Saturated–Unsaturated behaviour of compacted clays
type: CreativeWork
description: Clayey soils are often compacted for geotechnical and geo-environmental construction such as hydraulic dams, road embankments, tailings containment facilities, and municipal landfills. Post construction, these earthworks are exposed to variations in seasonal weather and extreme climatic events (drought, flood, and freezing), contaminations (deicing salts, ion-rich slurries, and toxic leachates), and applied stresses (self-weight, vehicular traffic, and heavy equipment), thereby affecting the integrity of civil infrastructures. The geotechnical behavior (flow through, volume change, and shear strength) is governed by soil composition and compaction, soil-water-electrolyte mechanisms, soil-atmosphere interactions, and field conditions. This research focused on developing a clear understanding of saturated–unsaturated behavior of compacted clays. For this purpose, a representative clayey soil possessing a moderate water adsorption capacity (liquid limit of 29% and plastic limit of 15%) was characterized to provide baseline geotechnical properties. This material was classified as lean clay according to the Unified Soil Classification System. Field behavior was simulated using regional climatic conditions and environmental loading along with test results. The compacted clay was found to have an air entry value of 700 kPa and a residual suction value of 5 × 104 kPa along with s-shaped swell-shrink curve for dry of optimum and j-shaped for wet of optimum. At optimum, osmotic suction was operative within the 70-100% saturation range and showed a j-shaped swell-shrink curve for deionized water and a cascading j-shaped curve for concentrated brine. The transient swelling potential exhibited s-shaped curves irrespective of the degree of compaction and the type of pore fluids. Likewise, the hydraulic and thermal properties of the soil were found to be governed by net water flux and air temperature. Based on the coupled hydraulic-thermal model, the active depth of soil was found…
abstract: Clayey soils are often compacted for geotechnical and geo-environmental construction such as hydraulic dams, road embankments, tailings containment facilities, and municipal landfills. Post construction, these earthworks are exposed to variations in seasonal weather and extreme climatic events (drought, flood, and freezing), contaminations (deicing salts, ion-rich slurries, and toxic leachates), and applied stresses (self-weight, vehicular traffic, and heavy equipment), thereby affecting the integrity of civil infrastructures. The geotechnical behavior (flow through, volume change, and shear strength) is governed by soil composition and compaction, soil-water-electrolyte mechanisms, soil-atmosphere interactions, and field conditions. This research focused on developing a clear understanding of saturated–unsaturated behavior of compacted clays. For this purpose, a representative clayey soil possessing a moderate water adsorption capacity (liquid limit of 29% and plastic limit of 15%) was characterized to provide baseline geotechnical properties. This material was classified as lean clay according to the Unified Soil Classification System. Field behavior was simulated using regional climatic conditions and environmental loading along with test results. The compacted clay was found to have an air entry value of 700 kPa and a residual suction value of 5 × 104 kPa along with s-shaped swell-shrink curve for dry of optimum and j-shaped for wet of optimum. At optimum, osmotic suction was operative within the 70-100% saturation range and showed a j-shaped swell-shrink curve for deionized water and a cascading j-shaped curve for concentrated brine. The transient swelling potential exhibited s-shaped curves irrespective of the degree of compaction and the type of pore fluids. Likewise, the hydraulic and thermal properties of the soil were found to be governed by net water flux and air temperature. Based on the coupled hydraulic-thermal model, the active depth of soil was found…
author: Paranthaman, Rajeevkaran
language: en
date published: 2023-10
date modified: 2026-07-24T04:03:41Z
provider: University of Regina
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/10294/16393

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.82465/4578