Expansion or swelling behavior of expansive soil has always created problems in the field of geotechnical engineering. When any construction has been carried out on expansive soil without pre-knowledge of their properties under various environmental conditions, the damage is severe. One of the methods to find out swelling potential of expansive soil is the expansive index (EI). The present study investigates the reduction of EI for the two commercially available expansive soils i.e., kaolinite and bentonite when mixed with Ottawa sand and Class C fly ash. The percentages of Ottawa sand and Class C fly ash mixed with kaolinite and bentonite were 0 to 50% by weight. The results show that there is a significant reduction in the swelling properties of expansive soil with the addition of Ottawa sand and Class C fly ash. The reduction in expansive index ranged approximately from 10 to 50% and 4 to 49% for kaolinite and bentonite, respectively. Also the maximum swelling pressure of kaolinite and bentonite soil decreased approximately 93% and 64%, respectively with the addition of various percentages of Ottawa sand and Class C fly ash. These results help to identify the swelling potential and swelling pressure of expansive soil with different percentages of sand and fly ash which will be beneficial to the geotechnical engineer. Standard index properties test such as liquid limit, plastic limit and shrinkage limit test was conducted to see the characteristic of expansive soil when mixed with less expansive sand and Class C fly ash. Also, for these expansive soils one dimensional (1-D) consolidation characteristics was studied with sand and Class C fly ash mixtures and the results were compared with pure kaolinite and bentonite soil. Pre-consolidation (Pc) behavior, compression index (Cc) and recompression or swelling index (Cs) properties were also studied for the different percentages of sand and Class C fly ash with expansive soil.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(農学) / 甲第20423号 / 農博第2208号 / 新制||農||1047(附属図書館) / 学位論文||H29||N5044(農学部図書室) / 京都大学大学院農学研究科食品生物科学専攻 / (主査)教授 安達 修二, 教授 金本 龍平, 教授 谷 史人 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Agricultural Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

The present thesis is composed of two parts. The first part presents the chemo-mechanical effect on the volumetric and shearing behaviour of saturated soil as a continuum. The second part presents the chemo-mechanical effect on the shearing behaviour of a discontinuity. Following Gajo and Loret, 2003, saturated soil is considered as a two-phase deformable porous medium, namely solid and fluid phase consisting of different species. There are clay particles, adsorbed water and ion in the solid phase. The fluid phase includes pore water and salt which may diffuse through the porous medium. In addition, water may be exchanged between solid and fluid phases while the mass of clay particles and ions in the solid phase remains constant. Thus, the balance equations are momentum balance, the mass balance of pore water and salt in the fluid phase, the mass balance of absorbed water. A two-dimensional element is proposed to approximate the solution of the balance equations which has been implemented in a user-defined subroutine (UEL) of the commercial code ABAQUS. This element has taken into account the 2D displacement of the soil skeleton, multidimensional flow of water, osmotic effect, advection and diffusion of salt. A new hyperelastic law is presented by extending the chemo-mechanical model proposed by Loret et al., 2002. The innovative aspects of the proposed model are the following: 1) both the tangent shear stiffness and bulk stiffness depend on the applied stress state and pore water solution, 2) the anisotropy of fabric tensor is introduced in the elasticity law. Moreover, the yield function has been modified to obtain smaller peak strength for highly overconsolidated samples to have better agreement with experimental results. The proposed 2D model is validated with experimental results on natural bentonite (a very active clay) and the soil extracted from low activity clay of Costa della Gaveta slope in Southern Italy. The swelling and swelling pressure of these two types of soil have been computed and compared with the experimental data to show the accuracy and reliability of the proposed model. Furthermore, the effects of elastic anisotropy are investigated on the soil behaviour such as swelling, swelling pressure, stress paths and horizontal stress. Furthermore, a simplified analysis has been performed to show the effect of swelling pressure on slope stability. In the second part, a contact element is proposed to account for the flow of water and diffusion of salt in addition to displacement in the simulation of interface behaviour. This element has been implemented in a user-defined subroutine (UEL) of ABAQUS. Moreover, a nonlinear elasticity law is proposed in which traction in the contact region has been taken into account. The Mohr-Columb yield criterion is used for the plastic regime in which it is assumed that the friction angle is a function of salt concentration and displacement rate based on the experimental data. Some preliminary results are shown for the flux of salt and water through the element. In addition, the effects of salt concentration and displacement rate are presented on the shearing behaviour of the contact element.

