Model for the simulation of swelling-pressure measurements on expansive soils

1998 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fangsheng Shuai ◽  
D G Fredlund
Keyword(s):  
Pore Water ◽  
Volume Change ◽  
Unsaturated Soil ◽  
Pore Water Pressure ◽  
Expansive Soils ◽  
Water Pressure ◽  
Expansive Soil ◽  
Swelling Pressure ◽  
Oedometer Test ◽  
Free Swell

Numerous laboratory swelling tests have been reported for the measurement of swelling pressure and the amount of swell of an expansive soil. These test methods generally involve the use of a conventional one-dimensional oedometer apparatus. Few attempts, however, have been made to formulate a theoretical framework to simulate the testing procedures or to visualize the different stress paths followed when using the various methods. The simulation of the oedometer tests on expansive soils is required to fully understand the prediction of heave. The correct measurement of swelling pressure is required for an accurate prediction of heave. It is further anticipated that some information on unsaturated soils property functions may be approximated from the back-analysis of the data. A theoretical model is proposed to describe the pore-water pressures with time and depth in a specimen as well as the volume changes during various oedometer swell tests. The model is formulated based on equilibrium considerations, constitutive equations for an unsaturated soil, and the continuity requirement for the pore fluid phases. The transient water flow process is coupled with the soil volume change process. The model can be used to describe the volume-change behaviour, pore-water pressure, and vertical total stress development in an unsaturated soil during an oedometer test performed by any one of several test procedures. The model has been put into a finite element formulation using the Galerkin technique. All the parameters required to run the model can be obtained by performing independent, common laboratory tests. The proposed model was used to simulate the results from free-swell, constant-volume, constant water content, and loaded-swell oedometer tests. Computed values of volume change, vertical total stress, and pore-water pressure are in good agreement with measured values.Key words: unsaturated soil, expansive soil, swelling pressure, theoretical simulation, constant-volume oedometer test, free-swell oedometer test, loaded-swell oedometer test.

scholarly journals The prediction of total heave of a slab-on-grade floor on Regina clay

1983 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. T. Yoshida ◽  
D. G. Fredlund ◽  
J. J. Hamilton
Keyword(s):  
General Theory ◽  
Pore Water ◽  
Unsaturated Soils ◽  
Pore Water Pressure ◽  
Expansive Soils ◽  
Water Pressure ◽  
Swelling Pressure ◽  
Practical Method ◽  
Industrial Building ◽  
Floor Slab

Several analytical methods for the prediction of total heave of desiccated, expansive soils have been proposed for various geographic regions. The proposed method herein is based on a general theory for unsaturated soil. The in situ stress conditions, as assessed from the corrected swelling pressure and the required soil moduli, are deduced from the constant volume oedometer test.Verification of the proposed method was accomplished using data accumulated from the monitoring of movements of a floor slab in a light industrial building in north-central Regina, Saskatchewan. A leak in a water line buried under the floor slab resulted in a maximum heave of about 106 mm. Of the three final pore-water pressure distributions assumed, the one where pressure is constant with depth and equal to atmospheric pressure appears to be representative of the field conditions corresponding to the maximum measured heave. The measured heave represents 89% of the predicted heave for the zero pore-water pressure distribution. It is concluded that the proposed method of analysis, based upon a general theory for unsaturated soils, provides a practical method to accurately assess total heave.

scholarly journals Numerical Simulation Of The Treatment Of Soil Swelling Using Grid Geocell Columns

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Y. Fattah ◽  
Raid R. Al-Omari ◽  
Haifaa A. Ali
Keyword(s):  
Finite Element ◽  
Pore Water ◽  
Pore Water Pressure ◽  
Water Pressure ◽  
Expansive Soil ◽  
Matric Suction ◽  
Degree Of Saturation ◽  
Axial Forces ◽  
Column Material ◽  
Cap Model

