Swelling pressure evolution characterization of strong expansive soil considering the influence of reserved expansion deformation

Numerous engineering cases have demonstrated that the expansive soil channel slope remains susceptible to damage with the implementation of a rigid or closed protective structure. It is common for the protective structure to experience bulging failure due to excessive swelling pressure. To investigate the swelling pressure properties of expansive soil, the constant volume test was employed to study the influence of water content and reserved expansion deformation on the characteristics of swelling pressure in strong expansive soils, and also to explore the evolution mechanism of the swelling pressure. The findings demonstrate that the swelling pressure-time curve can be classified into swelling pressure-time softening and swelling pressure-time stability type. The swelling pressuretime curve of the specimen with low water content is the swelling pressure-time softening type, and the softening level will be weakened with increasing reserved expansion deformation. Besides, the maximum swelling pressure Psmax decreases with increasing water content and reserved expansion deformation, especially for expansion ratio η from 24% to 37%. The reserved deformation has little effect on reducing Psmax when it is beyond 7% of the expansion rate. The specimen with low water content has a more homogeneous structure due to the significant expansion-filling effect, and the fracture and reorganization of the aggregates in the specimens with low water content cause the swelling pressure-time softening behavior. In addition, the proposed swelling pressure-time curve prediction model has a good prediction on the test results. If necessary, a deformation space of about 7% expansion rate is recommended to be reserved in the engineering to reduce the swelling pressure except for keeping a stable water content.

Stabilization Mechanism of Calcium Lignosulphonate Used in Expansion Sensitive Soil

A series of tests were performed to investigate the macroscopic properties and the stabilization mechanism of calcium lignosulphonate modified expansive soil.Compared with natural soil,soil modified by 4%calcium lignosulphonate showed 56.5%increased 28 days unconfined compressive strength and 23.8%decreased free expansion rate.The X-ray diffraction analysis results indicate the existence of cation exchange and the reduction of montmorillonite interplanar spacing.The X-computed tomography results demonstrate that calcium lignosulphonate decreased the porosity and optimized the pore distribution.The calcium lignosulphonate also increased the stability of the suspension system according to the Zeta potential results.Moreover,the results of rheological tests show that the moderate amount of calcium lignosulphonate enhanced the yield stress and the plastic viscosity,proving the formation of a strong connection between soil particles.

An experimental study of salt expansion in sodium saline soils under transient conditions

Salt expansion in sulfate saline soils that are widely distributed in northwestern China causes serious infrastructural damages under low-temperature conditions. However, the mechanism of salt expansion under low temperatures is not clear. In this study, we conducted a series of cooling experiments combined with salt crystallization to study this mechanism, and employed an ionic model to calculate the supersaturation ratio of the solution. During the experiments, the strength and the process of salt expansion were examined under different cooling rates and various crystal morphologies. The relationship between temperature and supersaturation ratio under transient conditions was also considered. Results indicate that the initial supersaturation ratio of a sodium sulfate solution is closely related to environmental conditions, and that this ratio decreases with slowing the cooling rates and stabilizing the crystal forms. Higher initial supersaturation ratios lead to an increased non-steady-state zone, resulting in less salt expansion. On the other hand, chloride ion content has a distinct influence on the crystallization supersaturation ratio of the sodium sulfate solution, and higher chloride ion content can inhibit salt expansion in sodium saline soils. These findings help explain salt expansion mechanisms in complex conditions such as seasonally frozen soils, and thus help search for improved methods of preventing salt expansion in sulfate saline soils.

A vector sum analysis method for stability evolution of expansive soil slope considering shear zone damage softening

Slope stability analysis is a classical mechanical problem in geotechnical engineering and engineering geology.It is of great significance to study the stability evolution of expansive soil slopes for engineering construction in expansive soil areas.Most of the existing studies evaluate the slope stability by analyzing the limit equilibrium state of the slope,and the analysis method for the stability evolution considering the damage softening of the shear zone is lacking.In this study,the large deformation shear mechanical behavior of expansive soil was investigated by ring shear test.The damage softening characteristic of expansive soil in the shear zone was analyzed,and a shear damage model reflecting the damage softening behavior of expansive soil was derived based on the damage theory.Finally,by skillfully combining the vector sum method and the shear damage model,an analysis method for the stability evolution of the expansive soil slope considering the shear zone damage softening was proposed.The results show that the shear zone subjected to large displacement shear deformation exhibits an obvious damage softening phenomenon.The damage variable equation based on the logistic function can be well used to describe the shear damage characteristics of expansive soil,and the proposed shear damage model is in good agreement with the ring shear test results.The vector sum method considering the damage softening behavior of the shear zone can be well applied to analyze the stability evolution characteristics of the expansive soil slope.The stability factor of the expansive soil slope decreases with the increase of shear displacement,showing an obvious progressive failure behavior.

