Experimental Study of the Behavior of a Lumpy Fill of Soft Clay
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 5, Issue 2
Abstract
Land reclamation is a major civil engineering activity in Singapore. Due to depletion of suitable local fills and the cost of imported sand, dredged and excavated clay fills, in spite of their poor engineering properties, are being evaluated as a fill material. To reduce double handling, it is desirable for the clay to be used directly in a lump form, instead of the more conventional slurry fill. While the performance of a slurry fill is relatively well understood, the behavior of lumpy fill is not. This paper reports the results of a laboratory study carried out on lumpy fill made of cubical clay lumps of size ranging from . The study showed that the interlump voids are substantially closed at a consolidation pressure much lower than the preconsolidation pressure of the lumps. The study also shows that at a consolidation pressure of about , the permeability of a lumpy fill is reduced to an order similar to that for homogeneous clay. However, the shear strength profile obtained using the cone penetration test indicates that the fill is still highly heterogeneous under a pressure of . When the preconsolidation pressure of the lumps is exceeded, the strength profile becomes uniform. The degree of swelling of the lumps plays a significant role. For fully swollen lumps, the consolidation pressure required to close the interlump voids is considerably less than that if the lumps were not allowed to swell. The coefficient of secondary compression of the lumpy fill is comparable to the homogeneous clay indicating that secondary compression is not a serious issue.
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Acknowledgments
The results reported in this paper are part of the research project “Optimisation of the use of waste soils from construction for large scale land reclamation” funded by the National Science and Technology Board of Singapore (Grant No. UNSPECIFIEDMCE/99/03). Ms. Lim Chea Rong carried out part of the experiments reported in this paper. Mr. Yang Li-Ang provided some experimental results. Their contribution is gratefully acknowledged.
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Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 5 • Issue 2 • June 2005
Pages: 125 - 137
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Feb 18, 2004
Accepted: Oct 25, 2004
Published online: Jun 1, 2005
Published in print: Jun 2005
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