Abstract
The aim of this paper is to evaluate the soil water characteristic curves (SWCC) of undisturbed expansive shale identified at different locations of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The SWCCs were evaluated for suction ranging from 0.5 to 400 MPa. Based on test results, all SWCCs reveal a bimodal curve indicating the presence of two distinct pore size distributions referred to as small and large micropores. Volume change measurements were performed to evaluate void ratio–suction relationships which confirmed the expansive nature of shale. Similarities between measured SWCCs and void ratio–suction relations developed for expansive shale originating from same geological formation suggests the impact of geological and environmental conditions on the unsaturated behavior of shale samples. Finally, a modified approach based on Mckeen’s classification methodology was proposed to assess the swelling potential using bimodal SWCCs. The modified approach was used to assess the relative contribution of different micropores on the swelling potential of shale.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abbaszadeh MM, Houston S, Zapata C, Houston W, Welfert B, Walsh K (2010) Laboratory determination of soil-water characteristic curves for cracked soil. In: Alonso E, Gens A (eds.) Proceedings of the 5th International conference on Unsaturated soils, Barcelona, Spain, 6–9 September 2010. Taylor & Francis Group, London, pp. 409–415
Abdelmalak RI (2007) Soil structure interaction for shrink-swell soils: a new design procedure for foundation slabs on shrink swell soils. Dissertation, Texas A&M University, College Station
Abderahim G, Mohammed M (2011) The use of a mixed scheme: mixed hybrid finite elements method/finite volumes (MHFE/FV), for the modeling of contaminants transport in unsaturated porous mediums. Arab J Geosci 4(3-4):669–680
Abduljauwad SN (1994) Swelling behavior of calcareous clay from the eastern province of Saudi Arabia. Q J Eng Geol 27:333–351
Abduljauwad SN, Al-Sulaimani GJ (1993) Determination of swell potential of Al-Qatif clay. Geotech Test J 16(4):469–484
Aiban SA (2006) Compressibility and swelling characteristics of Al-Khobar Palygorskite, eastern Saudi Arabia. Eng Geol 87:205–219
Al-Mhaidib AI (2006) Swelling behavior of expansive shale: a case study from Saudi Arabia. In: Al-Rawas AA, Goosen MFA (eds) Recent advances in characterization and treatment. Taylor & Francis, London, pp 273–287
ASTM E 104 (2007). Standard practice for maintaining constant relative humidity by means of aqueous solutions. Annual book of ASTM Standards, West Conshohocken
Azam S (2003) Influence of mineralogy on swelling and consolidation of soils in eastern Saudi Arabia. Can Geotech J 40:964–975
Barbour SL (1998) Nineteenth Canadian Geotechnical Colloquium: the soil-water characteristic curve: a historical perspective. Can Geotech J 35:873–894
Brown AM (2001) A step-by-step guide to non-linear regression analysis of experimental data using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Comp Meth Prog Bio 65:191–200
Benchouk A, Derfouf M, Abou-Bekr N, Taibi S (2012) Behavior of some clays on drying and wetting paths. Arab J Geosci. doi:10.1007/s12517-012-0777-1
Burger CA, Shackelford CD (2001a) Evaluating dual porosity of pelletized diatomaceous earth using bimodal soil-water characteristic curve functions. Can Geotech J 38(1):53–66
Burger CA, Shackelford CD (2001b) Soil-water characteristic curves and dual porosity of sand–diatomaceous earth mixtures. J Geotech Geoenviron 127(9):790–800
Chao KC, Durkee DB, Miller DJ, Nelson JD (1998) Soil retention characteristics for expansive soils. Proceedings of the Thirteenth Southeast Asian Geotechnical Conference, Taipei, Taiwan, November
Chao KC, Nelson JD, Overton DD, Cumbers JM (2008) Soil water retention curves for remolded expansive soils. In: Toll DG et al. (ed) Unsaturated soils: advances in geo-engineering. Proceedings of the 1st European Conference, E-UNSAT 2008, Durham, United Kingdom, 2–4 July, Taylor & Francis, London, pp. 243–248
Chen FH (1988) Foundations on expansive soils, 2nd edn. Elsevier, New York
Dafalla MA, Al-Shamrani MA (2008) Performance-based solutions for foundations on expansive soils-Al Ghatt region, Saudi Arabia. GEO- CHIANGMAI, Thailand
Dafalla MA, Shamrani MA (2011). Road damage due to expansive soils: survey of the phenomenon and measures for improvement. Geotechnical Special Publication no. 219, ASCE, pp. 73–80
Dawoud MA, Ismail SS (2011) Saturated and unsaturated River Nile/groundwater aquifer interaction systems in the Nile Valley, Egypt. Arab J Geosci. doi:10.1007/s12517-011-0483-4
Delage P, Romero E, Tarantino A (2008) Keynote lecture: recent developments in the techniques of controlling and measuring suction. Proc. 1st European Conference on Unsaturated Soils, Durham, UK, pp 33–52, 2–4th July 2008