At-rest lateral earth pressure of compacted expansive soils:Experimental investigations and prediction approach

This paper presents experimental studies on a compacted expansive soil,from Nanyang,China for investigating the at-rest lateral earth pressureσL of expansive soils.The key studies include(i)relationships between theσL and the vertical stressσV during soaking and consolidation,(ii)the influences of initial dry densityρd0 and moisture content w 0 on the vertical and lateral swelling pressures at no swelling strain(i.e.σV0 andσL0),and(iii)evolution of theσL during five long-term wetting-drying cycles.Experimental results demonstrated that the post-soakingσL-σV relationships are piecewise linear and their slopes in the passive state(σL>σV)and active state(σL<σV)are similar to that of the consolidationσL-σV relationships in the normal-and over-consolidated states,respectively.The soakingσL-σV relationships converge to the consolidationσL-σV relationships at a thresholdσV where the interparticle swelling is restrained.TheσL0 andσV0 increase monotonically withρd0;however,they show increasing-then-decreasing trends with the w 0.The extent of compaction-induced swelling anisotropy,which is evaluated byσL0/σV0,reduces with an increase in the compaction energy and molding water content.TheσL reduces over moisture cycles and the stress relaxation in theσL during soaking is observed.An approach was developed to predict the at-rest soakingσL-σV relationships,which requires conventional consolidation and shear strength properties and one measurement of theσL-σV relationships during soaking.The proposed approach was validated using the results of three different expansive soils available in the literature.

Seismic stability of expansive soil slopes reinforced by anchor cables using a modified horizontal slice method

Earthquake-induced slope failures are common occurrences in engineering practice and pre-stressed anchor cables are an effective technique in maintaining slope stability,especially in areas that are prone to earthquakes.Furthermore,the soil at typical engineering sites also exhibit unsaturated features.Explicit considerations of these factors in slope stability estimations are crucial in producing accurate results.In this study,the seismic responses of expansive soil slopes stabilized by anchor cables is studied in the realm of kinematic limit analysis.A modified horizontal slice method is proposed to semi-analytically formulate the energy balance equation.An illustrative slope is studied to demonstrate the influences of suction,seismic excitations and anchor cables on the slope stability.The results indicate that the stabilizing effect of soil suction relates strongly to the seismic excitation and presents a sine shape as the seismic wave propagates.In higher and steeper slopes,the stabilizing effect of suction is more evident.The critical slip surface tends to be much more shallow as the seismic wave approaches the peak and vice versa.

Application of multi-algorithm ensemble methods in high-dimensional and small-sample data of geotechnical engineering:A case study of swelling pressure of expansive soils

Geotechnical engineering data are usually small-sample and high-dimensional,which brings a lot of challenges in predictive modeling.This paper uses a typical high-dimensional and small-sample swell pressure(P_(s))dataset to explore the possibility of using multi-algorithm hybrid ensemble and dimensionality reduction methods to mitigate the uncertainty of soil parameter prediction.Based on six machine learning(ML)algorithms,the base learner pool is constructed,and four ensemble methods,Stacking(SG),Blending(BG),Voting regression(VR),and Feature weight linear stacking(FWL),are used for the multi-algorithm ensemble.Furthermore,the importance of permutation is used for feature dimensionality reduction to mitigate the impact of weakly correlated variables on predictive modeling.The results show that the proposed methods are superior to traditional prediction models and base ML models,where FWL is more suitable for modeling with small-sample datasets,and dimensionality reduction can simplify the data structure and reduce the adverse impact of the small-sample effect,which points the way to feature selection for predictive modeling.Based on the ensemble methods,the feature importance of the five primary factors affecting P_(s) is the maximum dry density(31.145%),clay fraction(15.876%),swell percent(15.289%),plasticity index(14%),and optimum moisture content(13.69%),the influence of input parameters on P_(s) is also investigated,in line with the findings of the existing literature.

