In Situ Improvement of Highly Sensitive Clays by Potassium Chloride Migration
This article has a reply.
VIEW THE REPLYThis article has a reply.
VIEW THE REPLYPublication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 143, Issue 10
Abstract
Highly sensitive, low-saline clays, termed quick clays, represent a risk for large landslides. An in situ experiment was conducted in which salt wells filled with potassium chloride were installed to study how salt wells can be used to reduce landslide risk. Salt-plume migration and clay volume surrounding the salt wells were investigated by resistivity cone penetration testing (RCPTu), piston samples, conductivity divers, and groundwater samples. Correlating geotechnical properties with pore-water compositions, the remolded shear strength () was improved beyond 1 kPa when the ratio of the sum of potassium, magnesium, and calcium to the major cations exceeded 20%. The value of increased to approximately 4–8 kPa at a distance of 0.5 m from the wells within 3 years, and the liquidity index (LI) decreased from more than 3.4 to less than 1.2. A minimum diameter of 1.5 m around the wells was stabilized within three years. It is recommended that salt wells be installed at a center-to-center distance of 1.5–2.0 m. The improved postfailure properties ( and Atterberg limits) are considered permanent in an engineering timescale because of a lasting pore-water composition that inhibits development of high sensitivity. Salt wells can be installed without substantial disturbance of the soil and can be used as landslide mitigation in quick-clay areas.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors express their sincere gratitude to J. K. Torrance, professor emeritus at Carleton University, and Arnfinn Emdal, assistant professor at NTNU, for their discussions on the topic. The valuable comments and input from two unknown reviewers are greatly appreciated. The ground investigations were carried out thanks to Jan Jønland, Einar Husby, Gunnar Winther, Espen Andersen and Karl Ivar Kvisvik at NTNU, and the late Harald Skarvang, Tor Kringlåk, and Ole Vidar Kirkevollen in the Norwegian Public Roads Administration. The tidy work by Mufak Naoroz at University of Oslo in analyzing the pore-water chemistry on small sample volumes is highly appreciated. The specific surface area was found thanks to Ph.D. candidate Yahao Li at the Department of Chemical Engineering, NTNU, and the XRF analyses were carried out by Jasmin Schönenberger at the Norwegian Geological Survey. This work is funded by the Norwegian research program “Natural hazards: Infrastructure for Floods and Slides (NIFS)” (www.naturfare.no).
References
Appelo, C., and Postma, D. (2005). Geochemistry groundwater and pollution, 2nd Ed., A.A. Balkema, Leiden, Netherlands.
Aylward, G. H., and Findlay, T. J. (1994). SI chemical data, 4th Ed., Wiley, Hoboken, NJ.
Bjerrum, L. (1955). “Norske marine leirers geotekniske egenskaper.”, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Oslo (in Norwegian).
Bjerrum, L., Løken, T., Heiberg, S., and Foster, R. (1969). “A field study of factors responsible for quick clay slides.” Proc., 7th ICSMFE, Vol. 2, Sociedad Mexicana de Mecanica, Mexico City, Mexico, 531–540.
Brunauer, S., Emmett, P. H., and Teller, E. (1938). “Adsorption of gases in multimolecular layers.” J. Am. Chem. Soc., 60(2), 309–319.
Bryntesen, R. N. (2013). “Block sample testing at Dragvoll.” Project thesis, Norwegian Univ. of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
Eggestad, A., and Sem, H. (1976). “Stability of excavations improved by salt diffusion from deep wells.” Proc., 6th European Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, ISSMFE Austrian National Committee, Vienna, Austria, 211–216.
Emdal, A., Gylland, A. S., Amundsen, H. A., Kåsin, K., and Long, M. (2016). “Mini-block sampler.” Can. Geotech. J., 53(8), 1235–1245.
Emdal, A., Long, M., Bihs, A., Gylland, A. S., and Boylan, N. (2012). “Characterisation of quick clay at Dragvoll, Trondheim, Norway.” Geotech. Eng. J. SEAGS AGSSEA, 43(4), 11–23.
Gregersen, O. (1981). “The quick clay landslide in Rissa, Norway.” Proc., 10th Int. Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Vol. 3, A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 421–426.
Grim, R. E. (1968). Clay mineralogy, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Hafsten, U. (1983). “Shore-level changes in South Norway during the last 13, 000 years, traced by biostratigraphical methods and radiometric datings.” Norsk geografi tidsskrift, 37(2), 63–79.
Hafsten, U., and Mack, G. (1990). “Den postglaciale landskapsutviklingen på Dragvoll universitetsområde, Trondheim.” Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift, 44(3), 131–148 (in Norwegian).
Helle, T. E., Gjengedal, I., Emdal, A., Aagaard, P., and Høydal, Ø (2014). “Potassium chloride as ground improvement in quick clay areas—A preliminary study.” Landslides in sensitive clays: From geoscience to risk management, J.-S. L’Heureux, A. Locat, S. Leroueil, D. Demers, and J. Locat, eds., Springer, New York, 63–74.
Helle, T. E., Nordal, S., Aagaard, P., and Lied, O. K. (2016). “Long-term-effect of potassium chloride treatment on improving the soil behavior of highly sensitive clay—Ulvensplitten, Norway.” Can. Geotech. J., 53(3), 410–422.
