scholarly journals Research on Wetting-Drying Cycles’ Effect on the Physical and Mechanical Properties of Expansive Soil Improved by OTAC-KCl

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bao-tian Wang ◽  
Can-hong Zhang ◽  
Xue-lian Qiu ◽  
En-yue Ji ◽  
Wen-hui Zhang

Expansive soil experiences periodic swelling and shrinkage during the alternate wet and dry environments, which will result in severe damage to the slope stability. In this study, a promising modifier OTAC-KCl is introduced, which has a good diffusivity and is soluble in water or other solvents easily. Firstly, a reasonable combination of ameliorant 0.3% STAC and 3% KCl is chosen referring to the free swell test. Then, the best curing period, 14 days, is gotten from UCS tests. The effect of wetting and drying cycles on engineering properties of expansive soil improved by OTAC-KCl admixtures after 14-day curing is also studied accordingly. Both treated and untreated expansive soil samples are prepared for the cyclic wetting-drying tests which mainly include cyclic swelling potential and cyclic strength tests. Experimental results show that the swelling potential of expansive soil samples stabilized with OTAC-KCl is suppressed efficiently, and the untreated soil specimens will collapse when immersed in water while the treated specimens keep in good conditions. Moreover, expansive soil samples modified with 0.3% OTAC + 3% KCl show enough durability on the swelling ability, shear strength, and unconfined compressive strength, which means, that both the physical and the mechanical properties of stabilized expansive soil have been improved effectively.

Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 268
Author(s):  
Jitong Zhao ◽  
Huawei Tong ◽  
Yi Shan ◽  
Jie Yuan ◽  
Qiuwang Peng ◽  
...  

Microbial-induced calcite precipitation (MICP) has been a promising method to improve geotechnical engineering properties through the precipitation of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) on the contact and surface of soil particles in recent years. In the present experiment, water absorption and unconfined compressive strength (UCS) tests were carried out to investigate the effects of three different fiber types (glass fiber, polyester fiber, and hemp fiber) on the physical and mechanical properties of MICP-treated calcareous sand. The fibers used were at 0%, 0.10%, 0.15%, 0.20%, 0.25%, 0.30%, 0.35%, and 0.40% relative to the weight of the sand. The results showed that the failure strain and ductility of the samples could be improved by adding fibers. Compared to biocemented sand (BS), the water absorption of these three fiber-reinforced biocemented sands were, respectively, decreased by 11.60%, 21.18%, and 7.29%. UCS was, respectively, increased by 24.20%, 60.76%, and 6.40%. Polyester fiber produced the best effect, followed by glass fiber and hemp fiber. The optimum contents of glass fiber and polyester fiber were 0.20% and 0.25%, respectively. The optimum content of hemp fiber was within the range of 0.20–0.25%. Light-emitting diode (LED) microscope and scanning electron microscope (SEM) images lead to the conclusion that only a little calcite precipitation had occurred around the hemp fiber, leading to a poor bonding effect compared to the glass and polyester fibers. It was therefore suggested that polyester fiber should be used to improve the properties of biocemented sand.


Author(s):  
Richard Shumbusho ◽  
Gurmel S. Ghataora ◽  
Michael P.N. Burrow ◽  
Digne R. Rwabuhungu

This study was conducted to investigate the potential benefits of using geogrids in mitigating pavement defects notably roughness and longitudinal cracking on pavements built over expansive soils. The seasonal changes of expansive soils (periodic wetting and drying) cause detrimental effects on the overlying road pavements. Such detrimental behavior of expansive soils was simulated in a controlled laboratory environment through allowing cyclic wetting and drying of an expansive soil underlying a pavement section. The shrink/swell effects of the expansive soil subgrade were examined through monitoring its change in moisture, and measuring deformation of overlying pavement section. The experimental study suggested that a geogrid layer in a reinforced pavement section can reduce surface differential shrinking and swelling deformation resulting from underlying expansive soils by a factor of 2 and 3 respectively in comparison to unreinforced section. Given that an oedometer test which is typically used to predict swelling potential of expansive soils is known to overpredict in-situ soil swell, experimental program also investigated quantitatively the extent to which the oedometer can overestimate swelling behaviour of the real-field scenarios. It was found that oedometer percent swell can overpredict in-situ swelling behaviour of the expansive soil by a factor ranging between 2 and 10 depending upon the period over which the in-situ expansive soil has been in contact with water.


2014 ◽  
Vol 884-885 ◽  
pp. 657-661 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zheng Jun Wang ◽  
Jia Bin Liang

Expansive Soil is a kind of high plastic clay. Because it has Strong hydrophilic mineral composition, its engineering prosperities embodies that its shape contracts under dehydrating, Inflation and softening under the influence of water and the strength attenuates. This is very difficult to construct in the region of expansive soil. In the region of seasonal frozen, as capillary water rising height is larger; it is prone to phenomenon of frost boil or thawing settlement. It has important meaning to improve hydrophilic and physical and mechanical properties of expansive soil for Slope stability of embankment and cutting of highway engineering and reducing the cost of investment. The paper discusses the engineering properties of expansive soil in Detail; expound some main methods of improved expansive soil at home and abroad and compare and analysis the mechanism and characteristics of the corresponding methods. The paper introduces preliminary testing methods of Expansive soil performance and prospects improved in the future.