Numerical analysis of crack generation within embankment built on expansive soil foundation

In order to analyze the initial cracking behavior of highway embankment in the regions of expansive soil, the changes in peaks of tensile stress and their location on top of the embankment for a typical highway embankment section were simulated by ABAQUS. The simulation results indicate that the matric suction was a concave distribution on top of the expansive soil foundation and that it induced differential deformation of foundation and embankment. The peaks of tensile stress on top of the embankment are not located at a fixed site, but gradually move towards the shoulder following the evaporation duration. When the evaporation intensity is larger, the peak of tensile stress on top of embankment increases at a faster rate following the evaporation duration,and its location is closer to the shoulder. The thicker expansive soil layer helps the peaks of tensile stress to reach the critical tensile stress quickly, but the embankment cannot crack when the expansive soil layer is no more than 1.5m after 30d soil surface evaporation; the higher the embankment, the smaller the peak of tensile stress occurring on top of the highway embankment, and its location will be further away from the shoulder. Therefore, a higher embankment constructed on a thinner expansive soil layer can reduce the crack generation within the highway embankment.

Stability analysis method of geogrid reinforced expansive soil slopes and its engineering application

The traditional stability analysis method of geogrid reinforced slopes does not consider the effect of lateral swelling,so it is not applicable to reinforced expansive soil slopes.This paper reports a new stability analysis method for geogrid reinforced expansive soil slopes.The additional pullout force of the free zone due to the lateral swelling and the anti-pullout safety factor of each geogrid layer were obtained by ensuring the overall stability of the reinforced slope.The optimum design was carried out to treat an expansive soil cut slope in Hubei Province,China,by changing the spacing and length of geogrid reinforcement.Calculation results show that the additional pullout force caused by lateral swelling has a great influence on the anti-pullout stability of geogrids,and the local stability of the reinforced slope will be overestimated if the swelling effect of soil in the free zone is not considered.

Unsaturated expansive soil fissure characteristics combined with engineering behaviors

The relationship among the surface fissure ratio, moisture content, seepage coefficient and deformation modulus of field unsaturated expansive soil in Nanning, Guangxi Province, China, was obtained by a direct or indirect method. Digital images of expansive soil of the surface fissure with different moisture contents were analyzed with the binarization statistic method. In addition, the fissure fractal dimension was computed with a self-compiled program. Combined with in situ seepage and loading plate tests, the relationship among the surface fissure ratio, moisture content, seepage coefficient and deformation modulus was initially established. The surface fissure ratio and moisture content show a linear relation, ＂y=-0.019 1x＋1.028 5＂ for rufous expansive soil and ＂y=-0.07 1x＋2.610 5＂ for grey expansive soil. Soil initial seepage coefficient and surface fissure ratio show a power function relation, ＂y=1× 10^-9exp（15.472x）＂ for rufous expansive soil and ＂y=5× 10^-7exp（4.209 6x）＂ for grey expansive soil. Grey expansive soil deformation modulus and surface fissure ratio show a power fimction relation of ＂y=3.935 7exp（0.993 6x）＂. Based on the binarization and fractal dimension methods, the results show that the surface fissure statistics can depict the fissure distribution in the view of two dimensions. And the evolvement behaviors of permeability and the deformation modulus can indirectly describe the developing state of the fissure. The analysis reflects that the engineering behaviors of unsaturated expansive soil are objectively influenced by fissure.

Theoretical and experimental study of initial cracking mechanism of an expansive soil due to moisture-change

Swelling and shrinkage due to moisture-change is one of the characteristics of the expansive soil,which is similar to the behavior of most materials under thermal effect,If the deformation is restricted,stress in expansive soil is caused by the swell-shrinking.The stress is defined as "moisture-change stress" and is adopted to analyze swell-shrinkage deformation based on the elasticity mechanics theory.The state when the total stress becomes equal to the soil tensile strength is considered as the cracking criterion as moisture-change increases.Then,the initial cracking mechanism due to evaporation is revealed as follows:Different rates of moisture loss at different depths result in greater shrinkage deformation on the surface while there is smaller shrinkage deformation at the underlayer in expansive soil;cracks will grow when the nonuniform shrinkage deformation increases to a certain degree.A theoretical model is established,which may be used to calculate the stress caused by moisture-change.The depth of initial cracks growing is predicted by the proposed model in expansive soil,A series of laboratory tests are carried out by exposing expansive soil samples with different moisture-changes.The process of crack propagation is investigated by resistivity method.The test results show good consistency with the predicted results by the proposed theoretical model.