Dhowian AW, Erol AO (1993) Ground conditions and associated structural problems in Jazan and Tabuk Region. Final Report, KACST, ARP-8-106
Dhowian AW, Erol AO, Youssef A (1990) Evaluation of expansive soils and foundation methodology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Final Report, KACST, AT-5-88
Durner W (1994) Hydraulic conductivity estimation for soils with heterogeneous pore structure. Water Resour Res 30(2):211–223
El-Hames AS, Al-Wagdany AS (2011) Investigation of wetting front behavior due to rainfall and ponding head effects in arid region wadi alluvium. Arab J Geosci. doi:10.1007/s12517-011-0457-6
Fredlund DG, Houston SL, Nguyen Q, Fredlund MD (2010) Moisture movement through cracked clay soil profiles. Geotech Geol Eng 28:865–888
Fredlund DG, Raharjo H (1993) Soil mechanics for unsaturated soils. Wiley interscience, New York
Fredlund DG, Rahardjo H, Fredlund MD (2012) Unsaturated soil mechanics in engineering practice. Wiley, New York
Fredlund DG, Xing A (1994) Equations for the soil-water characteristic curve. Can Geotech J 31:521–532
Gitirana GF, Fredlund DG (2004) Soil-water characteristic curve equation with independent properties. J Geotech Geoenviron 130(2):209–212
Li L, Sun D, Sheng D, Sloan S, Fredlund D (2007) Preliminary study on soil water characteristics of Maryland clay. Proceedings of the 3rd Asian Conference on Unsaturated Soils, Nanjing, China, pp. 569–574
Mallants D, Tseng PH, Toride N, Timmerman A, Feyen J (1997) Evaluation of multimodal hydraulic functions in characterizing a heterogeneous field soil. J Hydrol 195:172–199
Mc Garry D, Malafant KWJ (1987) The analysis of volume change in unconfined units of soil. Soil Sci Soc Am J 51:290–297
McKeen RG (1992) A model for predicting expansive soil behavior. Proc. 7th Int. Conf. on Expansive Soils, Vol. 1, Dallas: 1–6
Miao L, Liu S, Lai Y (2002) Research of soil–water characteristics and shear strength features of Nanyang expansive soil. Eng Geol 65:261–267
Mitchell JK (1993) Fundamentals of soil behavior. Wiley, New York
Nowamooz H, Masrouri F (2010) Relationships between soil fabric and suction cycles in compacted swelling soils. Eng Geol 114:444–455
Peron H, Hueckel T, Lyesse L (2006) An improved volume measurements for determining soil water retention curves. Geotech Test J: ASTM 30(1):1–8
Powers RW, Ramirez LF, Redmond CD, Elberg EL (1966) Geology of the Arabian Peninsula Sedimentary Geology of Saudi Arabia. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 560-D, U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, D.C., 147 pp
Ruwaih IA (1987) Experiences with Expansive Soils in Saudi Arabia. Proc. 6th Int. Conf. on Expansive Soils, New Delhi, India: 317–322
Sabtan AA (2005) Geotechnical properties of expansive clay shale in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. J Asian Earth Sci 25:747–757
Simms PH, Yanful EK (2002) Predicting soil water characteristic curves of compacted plastic soils from measured pore-size distributions. Geotechnique 52(4):269–278
Smettem KRJ, Kirby C (1990) Measuring the hydraulic properties of a stable aggregated soil. J Hydrol 117:1–13
Taibi S, Fleureau JM, Abou-Bekr N, Zerhouni MI, Benchouk A, Lachgueur K, Souli H (2011) Some aspects of the behaviour of compacted soils along wetting paths. Geotechnique 61(5):431–437
Vanapalli SK, Pufahl DE, Fredlund DG (1998) The effect of stress on the soil-water characteristic behavior of a compacted sandy clay till. Proc. 51st Canadian Geotechnical Conference, Edmonton, pp. 81–86
Wilson GV, Jardine PM, Gwo JP (1992) Modeling the hydraulic properties of a multi-region soil. Soil Sci Soc Am J 56(6):1731–1737
Wilson GW, Fredlund MD (2000) The application of knowledge based surface boundary modelling. In: Rahardjo H, Toll DG, Leong EC (eds) Unsaturated soils of Asia. Balkema, Rotterdam, pp 451–456
Zhang L, Fredlund DG (2004) Characteristics of water characteristics curves for unsaturated fratured rocks. The Second Asian Conference on Unsaturated Soils, Unsat-Asia, Osaka, Japan, pp. 425–428
Zhang X (2004) Consolidation theories for saturated-unsaturated soils and numerical simulation of residential buildings on expansive soils. Dissertation, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
Acknowledgments
This paper is a part of a research project supported through NPST program by King Saud University, project no. 11-BUI1901-02. The authors would like to thank the technicians and staff of Bugshan Research Chair in Expansive Soils for their help and support.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Elkady, T.Y. Unsaturated characteristics of undisturbed expansive shale from Saudi Arabia. Arab J Geosci 7, 2031–2040 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-013-0915-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-013-0915-4