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Investigating the impacts of oil contamination on geotechnical properties of laterite soils

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Abstract

An oil leakage can result due to particular events such as tanker accident, pipeline corrosion, and natural and manmade disasters. This paper reports on the first phase of a research program to investigate the effects of oil on the geotechnical properties of laterite soils with silty sand (SM) and silty clay (SC) classifications. The Atterberg limits, compaction, direct shear, unsoaked CBR, and permeability tests were carried out on clean and oil-contaminated laterite soil samples, and the changes to the properties were evaluated. Through XRD and XRF analysis, the mineral and chemical compositions of the laterite soils were determined. To simulate the oil-contaminated soil samples, the laterite soils were mixed with heavy motor oil at 3%, 5%, 8%, and 10% oil contents by dry weight of a specimen. The results show that with an increase in oil content, significant decreases in optimum fluid content, liquid limit, plastic limit, bulk unit weight, permeability, friction angle, and cohesion were realized. The cohesion in SM laterite soils however increased slightly due to the contamination. Some findings are totally consistent with some studies, partially consistent, and inconsistent with some other studies, however, all of these studies neither described how the fluid content and oil–water evaporation rate could be measured in the oven-drying process, nor how the fluid content and oil–water evaporation rate could be used in the equations, which this paper attempts to address. Awareness of the effects of oil-contamination should be crucial in environmental and coastal engineering undertakings and should help in providing the most effective techniques for stabilization.

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Abbreviations

OC:

Oil content

ϕ :

Angle of internal friction

c :

Cohesion

D10 :

Grain size at 10% passing

D50 :

Grain size at 50% passing

C u :

Uniformity coefficient

C c :

Curvature coefficient

W w :

Water content of oil-contaminated sand

m :

Weight of residual oil after drying

n :

Weight of residual oil before drying

W t :

Oil-contaminated soil weight before drying

W r :

Oil-contaminated soil weight after drying

\(\gamma\) :

Coefficient of oil drying loss

W o :

Oil loss due to drying

k s :

Sub-grade reaction modulus

k :

Coefficient of permeability

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to express sincere appreciation for the support from Universiti Sains Malaysia in making this project a success. The research was funded by the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education Malaysia under the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme with Grant Number FRGS/1/2018/TK01/USM/03/4.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil Engineering, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300, Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia

    Reda A. Abdelhalim, Harris Ramli & Mohamad R. Selamat

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, Delta Higher Institute for Engineering and Technology, Mansoura, Egypt

    Reda A. Abdelhalim

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  1. Reda A. Abdelhalim
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  2. Harris Ramli
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Correspondence to Harris Ramli.

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Abdelhalim, R.A., Ramli, H. & Selamat, M.R. Investigating the impacts of oil contamination on geotechnical properties of laterite soils. Innov. Infrastruct. Solut. 7, 321 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41062-022-00901-0

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