Abstract In this paper, a method for the treatment of the swelling of expansive soil is numerically simulated. The method is simply based on the embedment of a geogrid (or a geomesh) in the soil. The geogrid is extended continuously inside the volume of the soil where the swell is needed to be controlled and orientated towards the direction of the swell. Soils with different swelling potentials are employed: bentonite base-Na and bentonite base-Ca samples in addition to kaolinite mixed with bentonite. A numerical analysis was carried out by the finite element method to study the swelling soil's behavior and investigate the distribution of the stresses and pore water pressures around the geocells beneath the shallow footings. The ABAQUS computer program was used as a finite element tool, and the soil is represented by the modified Drucker-Prager/cap model. The geogrid surrounding the geocell is assumed to be a linear elastic material throughout the analysis. The soil properties used in the modeling were experimentally obtained. It is concluded that the degree of saturation and the matric suction (the negative pore water pressure) decrease as the angle of friction of the geocell column material increases due to the activity of the sand fill in the dissipation of the pore water pressure and the acceleration of the drainage through its function as a drain. When the plasticity index and the active depth (the active zone is considered to be equal to the overall depth of the clay model) increase, the axial movement (swelling movement) and matric suction, as a result of the increase in the axial forces, vary between this maximum value at the top of the layer and the minimum value in the last third of the active depth and then return to a consolidation at the end of the depth layer.

scholarly journals Swelling phenomena and effective stress in compacted expansive clays

2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 134-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Mašín ◽  
Nasser Khalili
Keyword(s):  
Pore Water ◽  
Effective Stress ◽  
Pore Water Pressure ◽  
Water Pressure ◽  
Swelling Pressure ◽  
Constitutive Modelling ◽  
Dry Density ◽  
Expansive Clay ◽  
Experimental Database ◽  
Clay Aggregates

The central aim of this paper is to discuss the applicability of the effective stress principle as defined by Terzaghi (total stress minus pore-water pressure) to predict the behaviour of expansive clay aggregates. Phenomena occurring between individual clay minerals are reviewed first at the molecular level obtained in the colloid science research. In particular, it is noted that, for interparticle distances higher than approximately 1.5 nm, the pore-water pressure in the bulk equilibrium solution forms an additive component of the interparticle disjoining pressure. It is concluded that for these distances Terzaghi’s effective stress principle should be adequate to describe the clay behaviour. To support these developments, an extensive experimental database of nine different sodium and calcium bentonites available in the published literature was analysed. With the aid of double structure constitutive modelling, procedures were developed to extract information about the behaviour of clay aggregates from the experimental measurements. It was then shown that unconfined water retention curves, swelling pressure tests, swelling under constant load tests, and mechanical unloading tests are all uniquely related in terms of the dependency of dry density (or void ratio) of clay aggregate versus mean effective stress. By considering reversibility of aggregate behaviour and full saturation of aggregates, this implies that the effective stress principle is a valid way of predicting expansive clay aggregate volumetric deformation.

scholarly journals Numerical Analysis of the Effects of Crack Characteristics on the Stress and Deformation of Unsaturated Soil Slopes

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liuxin Yang ◽  
Enlong Liu
Keyword(s):  
Pore Water ◽  
Unsaturated Soil ◽  
Crack Width ◽  
Evaporation Rate ◽  
Pore Water Pressure ◽  
Water Pressure ◽  
Infiltration Rate ◽  
Soil Slope ◽  
Soil Slopes ◽  
Stress And Deformation

Cracks induced by evaporation or rainfall have a great influence on the stability of unsaturated soil slopes, which can lead to landslides during the rainfall process. In order to study the effect of crack characteristics on the evolution of stress and deformation of unsaturated soil slopes, a series of numerical analyses under different conditions were performed using a coupled elastoplastic finite element program that we developed for unsaturated soil. When carrying out the numerical analyses, the effective stress for unsaturated soil proposed by Bishop and an elastoplastic double-hardening constitutive model for the soil skeleton were employed. The varying parameters, including the crack location, the discharge speed, evaporation rate, infiltration rate, and tensile strength, were investigated to study the coupling process of pore water pressure and deformation in the process of evaporation and rainfall infiltration. The numerical results showed that the minimum pore water pressure of the soil slope at the end of evaporation/rainfall decreased gradually and the crack width increased gradually as the crack set closer to the slope; the larger the discharge speed of pore air, the greater the crack width. With the increase in the evaporation rate, the pore water pressure of the soil slope reduced and the crack initiated earlier and became wider. As the infiltration rate increased, the pore water pressure of the soil slope and the crack width increased, but the decreasing duration became shorter. The change of tensile strength had little effect on the pore water pressure, but the development of the crack width changed with evaporation and rainfall infiltration.

