Unsaturated soil properties of a fissured expansive clay

Shahid Azam, Maki Ito

In the proceedings of: GEO2011: 64th Canadian Geotechnical Conference, 14th Pan-American Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, 5th Pan-American Conference on Teaching and Learning of Geotechnical Engineering

Session: Behaviour of Unsaturated Soils

ABSTRACT: The engineering properties of expansive Regina clay were investigated under in situ conditions to understand the influence of geologically induced fissuring and environmentally caused saturation. Results indicated a bi-modal SWCC comprising of a fissure AEV (10 kPa) and a matrix AEV (300 kPa). The latter value matched the field water content and the plastic limit, of which both occurred at S = 80%. The swell-shrink path was found to be S-shaped and included an initial low structural shrinkage (S = 100% to S = 80% at wp) followed by a sharp decline during normal shrinkage (S = 80% to S = 60% at ws) and then by a low decrease during residual shrinkage (S = 60% to S = 0%).

RÉSUMÉ: Les propriétés mécaniques de l'argile expansible de Regina ont été étudiées dans des conditions in situ pour comprendre l'influence de la saturation causée par l'environnement, et la fissuration causée par le mouvement géologique. Les résultats une SWCC bimodale comprenant une fissure AEV (10 kPa) et une matrice de AEV (300 kPa). Cette dernière valeur correspond à la teneur en eau sur le terrain et la limite de plasticité, toutes deux survenues à S = 80%. rétrécissement a été trouvé en forme de S et inclus un rétrécissement initial structurel (S = 100% à S = 80% wp à) suivi d'une forte baisse au cours du rétrécissement normal (S = 80% à S = 60% à ws) et ensuite par une diminution faible lors du rétrécissement résiduel (S = 60% à S = 0%).

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Cite this article:
Shahid Azam; Maki Ito (2011) Unsaturated soil properties of a fissured expansive clay in GEO2011. Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Geotechnical Society.

@article{GEO11Paper313,author = Shahid Azam; Maki Ito ,title = Unsaturated soil properties of a fissured expansive clay,year = 2011}