Hydraulic Behavior of Collapsible Compacted Gneiss Soil
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 131, Issue 10
Abstract
The hydraulic behavior of a residual gneiss soil compacted at conditions that produce collapsible characteristics was studied using a triaxial permeameter system that allows independent control of net stresses and matric suction. Wetting paths under differing but constant loads were utilized to reflect field conditions associated with a collapsing soil earth fill dam. The experimental results showed that different stress paths produce different amounts of volumetric collapse and distinct variations in the coefficient of permeability, which at relatively high matric suctions was mainly affected by the increase in degree of saturation. However, as the soil approached saturation, the coefficient of permeability became dependent on void ratio and net mean stress, with the saturated coefficient of permeability being reduced at larger amounts of collapse. The results also suggested that entrapped air in the soil voids may produce a significant reduction in the coefficient of permeability. A constitutive relationship for the coefficient of permeability that takes net mean stress changes into account was proposed based on best-fit analyses.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Alonso, E. E., Battle, F., Gens, A., and Hight, D. W. (1985). “Special soil problems.” General Report, Proc., 9th ECSMFE, 1087–1146.
Barden, L., McGown, A., and Collins, K. (1973). “The collapse mechanism in partially saturated soil.” Eng. Geol. (Amsterdam), 7(1), 49–60.
Brito, C. C., Pereira, J. H. F., Gitirana, G. F. N. Jr., and Fredlund, D. G. (2004). “Transient stability analysis of a collapsible dam using dynamic programming combined with finite element stress fields.” IXth Int. Symp. on Landslides, 2, 1079–1084.
Brooks, R. H., and Corey, A. T. (1964). “Hydraulic properties of porous media.” Colorado State Univ. Hydrol. Paper No. 3, Fort Collins, Colo.
Childs, E. C., and Collis-George, N. (1950). “The permeability of porous materials.” Proc., Royal Society, 210A, 392–405.
Fredlund, D. G. (1981). “Discussion on ‘Consolidation of unsaturated soils including swelling and collapse behavior,’ by A. Lloret and E. E. Alonso.” Geotechnique, 30(4), 449–477.
Fredlund, D. G., and Rahardjo, H. (1993). “Soil mechanics for unsaturated soils.” Wiley, New York.
Fredlund, D. G., Xing, A., and Huang, S. (1994). “Predicting the permeability function for unsaturated soil using the soil-water characteristic curve.” 31(4), 533–546.
Gardner, W. R. (1961). “Soil suction and water movement: Pore pressure and suction in soils.” Butterworths, London, 137–140.
Handy, R. L. (1995). “A stress path model for collapsible loess.” Genesis and properties of collapsible soils, E. Derbyshire, T. Dijkstra, and I. Smalley, eds., NATO, ASI-Series, Vol. 468, 33–47.
Huang, S., Barbour, S. L., and Fredlund, D. G. (1998a). “Development and verification of a coefficient of permeability function for a deformable unsaturated soil.” Can. Geotech. J., 35, 411–425.
Huang, S., Barbour, S. L., and Fredlund, D. G. (1998b). “Measurement of the coefficient of permeability for a deformable unsaturated soil using a triaxial permeameter.” Can. Geotech. J., 35, 426–432.
Lambe, T. W., and Whitman, R. V. (1979). Soil mechanics, Wiley, New York.
Lawton, E. C., Fragaszy, R. J., and Hardcastle, J. H. (1991). “Stress ratio effects on collapse of compacted clayey sand.” J. Geotech. Eng., 117(5), 714–730.
Lloret, A., and Alonso, E. E. (1980). “Consolidation of unsaturated soils including swelling and collapse behavior.” Geotechnique, 30(4), 449–477.
Maswoswe, J. (1985). “Stress paths for a compacted soil during collapse due to wetting.” PhD dissertation, Imperial College of Science and Technology, London.
Miranda, A. N. (1988). “Behavior of small earth dams during initial filling.” PhD thesis, Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, Colo.
Mualem, Y. (1986). “Hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils—Prediction and formulas.” Methods of soil analysis, Part 1, Physical and mineralogical methods, A. Klute, ed., 2nd Ed., American Society of Agronomy, Madison, Wis., 799–823.
Pereira, J. H. F. (1996). “Numerical analysis of the mechanical behavior of small collapsing earth dams during first reservoir filling.” PhD thesis, Univ. of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.
Pereira, J. H. F., and Fredlund, D. G. (1999). “Numerical analysis of the post-filling performance of small collapsing earth dams.” XIth Pan-American Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Vol. 3, 1129–1140.
Pereira, J. H. F., and Fredlund, D. G. (2000). “Volume change behavior of collapsible compacted gneiss soil.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 126(10), 907–916.
van Genuchten, M. T. (1980). “A closed-form equation of predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils.” Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 44, 892–898.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 131 • Issue 10 • October 2005
Pages: 1264 - 1273
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Sep 20, 1999
Accepted: Oct 25, 2004
Published online: Oct 1, 2005
Published in print: Oct 2005
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.