Expansive or swelling soils, exist in many part of the world, show excessive volume changes with increasing water content. As a result of this volume increase, expansive soils apply vertical and lateral pressures to the structures located or buried in these regions. Many researchs have been carried out on vertical swelling pressures helping to the engineers to design structures withstanding on these stresses. However, lateral swell behaviour of swelling soils have not been fully understood yet. Structures such as / basement walls, water tanks, canals, tunnels, underground conduits and swimming pools which will be built in expansive soils have to be designed to overcome the lateral swelling pressures as well as the other lateral pressures exerted by the soil. For this aim accurate and reliable methods are needed to predict the magnitude of lateral swelling pressures of expansive soils and to understand the lateral swelling behaviour of expansive soils. In this experimental study, the lateral swelling behaviour of an highly expansive clay is investigated using a modified thin wall oedometer which was developed in the METU Civil Engineering Department Soil Mechanics Laboratory earlier. Statically compacted samples were used in constant volume swell (CVS) tests to measure the magnitude of the lateral and vertical swelling pressures. To study the relationship between the lateral and vertical sweeling pressures, they were measured simultaneously. The samples having different initial water contents and different initial dry densities were used to study the effects of these variables on the vertical and the lateral swelling pressures. It is observed that both lateral and vertical pressures increases with increasing initial dry density and they decrease with increasing initial water content. Swell pressure ratio, the ratio of lateral swelling pressure to the vertical one, is increasing with increasing initial water content. Time needed to obtain the magnitude of maximum lateral and vertical pressures decreases with increasing initial water content and increases with increasing initial dry density.

The Incidence and Associated Geotechnical Issues of Swelling Clay in Stockholm  Viktoria Clarin & Anna Clark  Previous tunnel failures have shown that inadequate reinforcement in tunnels can lead to cave-ins, whereby swelling clay is one of several factors that can result in these damages. Swelling clay minerals possess the ability to absorb water molecules and cations leading to an increase in volume. Instability in tunnels is a consequence of the mobilised swelling pressure caused by lack of room to accommodate for the change in volume. Several tunnels are projected throughout central Stockholm in the near future, whereby numerous drill cores have been logged. This bachelor thesis will therefore focus on the swelling potential and swelling pressure of clay samples selected from a drill core traversing the Söderström fault system. The samples selected for further analysis were collected from a drill core from Slussen, Stockholm, with the aim of determining the reinforcement requirements for future tunnelling projects.  Several samples from the drill core were selected for analysis, whereby free swelling test was conducted to determine the swelling potential for each sample. One sample displayed more than 100% volume increase and was further tested to determine swelling pressure. Tests were performed using an oedometer, resulting in a measured swelling pressure of approximately 155kPa. To identify the clay type several X-ray diffraction tests were performed on the sample.  Similar swelling pressures have been measured in tunnels affected by cave-ins in Norway. Due to these previous events, the swelling pressure is of imminent importance when constructing new tunnels. Based on the obtained results, an adequate reinforcement can be estimated and used as a foundation for future tunnel constructions within the area. The tests show that the Söderström fault contains swelling clay and precautions will have to be taken when tunnels are constructed. / Förekomsten och geotekniska konsekvenser av svällande lera i Stockholm  Viktoria Clarin & Anna Clark Tidigare fall har visat att otillräcklig förstärkning i tunnlar kan leda till ras där svällande lera är en av ett antal faktorer som kan resultera i sådana skador. Svällande lermineral innehar egenskapen att absorbera vatten och katjoner som resulterar i en volymökning. Instabilitet i tunnelkonstruktioner är en konsekvens av det mobiliserande svälltrycket som uppstår då utrymme inte finns tillgängligt för denna volymändring. Ett antal tunnlar är planerade genom centrala Stockholm inom en nära framtid varför flertalet borrkärnor har karterats. Denna kandidatuppsats fokuserar därför på svällningspotential och svälltryck hos prov från en borrkärna som korsar Söderströmförkastningen. Proven som valts ut för vidare analys har sitt ursprung från en borrkärna tagen vid Slussen, Stockholm. Analyserna i denna studie har i syfte att möjliggöra en estimering av förstärkning vid framtida projekt som involverar tunnelkonstruktion.  Ett antal prov valdes ut för analys varpå fria svällningsförsök utfördes för att bestämma svällningspotential hos respektive prov. Ett av proven uppvisade en volymökning över 100% varför ytterligare försök utfördes för att fastställa provets svälltryck. Försöken genomfördes med hjälp av en ödometer vilket resulterade i ett svälltryck på ca 155kPa. För identifiering av leran utfördes ett antal analyser med röntgendiffraktion.  Likvärdiga svälltryck har uppmätts i tunnlar som drabbats av ras i Norge. Det är därför viktigt att ta hänsyn till detta då de nya tunnelprojekten ska påbörjas. Baserat på resultaten denna rapport redovisar kan godtycklig förstärkning estimeras och användas som grund för framtida tunnlar som byggs i området. Resultaten i denna studie visar att Söderströmsförkastningen innehåller svällande lera vilket kommer måste tas hänsyn till då tunnlar konstrueras.

