Expansive Soils

Contents

◼ Introduction to Expansive Soils

◼ Problem Associated with E. Soils
◼ Factors affecting the E. behavior of
soil.
◼ Treatment of E. Soils.
◼ Classification Tests
Introduction

Soil that undergoes significant

volume changes
(expanded/shrinkage), when in
contact with water.
Problems often associated with expansive
soils include
◼ Foundation cracks;
◼ Heaving and cracking of floor slabs
and walls;
◼ Jammed doors and windows;
◼ Ruptured pipe lines; and
◼ Heaving and cracking of sidewalks and
roads
Factors affecting the expansive
behavior of soil
◼ Change in water content
◼ Amount of clay size particles
◼ Type of clay size particles
◼ Dry Density and water contents
◼ Surcharge pressure
HOW CLAY SIZE PARTICLES AFFECT THE
EXPANSIVE BEHAVIOR

◼ Less than 2 µm, electrochemically active, Clay

particles have affinity for water
◼ Affinity depends upon particle size
◼ Clay size particles attract water to their
particle faces due to the double layer effect
◼ Water is also drawn into the soil due to the
negative pore water pressures associated
with dried clay
ACTIVITY

◼ Activity is a measure of tendency of a mineral to be

expansive.
◼ It may be defined as
◼ “plasticity index (PI) / percent of clay size particles present”
◼ Where percent clay is soil fraction < 2 µm
◼ Due to the negative edges, clay mineral attempts to
balance the charges by cat ion attraction
◼ This attraction is in proportion to the net charge
deficiency and related to activity
◼ If the activity no. is high, mineral will show more
expansive behavior
ACTIVITY NUMBER
◼ Different types of clays have different specific
surface areas which controls how much wetting is
required to move a soil from one phase to another
such as across the liquid limit or the plastic limit.
◼ From the activity one can predict the dominant clay
type present in a soil sample.
◼ High activity signifies large volume change when
wetted and large shrinkage when dried. Soil with
high activity are very reactive chemically.
◼ Normally, activity of clay is between 0.75 and 1.25.
◼ When A is equal to 1.00, plasticity index is
approximately equal to the clay fraction.
◼ When A is less than 0.75, it is considered inactive.
◼ When it is greater than 1.25, it is considered active.
 EXAMPLES OF CLAY MINERALS
KAOLONITE ILLITE MONTMORILLONITE
(OH)8Al4Si4O10 (OH)4Si8Al4O20 . nH2O

activity is 0.4 to 0.5 between 0.5 and 1.0 between 1 and 7

least active clay intermediate more active clay

mineral mineral
byproduct of rock derived from
weathering muscovite (mica) and
biotite [mica clay]

less suspected to expands considerably more attracted water

expansion and at high temperatures per unit dry mass of
damage clay particles
 SURCHARGE PRESSURE

◼ The amount of swelling decreases as the

confining pressure increases
◼ The effect of surcharge is important
◼ Usually the lightly loaded structures are
impacted by expansive soil.
◼ For example Concrete flatwork, pavements, slab-
on-grade foundations or concrete canal liners .
TREATMENT OF EXPANSIVE SOILS

◼ Treatment methods that are available for

stabilizing expansive soils before and after
construction of structures are as follows
◼ Removal and replacement.
◼ Pre-wetting.
◼ Remolding and compaction.
◼ Surcharge loading.
◼ Chemical additives.
 Removal and replacement:
◼ Removal of expansive soil and replacement with non-
expansive soil is one method to provide stable
foundation material. In some cases expansive strata is
entirely removed and replaced with non-expansive
strata.
◼ It must be determined what depth of excavation and fill
will be necessary to prevent excessive heave. No
definitive guidelines for this depth have been developed.
◼ Chen recommends 3 or 4 ft.
◼ This method is generally successful in repair of some
hydraulic structures to stabilize uplift pressures. However
cautions should be taken in using granular non-
expansive fill to replace expansive soils. Highly
permeable fill will provide access for water and a
reservoir for seepage into expansive sub grades.
Removal and replacement:

◼ Advantages of removal and replacement:

◼ Non-expansive soils can be compacted at
higher densities, which yield higher bearing
capacities of the soils.
◼ This method is more economical than other
methods of expansive soil treatment.
◼ It requires less delay to construction as
compared to other methods
Removal and replacement:

◼ Disadvantages of removal and replacement:

◼ This method requires impervious fill, which may

involve cost factor if the fill must be imported.

◼ The required depth of the non-expansive fill may

be too great to be practical.