Stabilization of expansive soils using chemical additives: A review

Volume instability of expansive soils due to moisture fluctuations is often disastrous,causing severe damages and distortions in the supported structures.It is,therefore,necessary to adequately improve the performance of such soils that they can favorably fulfil the post-construction stability requirements.This can be achieved through chemical stabilization using additives such as lime,cement and fly ash.In this paper,suitability of such additives under various conditions and their mechanisms are reviewed in detail.It is observed that the stabilization process primarily involves hydration,cation exchange,flocculation and pozzolanic reactions.The degree of stabilization is controlled by several factors such as additive type,additive content,soil type,soil mineralogy,curing period,curing temperature,delay in compaction,pH of soil matrix,and molding water content,including presence of nano-silica,organic matter and sulfate compounds.Provision of nano-silica not only improves soil packing but also accelerates the pozzolanic reaction.However,presence of deleterious compounds such as sulfate or organic matter can turn the treated soils unfavorable at times even worser than the unstabilized ones.

Analytical method of load-transfer of single pile under expansive soil swelling

The elastic differential equations of load-transfer of single pile either with applied loads on pile-top or only under the soil swelling were established,respectively,based on the theory of pile-soil interaction and the shear-deformation method.The derivation of analytic solution to load-transfer for single pile in expansive soil could hereby be obtained by means of superposition principle under expansive soils swelling.The comparison of two engineering examples was made to prove the credibility of the suggested method.The analyzed results show that this analytic solution can achieve high precision with few parameters required,indicating its' simplicity and practicability in engineering application.The employed method can contribute to determining the greatest tension along pile shaft resulting from expansive soils swelling and provide reliable bases for engineering design.The method can be employed to obtain various distributive curves of axial force,settlements and skin friction along the pile shaft with the changes of active depth,vertical movements of the surface and loads of pile-top.

Dynamic characteristics of lime-treated expansive soil under cyclic loading

To better understand the dynamic properties of expansive clay treated with lime, a series of laboratory tests were conducted using a dynamic triaxial test system. The influential factors, including moisture content, confining pressure, vibration frequency, consolidation ratio, and cycle number on the dynamic characteristics were discussed. Experimental results indicate that specimens at low moisture contents tend to damage along the 30~ shear plane and they present brittle failure, while saturated specimens show swelling phenomenon and plastic failure. A redtiction in cohesion has been observed for unsaturated samples at large number of cycles, while it is opposite for the internal friction angle. For the saturated specimens, both the cohesion and internal friction angle decrease with increasing number of cycles.

Engineering properties and microstructure of expansive soil treated with nanographite powder

To reduce geological disasters caused by expansive soil,it is crucial to use a new type of modified material to rapidly improve soil strength instead of traditional soil improvement materials such as lime and cement.Nanographite powder(NGP)has excellent properties,such as high adsorption,conductivity,and lubrication,since it has the characteristics of small size,large specific surface area,and high surface energy.However,previous studies on the improvement of expansive soil with NGP are not processed enough.To study the improvement effect of NGP on expansive soil,non-load swelling ratio tests,consolidation tests,unconfined compressive strength tests,mercury injection tests,and micro-CT tests on expansive soil mixed with different NGP contents were performed.The results show that the non-load swelling ratio,mechanical properties,and porosity of expansive soil show some increasement after adding NGP.The strength of expansive soil reaches the maximum when the NGP content is 1.450%.The cumulative mercury volume and compressive strain of expansive soil reach the maximum with the 2.0%NGP content.Finally,the modification mechanism of swelling,compressibility,microstructure,and compressive strength of expansive soil by NGP is revealed.

Intermittent swelling and shrinkage of a highly expansive soil treated with polyacrylamide

This laboratory study examines the potential use of an anionic polyacrylamide(PAM)-based material as an environmentally sustainable additive for the stabilization of an expansive soil from South Australia.The experimental program consisted of consistency limits,sediment volume,compaction and oedometer cyclic swell-shrink tests,performed using distilled water and four different PAM-to-water solutions of P_(D)=0.1 g/L,0.2 g/L,0.4 g/L and 0.6 g/L as the mixing liquids.Overall,the relative swelling and shrinkage strains were found to decrease with increasing number of applied swell-shrink cycles,with an‘elastic equilibrium’condition achieved on the conclusion of four cycles.The propensity for swelling/shrinkage potential reduction(for any given cycle)was found to be in favor of increasing the PAM dosage up to P_(D)=0.2 g/L,beyond which the excess PAM molecules self-associate as aggregates,thereby functioning as a lubricant instead of a flocculant;this critical dosage was termed‘maximum flocculation dosage’(MFD).The MFD assertion was discussed and validated using the consistency limits and sediment volume properties,both exhibiting only marginal variations beyond the identified MFD of P_(D)=0.2 g/L.The accumulated axial strain progressively transitioned from‘expansive’for the unamended soil to an ideal‘neutral’state at the MFD,while higher dosages demonstrated undesirable‘contractive’states.