Une étude multi-échelle du gonflement d’une smectite en milieu confiné est proposée par une analyse de la pression de gonflement et de la porosité à différentes échelles (inter-agrégat, inter-particulaire, interfoliaire). Un dispositif spécifique, œdo-tomomètre, est conçu pour assurer le suivi couplé de la pression de gonflement et de la porosité inter-agrégat identifiable par microtomographie de rayon X (taille > 5 µm). D’autres analyses par adsorption de gaz et en microscopie permettent de caractériser la porosité à plus petites échelles. Différents types de fluides sont utilisés pour hydrater les éprouvettes afin de contrôler les composantes cristalline et osmotique du gonflement (solutions de NaCl à différentes forces ioniques et solution de méthacrylate de méthyle (MMA)). Les résultats obtenus en comparant notamment les éprouvettes hydratées par des solutions ioniques de NaCl à celles hydratées par du MMA montrent que l’évolution de la pression de gonflement et la réorganisation de la microstructure (diminution en taille de la porosité inter-agrégat, fractionnement possible des particules) sont intimement liées. Par ailleurs, ces résultats comparés à ceux calculés par des modèles phénoménologiques (BExM par exemple, modèle de Barcelone pour les sols gonflants) sont assez bien corrélés / A multi-scale investigation of the swelling behaviour of a purified bentonite under constrained conditions is carried out by a monitoring of the swelling pressure and the porosity evolution at various scales (inter-aggregate, inter-particle, interlayer). A specific oedometer, oedo-tomometer, has been designed to monitor both the swelling pressure and the inter-aggregate porosity evolution deduced from microfocus X-ray computed tomography measurements (size higher than 5 µm). Further investigations of the porosity at lower scale were conducted at various stages of the swelling process by gas adsorption mainly and transmission electron microscopy. Various fluids were used for specimen hydration to control either crystalline swelling or osmotic swelling (NaCl solutions at different ionic strengths and methyl methacrylate (MMA) solution). The results, which combined both swelling pressure measurements and quantification of microstructure evolution upon hydration for the two different solutions, give sound understanding on the development of osmotic and/or crystalline swelling and their relative impact both on the microstructure and on the magnitude of the macroscopic swelling pressure of compacted smectites. Furthermore, these results compared to calculated results (BExM for example) shows similar evolutions

The one-dimensional (1-D) potential heave (or swell strain) of expansive soil is conventionally estimated using the swelling pressure and swelling index values which are determined from different types of oedometer test results. The swelling pressure of expansive soils is typically measured at saturated condition from oedometer tests. The experimental procedures of oedometer tests are cumbersome as well as time-consuming for use in conventional geotechnical engineering practice and are not capable for estimating heave under different stages of unsaturated conditions. To alleviate these limitations, semi-empirical models are proposed in this thesis to predict the variation of swelling pressure of both compacted and natural expansive soils with respect to soil suction using the soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) as a tool. An empirical relationship is also suggested for estimating the swelling index from plasticity index values, alleviating the need for conducting oedometer tests. The predicted swelling pressure and estimated swelling index are then used to estimate the variation of 1-D heave with respect to suction for expansive soils by modifying Fredlund (1983) equation. The proposed approach is validated on six different compacted expansive soils from US, and on eight field sites from six countries; namely, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Canada, China, US, and the UK. The proposed simple techniques presented in this thesis are friendly for the practitioners for using when estimating the heave in unsaturated expansive soils.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・論文博士 / 博士(理学) / 乙第13300号 / 論理博第1563号 / 新制||理||1653(附属図書館) / (主査)准教授 王 功輝, 教授 釜井 俊孝, 教授 福田 洋一 / 学位規則第4条第2項該当 / Doctor of Science / Kyoto University / DGAM