Assessment of the self-desiccation process in cemented mine backfills

2007 ◽  
Vol 44 (10) ◽  
pp. 1148-1156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Helinski ◽  
Andy Fourie ◽  
Martin Fahey ◽  
Mostafa Ismail
Keyword(s):  
Pore Water ◽  
Volume Change ◽  
Pore Water Pressure ◽  
Water Pressure ◽  
Pressure Change ◽  
Soil Matrix ◽  
Mine Backfill ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Key Characteristics ◽  
Conventional Manner

During the placement of fine-grained cemented mine backfill, the high placement rates and low permeability often result in undrained self-weight loading conditions, when assessed in the conventional manner. However, hydration of the cement in the backfill results in a net volume reduction—the volume of the hydrated cement is less than the combined volume of the cement and water prior to hydration. Though the volume change is small, it occurs in conjunction with the increasing stiffness of the cementing soil matrix, and the result in certain circumstances can be a significant reduction in pore-water pressure as hydration proceeds. In this paper, the implications of this phenomenon in the area of cemented mine backfill are explored. An analytical model is developed to quantify this behaviour under undrained boundary conditions. This model illustrates that the pore-water pressure change is dependent on the amount of volume change associated with the cement hydration, the incremental stiffness change of the soil, and the porosity of the material. Experimental techniques for estimating key characteristics associated with this mechanism are presented. Testing undertaken on two different cement–minefill combinations indicated that the rate of hydration and volumes of water consumed during hydration were unique for each cement–tailings combination, regardless of mix proportions.

scholarly journals Development of Some Novel Suction-Based Correlations for Swell Behavior of Expansive Soils

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Bakht Zamin ◽  
Hassan Nasir ◽  
Khalid Mehmood ◽  
Qaiser Iqbal ◽  
M. Tariq Bashir ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pore Water Pressure ◽  
Expansive Soils ◽  
Water Pressure ◽  
Expansive Soil ◽  
Field Testing ◽  
Published Data ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Field Instrumentation ◽  
Swell Potential ◽  
Unsaturated Expansive Soils

Swelling and shrinkage are the two distinctive characteristics of expansive soils, and due to this behavior, these soils are considered a natural hazard for infrastructure. Many structures in different regions have been impaired due to the swell/shrink behavior of the expansive soil. Most of the severe distress is impeded because of the inherent suction (negative pore water pressure) present in expansive soils. Both suction and swelling parameters are greatly affected by the surrounding moisture content. Due to this feature of expansive soil, geotechnical engineers are interested in utilizing the suction-based correlations for the assessment of unsaturated expansive soils. The current investigation was carried out to develop novel correlations incorporating lab testing and field instrumentation. To fulfill the objectives, eight sites of the local expansive soil in Pakistan were selected for samples collection and field testing. Conventional odometer testing was conducted to measure the swell pressure (Sp) and swell potential (S) of the fabricated/remolded specimens. Gypsum block (G-block) sensors were additionally utilized for estimating the matric suction in the field. To expand the database, the previously published data of the same nature was also incorporated. Based on the results, the power form of the novel correlations (suction-based) is highly significant for estimating (Sp), while for swell potential, the logarithmic correlation with R2 = 0.6551 is more significant than other forms of correlations. The proposed suction-based correlation can be equally utilized for the estimation of field suction as well as for swell behavior of expansive soil having a plasticity index (PI) ≥ 22%.

scholarly journals Correlation between Swelling Pressure and Free Swell of Greater Cairo City Expansive Soils – A Case Study

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Nasser A. A. Radwan ◽  
Khaled M. M. Bahloul
Keyword(s):  
Expansive Soils ◽  
Expansive Soil ◽  
Swelling Pressure ◽  
Plasticity Index ◽  
Greater Cairo ◽  
Multiple Variable ◽  
Free Swell ◽  
Multiple Variable Regression ◽  
The Relationship

The aim of this research is to investigate experimentally the relationship between free swell, plasticity index of expansive soil found in greater Cairo City Suburbs, Egypt with swelling pressure of mentioned soil. Predicting Swelling Pressure of any soil is a time consuming and expensive test in comparison to determining plasticity index and free swell which are simple, fast and economic tests. In present research six samples of expansive soil were collected from different locations of study area. The method uses single variable and multiple variable regression analysis using Microsoft excel software.

An Improved Unsaturated Triaxial Device to Characterize the Pore-Water Pressure and Local Volume Change Behavior of a Compacted Marl

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 20190003
Author(s):  
Soanarivo Rinah Andrianatrehina ◽  
Zhong-Sen Li ◽  
Said Taibi ◽  
Jean-Marie Fleureau ◽  
Luc Boutonnier
Keyword(s):  
Pore Water ◽  
Volume Change ◽  
Pore Water Pressure ◽  
Water Pressure ◽  
Local Volume ◽  
Change Behavior ◽  
Volume Change Behavior
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