◼ Granular fill may serve as a reservoir for seepage

into expansive sub grades and provide a long term
source of water to foundation.
Pre-wetting:
◼ It is based on principle that increasing the
moisture content in the expansive soil will
cause heave to occur prior to construction
and eliminates problems afterwards. The idea
is to flood the expansive soil and allow it to
absorb water and swell. Then foundation is
constructed on top of the swelled clay.
◼ Time periods up to as long as a year or more
may be required to increase moisture
contents in the active zones. Vertical sand
drains drilled in a grid manner can decrease
the wetting time.
Pre-wetting:
◼ Highly fissures desiccated soils respond more
favorably to pre-wetting. Moisture contents should
be increased to at least 2 to 3 % above the plastic
limit.
◼ In this method the surface should be protected
against evaporation and surface slaking.
◼ Quality control improves the efficiency of pre-
wetting.
◼ A commonly used procedure for pre-wetting is to
construct dikes or small earth berms to impound the
water in the flooded area. Trenches also have been
constructed below the foundation and then flooded.
Pre-wetting:
Advantages of pre-wetting:

◼ This method is more useful during hot, dry season when

soils are in a desiccated manner.
Pre-wetting:
Disadvantages of the pre-wetting:

◼ It is almost impossible to adequately pre-wet dense un-

fissured clays.
◼ Expansive soils typically exhibit low hydraulic
conductivity and time required for adequate wetting can
be up to several years.
◼ Soil bearing capacity can be significantly reduced by
using this method.
◼ There may be possibility that excess water left in upper
soil can cause swelling in deeper layers at a later date.
◼ If tree roots grow underneath the slab on grade, they can
extract the moisture from the wetted clay resulting in the
shrinkage of clay and downward displacement of
foundation.
Remolding and compaction:
◼ It is also known as compaction control method.
◼ This method is based on the fact that “compaction at low
densities and at water contents above optimum water
content, as determined by standard Procter test
produces less expansion potential than compared to
compaction at high densities and low water content”.
◼ Better control of swell potential has been achieved by
compacting the soil at water contents at or above
optimum using a minimum density to reduce swelling
pressure.
◼ However if the clay dry out prior to placement of the
structure ,then the beneficial effects of compacting clay
wet of optimum will be destroyed causing the soil to
become significantly more expansive.
Remolding and compaction:

Advantages of remolding and compaction:

◼ Clay on site can be used as fill which eliminates costs of
importing fill.
◼ Proper compaction will minimize migration of water into
underlying soils.

Disadvantages of remolding and compaction:

◼ Some soils have such a high potential for volume change that
compaction control does not reduce swell potential significantly
and replacement may be needed.
◼ Compaction at specified densities and water contents may
require frequent testing to maintain quality control, which may
increase project cost.
Application of surcharge load:
This method basically consists of applying
sufficient pressure to the expansive soil in
order to reduce the amount of swell.
Surcharge load is applied on expansive soils in
two ways.
◼ A layer of non-expansive soil or less expansive
soil can be placed on top of the clay.
◼ The other approach is to “use the dead load of
the structure to provide the surcharge loading”.
Application of surcharge load:
Approach #01

A layer of non-expansive soil or less expansive soil

cap increases the pressure on the clay. The greater
the surcharge pressure, the lower the percent swell.
◼ This is generally applicable for soils with low to
moderate swelling pressures.
◼ Field and laboratory tests should be conducted to
determine the swell characteristics of the soil.
◼ The condition in the field should be approximated
during testing. As swell pressure increases, the use of
a surcharge becomes less effective because of non
linear behavior of the pressure-swell relationship.
Application of surcharge load:
Approach #02

◼ The other approach is to “use the dead load of

the structure to provide the surcharge loading”.
◼ In this approach we provide enough dead load
to prevent damaging effect, but not too much
dead load that settlement becomes excessive.
◼ If foundation is constructed after the rainy
season, then the heavy dead load could cause
excessive settlement due to consolidation of
the clay.
Chemical additives:

The techniques employed for this method are

as follows.
❑ Lime stabilization.
❑ Cement stabilization.
❑ Salt treatment.
❑ Fly ash.
❑ Organic compounds.
CLASSIFICATION TESTS
◼ Following are the tests used to identify and classify
expansive soils.
◼ Atterberg limits
❑ Liquidity index (LI)
❑ Plasticity index (PI)

❑ Shrinkage index (SI)

❑ Linear Extensibility (LE)

◼ X-Ray diffraction
◼ Free swell Test
◼ Potential volume change (PVC)
◼ Expansion index test
◼ California bearing ratio (CBR)
◼ Classification schemes