The compacted bentonites are used as buffer and backfill materials for engineering barriers for high-level nuclear waste repositories located underground. For this purpose, it is very important to evaluate the swelling characteristics of this clay. The swelling capacity is one of the most important properties of the bentonite clay. The swelling behaviour is due two mechanisms, the crystalline swelling and the osmotic swelling. These mechanisms produce an increase in the distance between the layers of montmorillonite which is one component of bentonite. The result of the swelling capacity is the swelling pressure. It has been studied in several investigations. The results of experimental tests have been collected and compared in this thesis, considering only the Na-dominant bentonite and sand and distilled water as test solution. The experimental tests show that there is only an unique relation between different bentonites in the Na-dominant bentonite and sand mixture swollen depending on its final dry density. Also, the relation between the swelling pressure and the clay void ratio shows the mechanism of the swelling pressure. On the other hand, a mechanistic model is used to predict the swelling pressure of fully saturated bentonite and sand mixture in distilled water. Firstly, it has been compared with the results of experimental tests and it should be pointed out that the model gives good predictions. In addition, the model has been used to make sensitivity analysis with different parameters of bentonite. The most important conclusions in this section show that the swelling pressure mainly depends on the distance among particles. Also, the sensitivity analyses indicate which parameters should be fitted more carefully for future studies to validate this model with different bentonites.

Natural soils in work-sites are sometimes detrimental to the construction of engineering projects. Problematic soils such as soft and expansive soils are a real source of concern to the long-term stability of structures if care is not taken. Expansive soils could generate immense distress due to their volume change in response to a slight change in their water content. On the other hand, soft soils are characterised by their low shear strength and poor workability. In earthwork, replacing these soils is sometimes economically and sustainably unjustifiable in particular if they can be stabilised to improve their behaviour. Several techniques have evolved to enable construction on problematic soils such as reinforcement using fibre and planar layers and piled reinforced embankments. Chemical treatment using, e.g. lime and/or cement is an alternative method to seize the volume change of swelling clays. The use of lime as a binding agent is becoming a popular method due to its abundant availability and cost-effectiveness. When mixed with swelling clays, lime enhances the mechanical properties, workability and reduces sensitivity to absorption and release of water. There is a consensus in the literature about the primary mechanisms, namely cation exchange, flocculation and pozzolanic reaction, which cause the changes in the soil characteristics after adding lime in the presence of water. The dispute is about whether these mechanisms occur in a sequential or synchronous manner. More precisely, the controversy concerns the formation of cementitious compounds in the pozzolanic reaction, whether it starts directly or after the cation exchange and flocculation are completed. The current study aims to monitor the signs of the formation of such compounds using a geotechnical approach. In this context, the effect of delayed compaction, lime content, mineralogy composition, curing time and environmental temperature on the properties of lime-treated clays were investigated. The compaction, swelling and permeability, and unconfind compression strength tests were chosen to evaluate such effect. In general, the results of the geotechnical approach have been characterised by their scattering. The sources of this dispersion are numerous and include sampling methods, pulverisation degree, mixing times and delay of compaction process, a pre-test temperature and humidity, differences in dry unit weight values, and testing methods. Therefore, in the current study, several precautions have been set to reduce the scattering in the results of such tests so that they can be used efficiently to monitor the evolution in the properties that are directly related to the formation and development of cementitious compounds. Four clays with different mineralogy compositions, covering a wide range of liquid limits, were chosen. The mechanical and hydraulic behaviour of such clays that had been treated by various concentrations of lime up to 25% at two ambient temperatures of 20 and 40oC were monitored for various curing times. The results indicated that the timing of the onset of changes in mechanical and hydraulic properties that are related to the formation of cementitious compounds depends on the mineralogy composition of treated clay and ambient temperature. Moreover, at a given temperature, the continuity of such changes in the characteristics of a given lime-treated clay depends on the lime availability.