Abstract
This paper presents a series of laboratory tests and evaluates the effect of polypropylene fiber inclusion on volume change behavior and soil-water characteristics of expansive soils. Specimens were statically compacted at maximum Proctor dry density and optimum moisture content with 0%, 0.5% and 1% polypropylene fiber inclusions by dry weight of the soil, and their volume change behavior was studied through swell-shrinkage and consolidation tests. The soil-water characteristic behavior, which is the most significant aspect of soils, was also obtained by a series of matric suction measurements using filter paper technique. It was concluded that polypropylene fiber inclusion is very effective in reducing the compression and swell indices and swell pressures as well as one-dimensional swell amount in saturated condition. Upon desiccation, shrinkage of reinforced soil reduced considerably, as the shrinkage limit increased by more than 50%. Therefore, fiber reinforcement can effectively reduce swell-shrink movement of expansive soils.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Akbulut, S., Arasan, S., and Kalkan, E. (2007). “Modification of clayey soils using scrap tire rubber and synthetic fiber.” Applied Clay Science, Vol. 38, Nos. 1–2, pp. 23–32.
Bilsel, H. (2002). Climatic effects on the engineering and the physicochemical properties of calcareous swelling clays of cyprus, PhD Thesis, Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus.
Bilsel, H. and Tuncer, E. R. (1998). “Cyclic swell-shrink behavior of Cyprus clays.” Proceedings of the International Symposium on Problematic Soils’ 98, Vol. 1, Rotterdam: Balkema, IS-Tohoku, Sendai, Japan, October 1998, pp. 337–340.
Bilsel, H. and Tuncer, E. R. (1999). “Cyclic swell-shrink of structured soils in a semi-arid climate.” Proceedings of the 52nd Canadian Geotechnical Conference ‘99, Canada, October 1999, Regina, Saskatchewan, pp. 3–6.
Bilsel, H. and Uygar, E. (2000). “The effect of repeated wetting-drying on the hydraulic properties of Konnos clay.” Proceedings of the 53rd Canadian Geotechnical Conference, October 2000, Quebec, Canada.
Dakshanamurthy, V. (1979). “A stress-controlled study of swelling characteristics of compacted expansive clays.” Geotechnical Testing Journal, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 57–60.
Fredlund, M. D., Fredlund, D. G., and Wilson, G. W. (1997). “Prediction of the soil-water characteristic curve from grain size distribution and volume-mass properties.” Proceedings of the Third Brazilian Symposium on Unsaturated Soils, NONSAT’ 97, April 1997, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Vol. 1, pp. 13–23.
Fredlund, D. G. and Rahardjo, H. (1993). Soil mechanics for unsaturated soils, Wiley and Sons Inc., New York, USA.
Fredlund, M. D., Wilson, G. W., and Fredlund, D. G. (2002). “Use of the grain-size distribution for estimation of the soil-water characteristic curve.” Canadian Geotechnical Journal, Vol. 39, No. 5, pp. 1103–1117.
Gadre, A. and Chandrasekaran, V. (1994). “Swelling of black cotton soil using centrifuge modeling.” Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, Vol. 120, No. 5, pp. 914–919.
Harianto, T., Hayashi, S., and Du, Y. J. (2008). “Effects of fiber additives on the desiccation crack behavior of the compacted Akaboku Soil as a material for landfill cover barrier.” Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, Vol. 194, Nos. 1–4, pp. 141–149.
Hausmann, M. R. (1990). Engineering principles of ground modification, McGraw-Hill, New York, USA.
Holtz, W. G. and Gibbs, H. J. (1956). “Engineering properties of expansive clays.” Transactions of ASCE, Vol. 121, pp. 641–663.
Jiang, X. W., Wan, M. B., Cardenas, S. G. and Wang, X. S. (2010). “Simultaneous rejuvenation and aging of groundwater in basins due to depth-decaying hydraulic conductivity and porosity.” Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 37, No. 5, pp. 0094–8276.
Loehr, J. E., Axtell, P. J., and Bowders, J. J. (2000). “Reduction of soil swell potential with fiber reinforcement.” Proceedings of GeoEngineering Conference, November 2000, Melbourne, Australia.
Malekzadeh, M. and Bilsel, H. (2012a). “Effect of polypropylene fiber on mechanical behavior of expansive soils.” Electrical Journal of Geotechnical Engineers, Vol. 17, No. Bund. A, pp. 55–63.
Malekzadeh, M. and Bilsel, H. (2012b). “Swell and compressibility of fiber reinforced expansive soils.” Journal of Advanced Technology in Civil Engineering, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 42–46.
Mitchell, J. K. and Katti, R. K. (1981). “Soil improvement State-of-The-Art report.” Proceedings Tenth International Conference of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, June 1981, Stockholm, Sweden.
O'Neil, M. W. and Ghazzaly, O. I. (1977). “Swell potential related to building performance.” Journal of the Geotechnical Engineering Division, ASCE, Vol. 103, No. 12, pp. 1363–1379.
Punthutaecha, K., Puppala, A. J., Vanapalli, S. K., and Inyang, H. (2006). “Volume change behaviors of expansive soils stabilized with recycled ashes and fibers.” Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, Vol. 18, No. 2, pp. 295–306.
Rao, K. S. (2000). “Swell-shrink behaviour of expansive soils geotechnical challenges.” Indian Geotechnical Journal, Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 1–68.
Rao, R. R., Rahardjo, H., and Fredlund, D. G. (1988). “Closed-form heave solutions for expansive soils.” Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, Vol. 114, No. 5, pp. 573–588.
Rao, S. M., Thyagaraj, T., and Thomas, H. R. (2006). Swelling of compacted clay under osmotic gradients, Geotechnique.
SoilVision Systems Ltd. (2001). SoilVision theory guide, Version 3.34, 2nd edition, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Thakur, V. K. S., Sreedeep, S., and Singh, D. N. (2006). “Laboratory investigations on extremely high suction measurements for fine grained soils.” Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, Vol. 24, No. 3, pp. 565–578.
Van Genuchten, M. (1980). “A closed-form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils.” Soil Science Society of America Journal, Vol. 44, No. 5, pp. 892–898.
Vanapalli, S. K. and Fredlund, D. G. (2000). Comparison of different procedures to predict unsaturated soil shear strength, ASTM Proceedings of Unsaturated Soils, August 2000, Geo-Denver.
Yong, R. W. and Warkentin, B. P. (1975). Soil properties and behaviour, Elsevier Scientific, New York.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Malekzadeh, M., Bilsel, H. Hydro-mechanical behavior of polypropylene fiber reinforced expansive soils. KSCE J Civ Eng 18, 2028–2033 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12205-014-0389-2
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12205-014-0389-2