Jackson, M. L. (1979). “Soil chemical analysis—Advanced course.” Madison, WI.
Kenney, T. C. (1967). “The influence of mineral composition on the residual strength of natural soils.” Proc., Geotechnical Conf., Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Oslo, Norway, 123–129.
Kjemperud, A. (1981). “A shoreline displacement investigation from Frosta in Trondheimsfjorden, Nord-Trøndelag, Norway.” Norwegian J. Geol., 61(1), 1–15 (in Norwegian).
Leroueil, S., Tavenas, F., and Le Bihan, J. P. (1983). “Properiétés caracteristiqués des argiles de I’est du Canada.” Can. Geotech. J., 20(4), 681–705 (in French).
Locat, J., and St-Gelais, D. (2014). “Nature of sensitive clays from Quebec.” Landslides in sensitive clays: From geoscience to risk management, J.-S. L’Heureux, A. Locat, S. Leroueil, D. Demers, and J. Locat, eds., Springer, Dordrecht, Netherlands, 25–37.
Løken, T. (1968). “Kvikkleiredannelse og kjemisk forvitring i norske leirer.”, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Oslo (in Norwegian).
Løken, T. (1970). “Recent research at the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute concerning the influence of chemical additions on quick clay.” Proc. Geologiska Föreningen i Stockholm, Förhandlingar, 92(2), 133–147.
Mitchell, J. K., and Soga, K. (2005). Fundamentals of soil behavior, 3rd Ed., Wiley, Hoboken NJ.
Moum, J., Løken, T., and Torrance, J. K. (1971). “A geochemical investigation of the sensitivity of a normally consolidated clay from Drammen, Norway.” Geotechnique, 21(4), 329–340.
Moum, J., Sopp, O. I., and Løken, T. (1968). “Stabilization of undisturbed quick clay by salt wells.”, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Oslo.
Norwegian Geotechnical Society. (2011). “Veiledning for symboler og definisjoner i geoteknikk: Identifisering og klassifisering av jord.”, Oslo (in Norwegian).
Penner, E. (1965). “A study of sensitivity in Leda clay.” Can. J. Earth Sci., 2(5), 425–441.
PHREEQC version 3 [Computer software]. U.S. Geological Survey, Denver.
Post, V. E. A., and Prommer, H. (2007). “Multicomponent reactive transport simulation of the Elder problem: Effects of chemical reactions on salt plume development.” Water Resour. Res., 43(10), 1–13.
Quigley, R. M. (1980). “Geology, mineralogy and geochemistry of Canadian soft soils: A geotechnical perspective.” Can. Geotech. J., 17(2), 261–285.
Robinson, C., Gibbes, B., and Li, L. (2006). “Driving mechanisms for groundwater flow and salt transport in a subterranean estuary.” Geophys. Res. Lett., 33(3), 1–4.
Rosenqvist, I. T. (1946). “Om leirers kvikkaktighet.”, Norwegian Public Road Administrations, Oslo (in Norwegian).
Rosenqvist, I. T. (1953). “Considerations on the sensitivity of Norwegian quick-clays.” Geotechnique, 3(5), 195–200.
Rosenqvist, I. T. (1955). “Investigations in the clay-electrolyte-water system.”, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Oslo.
Rosenqvist, I. T. (1968). Mechanical properties of soils from a mineralogical-physical-chemical viewpoint, Communication from Institutt for Geologi, Univ. of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Rosenqvist, I. T. (1977). “A general theory for quick clay properties.” Proc., 3rd European Clay Conf., Nordic Society for Clay Research, Oslo, Norway, 215–228.
Shackelford, C. D. (2014). “The ISSMGE Kerry Rowe lecture: The role of diffusion in environmental geotechnics.” Can. Geotech. J., 51(11), 1219–1242.
Thakur, V., et al. (2014). “Characterisation of post-failure movements of landslides in soft sensitive clays.” Landslides in sensitive clays: From geoscience to risk management, J.-S. L’Heureux, A. Locat, S. Leroueil, D. Demers, and J. Locat, eds., Springer, New York, 91–104.
Torrance, J. K. (1979). “Post-depositional changes in the pore water chemistry of the sensitive marine clays of the Ottawa area, eastern Canada.” Eng. Geol., 14(2–3), 135–147.
Torrance, J. K. (1983). “Towards a general model of quick clay development.” Sedimentology, 30(4), 547–555.
van Olphen, H. (1977). “Theories of the stability of lyophobic colloidal systems.” Physical chemistry: Enriching topics from colloid and surface science, 2nd Ed., H. van Olphen and K. J. Mysels, eds., THEOREX, La Jolla, CA, 5–15.
van Olphen, H. (1963). An introduction to clay colloid chemistry, Wiley, Hoboken, NJ.
Zhang, H., and Schwartz, F. W. (1995). “Multispecies contaminant plumes in variable density flow systems.” Water Resour. Res., 31(4), 837–847.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 143 • Issue 10 • October 2017
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 7, 2016
Accepted: Apr 26, 2017
Published online: Jul 27, 2017
Published in print: Oct 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Dec 27, 2017
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.