2014 ◽  
Vol 496-500 ◽  
pp. 2398-2401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Zhe Li ◽  
Geng Feng Wang ◽  
Ling Cao

As a regional metamorphic rock, the engineering properties of the phyllite are rather complex. It is common that the tunnel construction safety has tremendous difficulty due to the groundwater, the initial stress state, joints, cracks and faults and other factors, so it is necessary to find an effective construction method for the construction of phyllite tunnel. To master the regular pattern of the influence of relative factors on physical and mechanical properties of phyllite is the basis to establish an effective construction method. The paper tries to analyze the influence of water and mineral composition on physical and mechanical properties of phyllite by making relevant tests on Lu Lin tunnel, and hope to give some clue to the design and construction of phyllite tunnels.


Materials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 3018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirjana Vukićević ◽  
Miloš Marjanović ◽  
Veljko Pujević ◽  
Sanja Jocković

Major infrastructure projects require significant amount of natural materials, often followed by the soft soil stabilization using hydraulic binders. This paper presents the results of a laboratory study of alternative waste materials (fly ash and slag) that can be used for earthworks. Results of high plasticity clay stabilization using fly ash from Serbian power plants are presented in the first part. In the second part of the paper, engineering properties of ash and ash-slag mixtures are discussed with the emphasis on the application in road subgrade and embankment construction. Physical and mechanical properties were determined via following laboratory tests: Specific gravity, grain size distribution, the moisture–density relationship (Proctor compaction test), unconfined compressive strength (UCS), oedometer and swell tests, direct shear and the California bearing ratio (CBR). The results indicate the positive effects of the clay stabilization using fly ash, in terms of increasing strength and stiffness and reducing expansivity. Fly ashes and ash-slag mixtures have also comparable mechanical properties with sands, which in combination with multiple other benefits (lower energy consumption and CO2 emission, saving of natural materials and smaller waste landfill areas), make them suitable fill materials for embankments, especially considering the necessity for sustainable development.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanbo Feng ◽  
Chao Yang

Red mud is the tailings generated from the production process of aluminum industry and is mainly stacked in open-air at present, so how to ensure the stability of red mud stockpile is very important. Regarding mud stockpile of Guizhou Aluminum Factory as the research object, this paper studies the physical and mechanical properties of Bayer red mud from wetting process, Bayer red mud from drying process, and sintering red mud through laboratory test and finally analyzes its stability under extreme rainfall condition in this region by the Geo-Studio software. The research results show that the red muds in different processes have big difference in physical and mechanical properties. The strength of sintering red mud is about 4.2 times of that of Bayer red mud from wetting process on average, and the strength of Bayer red mud from drying process is about 1.5 times of that of Bayer red mud from wetting process on average. So, the sintering red mud can be used as the subdam of red mud stockpile, to reduce the risk of collapse and dam break. The stability coefficients of the mixed stocking method under three rainfall conditions are 2.611, 2.597, and 2.631, respectively, all of which are above 1.0. It reveals that the dilatation scheme of using the sintering red mud with good engineering properties to stockpile the Bayer red mud is feasible. It can not only guarantee the safety and stability of red mud stockpiles, but also reduce the risk of red mud dam break and the capital investment of red mud yard.


2011 ◽  
Vol 250-253 ◽  
pp. 788-794
Author(s):  
Shu Lin Zhan ◽  
Shu Sen Gao ◽  
Jun Ying Lai

In order to study the influence of modified polypropylene (PP) fiber on the physical and mechanical properties of curing sludge, the same amount of cement and different content of polypropylene fiber were mixed into the sludge. Unconfined compressive strength tests, water content tests and shear strength tests were carried out on different specimens with different curing time. The results show that the sludge curing effect is markedly improved by the addition of the polypropylene fiber. As to the curing sludge with the same curing time, when the content of the polypropylene fiber increases, the unconfined compressive strength and the cohesive strength greatly increase, and the internal frictional angle decreases.


2012 ◽  
Vol 594-597 ◽  
pp. 487-492
Author(s):  
Xiong Wei Li ◽  
Ai Jun Wang ◽  
Guo Zhong Dai

The expansive soil behaviour of expansive deformation and shear strength is deeply influenced by humidity condition. Different soil drying rate was set with constant temperature and different relative humidity. When saturated soil samples was dried to the different predetermined water content, the expansion ratio test with the upper load was made. It is shown that in the condition of high relative humidity, the expansion ratio is high. The smaller initial water content and upper load may lead to a larger swelling deformation. When soil samples with different initial water content was fully expanded, the consolidated direct shear tests were made. It is shown that the smaller drying rate leads to the greater shear strength after full expansion. What’s more, the upper load may improve the soil shear strength.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 94-101
Author(s):  
Omer S. M. Hamza ◽  
Magdi M. E. Zumrawi ◽  
Awad E. M. Mohamed

This study investigates the effect of pozzolana and quick lime as stabilizer materials on expansive soil properties. Disturbed soil sample was collected from Al-Qadarif city in east of Sudan. The basic properties, swelling and strength of the soil were measured. The soil shows very weak strength and very high swelling potential. Mineralogical analysis tests were conducted to the soil using XRD tests. The soil contains significant amount of montmorillonite mineral (86%). Laboratory tests were undertaken on soil stabilized with varying percentage of pozzolana only (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 30%) and combination of pozzolana with constant content of quick lime (5%). Compaction, California Bearing Ratio (CBR), free swell, swell present and swelling pressure tests were performed on natural and treated soil. The pozzolana was obtained from Jebal Meidob and the lime obtained from local kilns in Kassala. The results showed that the treatment of expansive soil by combination of pozzolana and quick lime reduced soil swelling coupled with significant increase on soil strength. While the use of pozzolana only has marginal effective. It could be concluded that stabilization of expansive soil by pozzolana-lime admixture is successful.  


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