Investigation of the hydro-mechanical behaviour of compacted expansive clay

Abstract

The hydro-mechanical behaviour of compacted expansive Romainville clay was investigated. The soil was air-dried, crushed, and passed through a 2 mm sieve before being statically compacted to a dry density of 1.35 Mg/m³. The mechanical behaviour was investigated by tests in oedometer with controlled suction using the vapor equilibrium technique (suction s = 0, 9, 39, and 110 MPa). The vertical stress was applied in the range of 0–800 kPa. The experimental results are shown as follows: 1) wetting-induced swelling was higher at lower vertical stresses; 2) the vertical stress under which no swelling occurred during water flooding was estimated at 60 kPa, which can be considered as the swelling pressure of the soil tested; 3) the soil compressibility (changes of volume upon stress increases) was strongly influenced by the soil suction: the lower the suction, the higher the compressibility. The hydraulic behaviour was investigated using a large-scale infiltration chamber (800 mm × 1000 mm in section and 1000 mm high). The large size of the soil column allowed burying the volumetric water content sensors (ThetaProbe) without significantly affecting the water transfer and the soil swelling during infiltration. The soil suction was monitored along the soil height (every 100 mm) using various relative humidity sensors and psychrometers. In the infiltration test, water was kept on the soil surface and changes in suction and volumetric water content were monitored for 338 d. The wetting front has reached the bottom of the soil column at the end of the test. The data from the simultaneous monitoring of suction and water content were used to determine the water retention curve and the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity using the instantaneous profile method. It has been observed that the soil water retention curve depends on the soil depth; that is to be related to the soil depth-dependent swelling. The unsaturated hydraulic conductivity was found to be quite low, comprised between 3 × 10^−11 m/s (at saturated state) and 10^−14 m/s (at about 100 MPa suction).

Keywords

Romainville clay / suction control / oedometer test / large infiltration task / hydro-mechanical behaviour