TY - JOUR
T1 - Effect of clay mineral content on soil strength parameters
AU - Elhassan, Adil A.M.
AU - Mnzool, Mohammed
AU - Smaoui, Hichem
AU - Jendoubi, Abir
AU - Elnaim, Bushra M.E.
AU - Faihan Alotaibi, Maged
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 THE AUTHORS
PY - 2023/2/1
Y1 - 2023/2/1
N2 - The impact of clay mineralogy on engineering properties relevant to road design, such as the strength and stiffness of road materials, has recently been the subject of intensive investigations, aiming at providing indirect measures of soil performance out of mineralogical data. This study deals with the effects of clay minerals on soil strength, expressed in terms of California Bearing Ratio (CBR) and Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS), and stiffness, represented by the constrained modulus, which are commonly used as engineering properties for pavement materials. The study is performed on six clayey soils (S1-S6) of different geographic origins. Five of the six soils are highly plastic, potentially swelling, and one is kaolinitic soil. The mineralogical characteristics of the samples were analyzed through X-ray diffraction (XRD). The testing program included Atterberg limits, sieve analysis, CBR, UCS, and consolidation tests. The measured properties of the samples were compared in light of the mineralogical composition of the soils. The investigation showed that the kaolinite mineral is significantly more effective than the montmorillonite in reducing the plasticity of the clays. Higher strength indicators (CBR and UCS) were observed for samples with high kaolinite content (S4, S5, and S6). Moreover, the kaolinitic soil samples are characterized by a larger constrained modulus (Ec) than the other samples.
AB - The impact of clay mineralogy on engineering properties relevant to road design, such as the strength and stiffness of road materials, has recently been the subject of intensive investigations, aiming at providing indirect measures of soil performance out of mineralogical data. This study deals with the effects of clay minerals on soil strength, expressed in terms of California Bearing Ratio (CBR) and Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS), and stiffness, represented by the constrained modulus, which are commonly used as engineering properties for pavement materials. The study is performed on six clayey soils (S1-S6) of different geographic origins. Five of the six soils are highly plastic, potentially swelling, and one is kaolinitic soil. The mineralogical characteristics of the samples were analyzed through X-ray diffraction (XRD). The testing program included Atterberg limits, sieve analysis, CBR, UCS, and consolidation tests. The measured properties of the samples were compared in light of the mineralogical composition of the soils. The investigation showed that the kaolinite mineral is significantly more effective than the montmorillonite in reducing the plasticity of the clays. Higher strength indicators (CBR and UCS) were observed for samples with high kaolinite content (S4, S5, and S6). Moreover, the kaolinitic soil samples are characterized by a larger constrained modulus (Ec) than the other samples.
KW - Clay mineral
KW - Kaolinite
KW - Soil stiffness
KW - Soil strength
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85136267655&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.aej.2022.08.012
DO - 10.1016/j.aej.2022.08.012
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85136267655
SN - 1110-0168
VL - 63
SP - 475
EP - 485
JO - Alexandria Engineering Journal
JF - Alexandria Engineering Journal
ER -