Expansive soil-structure interaction and its sensitive analysis

Several groups of direct shear tests of Nanning expansive soil samples were carded out by improved direct shear apparatus. The results of the characteristics of the ultimate shear stress and residual shear stress at the interface of expansive soil-structure are presented as follows： linear relation can approximately reflect changes between the both shear stress and the three factors： vertical load, water content and dry density, just different degrees from each other; increasing the vertical load from 25 kPa to 100 kPa （up by 300%） can cause the average increase of ultimate shear stress from 58% （for samples with 1.61 g/cm^3） to 80% （for samples with 1.76 g/cm^3）, and an close average increase of 180% for the residual shear stress; increasing the water content from 14.1% to 20.8% （up by 47.5%） can cause the average decrease of the ultimate shear stress from 40% （for samples with 25 kPa） to 80% （for samples with 100 kPa）, and the average decrease from 25% （for samples with 25 kPa） to 30% （for samples with 100 kPa） for the residual shear stress; increasing the dry density from 1.61 g/cm^3 to 1.76 g/cm^3 （up by 9.3%） can cause the average increase of ultimate shear stress from 92% （for samples with 25 kPa） to 138% （for samples with 100 kPa）, and an average increase of 4% for the residual shear stress. Sensitive analysis was further made to explain reasons causing the differences of the both shear stress induced by the three factors.

Hydraulic and volume change behaviors of compacted highly expansive soil under cyclic wetting and drying

The wide engineered application of compacted expansive soils necessitates understanding their behavior under field conditions.The results of this study demonstrate how seasonal climatic variation and stress and boundary conditions individually or collectively influence the hydraulic and volume change behavior of compacted highly expansive soils.The cyclic wetting and drying(CWD)process was applied for two boundary conditions,i.e.constant stress(CS)and constant volume(CV),and for a wide range of axial stress states.The adopted CWD process affected the hydraulic and volume change behaviors of expansive soils,with the first cycle of wetting and drying being the most effective.The CWD process under CS conditions resulted in shrinkage accumulation and reduction in saturated hydraulic conductivity(k sat).On the other hand,CWD under CV conditions caused a reduction of swell pressure while has almost no impact on k sat.An elastic response to CWD was achieved after the third cycle for saturated hydraulic conductivity(k sat),the third to fourth cycle for the volume change potential under the CV conditions,and the fourth to fifth cycle for the volume change potential under the CS conditions.Finally,both swell pressure(s s)and saturated hydraulic conductivity(k sat)are not fundamental parameters of the expansive soil but rather depend on stress,boundary and wetting conditions.

Relationship of Resistivity with Water Content and Fissures of Unsaturated Expansive Soils

The development of fissures in expansive soils has a great effect on the stability of slope. Of the three phases of soils,the gas phase and solid phase are relatively insulated,so the average resistivity of soils can be calculated from the resistivity of the liquid phase. On this basis,the two-part model of resistivity changing with the water saturation of the expansive soil can be deduced. A 2-D resistance grid model is established based on simulating the resistance of ver-tically developed fissures. Variation in measured resistance of vertically developed fissures at different positions can be calculated from this model. Fissure development can be inversely determined from the variation in the measured resis-tance. Finally,the model is verified by an indoor resistivity test for remolded soil samples,indicating that the test result agrees well with that of the model established.

Determining representative elementary volume size of in-situ expansive soils subjected to drying-wetting cycles through field test

Cracks resulting from cyclic wetting and drying of expansive soils create discontinuities and anisotropy in the soil.The representative elementary volume(REV)defined by the continuous-media theory cannot be applied to cracked expansive soils that are considered discontinuous media.In this study,direct shear tests of three different scales(30 cm^(2),900 cm^(2),1963 cm^(2))and crack image analysis were carried out on undisturbed soil samples subjected to drying-wetting cycles in-situ.The REV size of expansive soil was investigated using the crack intensity factor(CIF)and soil cohesion.The results show that soil cohesion decreased with increasing sample area,and the development of secondary cracks further exacerbated the size effect of sample on cohesion of the soil.As shrinkage cracks developed,the REV size of the soil gradually increased and plateaued after 3−5 cycles.Under the same drying-wetting cycle conditions,the REV size determined using soil cohesion(REV-C)is 1.75 to 2.97 times the REV size determined using CIF(REV-CIF).Under the influence of shrinkage cracks,the average CIF is positively correlated with the REV size determined using different maximum permissible errors,with the coefficient of correlation greater than 0.9.A method for determining the REV-C based on crack image analysis is proposed,and the REV-C of expansive soil in the study area under different exposure times is given.