Experimental Evaluation of Lateral Swelling Pressure of Expansive Soil Fill behind a Retaining Wall
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 32, Issue 2
Abstract
Lateral swelling pressure (LSP) of expansive soils included in the total lateral pressure (TLP) often results in instability and even sliding failure of retaining walls. In this study, a modified oedometer was developed and adopted to overcome certain limitations in previous laboratory swelling tests on expansive soils. A method for measuring LSP is proposed. TLPs of medium expansive soils samples were measured under different water contents, dry unit weights, and immersion vertical pressures. From experimental results, it was indicated that the ratio of LSP to vertical swelling pressure (VSP) at a constant volume of expansive soils with different initial water contents ranged from 0.27 to 0.31. A case study was carried out to investigate the stability of a 3-m-high gravity retaining wall backfilled with expansive soils. In active state, the larger resultant force of LSP is two times of that of active earth pressure on the retaining wall, resulting in sliding failure of retaining wall.
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Acknowledgments
This research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundations of China (51978085), Highway Industry Standard Compilation Project of Ministry of Transportation (JTG-201507), and Open Fund of National Engineering Laboratory of Highway Maintenance Technology (Changsha University of Science and Technology) (kfj180102).
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 32 • Issue 2 • February 2020
Copyright
©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 29, 2018
Accepted: Jul 22, 2019
Published online: Dec 10, 2019
Published in print: Feb 1, 2020
Discussion open until: May 10, 2020
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