energy levels and a reduction in strength as a result of over-compaction. The compaction curve, which considered the compaction energy levels, is usually unknown in the field and the main factors influencing the stiffness and strength of compacted soils are the dry density and the degree of saturation. We show here compaction results for soils in terms of the dry density and degree of saturation and introduce the concept of an optimum compaction line.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 44-51
Author(s):  
Talal Masoud ◽  
Abdulrazzaq Jawish Alkherret

  In this study for factors effecting the swelling pressure of jerash expansive soils were investigated in this study, effect of initial dry density and effect of initial water content on the jerash expansive soil were investigated.It show that as the initial dry density decrease from 1.85 gm/cm3  to1.25 gm/cm3 , the swelling pressure also decrease are from 3.1  to 0.25gm/cm2   also it show that as the initial water content increase from 0%to 15% , the swelling pressure of jerash expansive soil decrease from 2.65 gm/cm2  to 1.35 gm/cm2  .  


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-85
Author(s):  
Fred Kofi Boadu ◽  
Samuel Ampadu

The geotechnical properties of unconsolidated geo-materials such as soils are influenced by modifications of their micro-structure, texture, mineralogy, water content and imposed effective stress levels. Fundamental relations between the characteristic electrical parameters describing the electrical responses soils based on a fractal power law model with scaling properties, and parameters influencing their geotechnical behavior are investigated. Low frequency electrical conductivity laboratory measurements were performed on sand and clay mixtures subjected to varying effective stress levels with concurrent measurements of their geotechnical properties. The conductivity spectra of the mixtures were described using a Jonscher fractal power law model characterized with three characteristic parameters, the dc conductivity ( σ dc ), the characteristic frequency ( f c ) and an exponent ( n). Changes in effective stress, water content, clay content, and other engineering properties of the mixture such as dry density, porosity, pore size and intergranular void ratio are discussed with respect to changes in the electrical parameters. The dc conductivity and characteristic frequency decrease with an increase in effective stress levels. The exponent, however, has the opposite behavior and increases with an increase in effective stress. As the water content increases, σ dc and f c increase while n decreases for all mixtures. With increasing stress levels, the average pore size of the mixtures decreases which results in a decrease in σ dc and f c but an increase in the values of the exponent. An increase in dry density of the mixtures leads to a decrease in σ dc and f c whilst n increases. Both σ dc and f c increase with increase in the intergranular void ratio of the mixture whilst the exponent values decrease with an increase in the intergranular void ratio. This study serves as a contribution to our quest in utilizing electrical geophysical methods, to assess and monitor non-invasively, the geotechnical properties of the subsurface in a less expensive and faster manner.


2015 ◽  
Vol 52 (8) ◽  
pp. 1159-1167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiang-Feng Liu ◽  
Frédéric Skoczylas ◽  
Jean Talandier

The gas-tightness of compacted bentonite–sand mixtures is important to the total sealing efficiency of geological repositories. The initial aim of this work was to determine whether the combination of a high confining pressure (Pc) and incomplete saturation could cause a bentonite–sand mixture to become gas-tight. The results show that the physical characteristics of the materials (degree of saturation, Sr; porosity, [Formula: see text]; and dry density, ρd) are very sensitive to changes in the applied confining pressures and their own swelling deformation (or shrinkage). The combination of these changes affects the sample’s effective gas permeability (Keff). For materials prepared at a relative humidity (RH) of 98%, Keff decreased from 10−16 to 10−20 m2 when Pc increased from 1 to 7 MPa. This means that gas-tightness can be obtained for a compacted bentonite–sand mixture when the materials experience a series of changes (e.g., w, Sr, [Formula: see text], and ρd). In addition, larger irreversible deformation (or hysteresis) was observed during the loading–unloading cycle for the sample with higher water content. This phenomenon may be attributed to larger interactions between the macrostructural and microstructural deformations and the decrease of preconsolidation pressure during hydration.


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