UNIVERSITY OF PERADENIYA

Faculty of Engineering

Postgraduate Programme in Geotechnical Engineering & Engineering Geology

END OF SEMESTER EXAMINATION – DECEMBER 2017

CE 656 Problematic Soils and Ground Improvement

(Two Hours)

(Answer ALL THREE questions. The distribution of marks within a question is given in
parenthesis)
_____________________________________________________________________

1) Part 1– Problematic Soil

(a) Describe the effect of initial moisture content and dry density on the swelling behaviour
of an expansive soil deposit. (15% marks)
(b) An expansive soil profile has an active zone thickness of 7.5 m below the ground
surface. A shallow foundation is to be constructed at a depth of 1.5 m below the ground
surface. A swell pressure test conducted on an undisturbed soil sample of thickness 20
mm gave the following results (Table Q1a).
Table Q1(a)
Thickness (mm) Swell Pressure (kPa)
Loading 20.0 160
20.3 125
21.1 60
Unloading
22.2 30
23.9 0
The foundation constructed on the soil will impose the following stress increase ()
beneath the foundation (Table Q1b).
Table Q1(b)
Depth below the foundation (m)  (kPa)
0 120
1 90
2 75
3 60
4 40
5 25
6 0
Calculate the total swell of the sample. Assume, unit weight of soil = 16 kN/m3. (35% marks)

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Part 2 – Mechanical Compaction

(c) The relative compaction (RC) of a sandy road base in the field is 95%. The maximum
and minimum dry unit weights of the sand are 𝛾𝑑(𝑚𝑎𝑥) = 21.5 𝑘𝑁⁄𝑚3 and 𝛾𝑑(𝑚𝑖𝑛) =
12.8 𝑘𝑁⁄𝑚3 respectively. Determine the field values of:
(i) Dry unit weight
(ii) Relative density of compaction (Dr) (20% marks)

(d) The following observations were recorded when a sand cone test was conducted to find
out the unit weight of a natural soil:

Calibration to find dry unit weight of standard sand

Mass of Proctor mold 4210 g
Mass of Proctor mold and sand 5658 g
Volume of mold 0.00095 m3

Calibration of sand cone

Mass of sand cone apparatus and jar filled with sand 5552 g
Mass of sand cone apparatus with remaining sand in jar 3827 g

Sand cone test results

Mass of sand cone apparatus and jar filled with sand 8276 g
Mass of excavated soil 2158 g
Mass of sand cone apparatus with remaining sand in jar 4028 g
Water content of excavated soil 6.8%

(i) Determine the dry unit weight. (20% marks)

(ii) The above soil is to be used for a roadway embankment and the standard Proctor
maximum dry unit weight of this soil is 14 kN/m3 at an optimum water content of
6.3%. The specification requires a minimum dry unit weight of 95% of Proctor
maximum dry unit weight. Is the specification met? If not, how can it be achieved?
(10% marks)

2) (a) (i) Using a neat sketch or otherwise describe five functionally different applications of
geosynthetic materials. (20% marks)
(ii) How can you identify needle punched and thermally bonded geotextiles based on
their physical appearance? (10% marks)
(b) A needle punched geotextile is considered as a filter to protect the clay core of a dam
which is symmetrical about its central vertical axis as shown in Figure Q2. The clay core
of the dam is 14.1 m in height with the properties of k = 3.0 x 10-7 m/s,
d50 = 0.05 mm, d20 <0.002 mm and C′u=5.2. The candidate geotextile has a permittivity of
0.015 s-1, and an AOS of 0.16 mm. Assume any other data not given, if necessary.

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 Figure Q2

(i) Under steady-state seepage flow conditions, check whether the AOS of the
candidate geotextile is adequate to prevent soil erosion. (15% marks)
(ii) Draw a typical flow net within the clay core in the Figure given in a separate sheet
and calculate the rate of seepage flow through the clay core. Calculate the required
value of permittivity of the geotextile. Assume that the seepage flow enters the
geotextile along 95% of its inclined length. (20% marks)
(iii) Calculate the laboratory value of transmissivity required for the geotextile with a
factor of safety of 6 assuming cumulative partial factor of safety of 12.(15% marks)

(iv) It is also required to assess the stability of the slope along the interface between the
clay core and the geotextile for which the evaluation of interface shear strength
parameters is necessary. Describe very briefly how the interface shear strength
parameters can be determined in the laboratory. (20% marks)

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Reg. No.:

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3) (a) Explain the importance of installing vertical drains prior to pre-loading. (10% marks)
(b) What is functionally more efficient with regard to a system of vertical drains; fewer
no. of large-sized vertical drains or larger no. of small-sized vertical drains? Explain
why. (10% marks)

(c) In a highway construction, it was decided to install prefabricated vertical drains

(PVDs) in a 10 km span where a compressible clay layer of 10.8 m thickness needs to
be improved within a 1.2 year timeframe. The contractor decided to use a 4 mm thick
and 100 mm wide rectangular PVD in a square pattern with a spacing of 2.3 m.
Laboratory measurements showed that the coefficients of vertical and horizontal
consolidation of the clay are 2.8 m2/yr and 3.3 m2/yr, respectively. The boundary
below the clay layer was found to be impervious.

(i) Show that for an installation of square pattern, the effective diameter (De) of
the tributary area is given by
2
De  S where S is the spacing between the PVDs. (10% marks)

(ii) Calculate the equivalent well diameter (Dw) of a drain well. You may use
2( a  b )
Dw  where a, and b are, respectively, the width and the thickness of

a rectangular PVD. (10% marks)
(iii) Calculate the time factor due to horizontal drainage (Th). (10% marks)
(iv) Calculate the degree of consolidation due to radial drainage (Uh).
(10% marks)
(v) Calculate the time factor due to vertical drainage (Tv). (10% marks)
(vi) Calculate the degree of consolidation due to vertical drainage (Uv).
(10% marks)
(vii) Calculate the degree of consolidation due to total drainage (Uvh).
(10% marks)
(viii) If the smear ratio (Ds/Dw; where Ds is the diameter of the smear zone) is 3
and the horizontal permeability is reduced by 50% due to the smear effect,
find the degree of consolidation due to total drainage with the smear effect.
(10% marks)

You may assume the following relationships;

ch t
Th  2
where ch is the coefficient of horizontal consolidation.
De


   8Th   
U h  1001  exp 

  F (n)  

The function F(n) can be expressed for the following scenarios as
Without smear effect: F (n)  ln(n)  0.75

With smear effect: Ds k h

F (n)  ln(n)  0.75  ln( )(  1) 6
Dw k s
where
De
n
Dw

ks and kh are horizontal permeabilities with and without smear effect, respectively.

 4Tv /  
0.5 
U v  100 0.179 

 1  4Tv /  2.8  
cvt
Tv  2
HD
where HD is the depth of improvement , and cv is the coefficient of vertical consolidation.

U vh  1  (1  U v )(1  U h )