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Influence of external stress and initial density on the volumetric behavior of an expansive clay during wetting

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Abstract

The swelling behavior of expansive clays is widely investigated in the literature, while fewer studies were focused on their collapse behavior under high-stress level during wetting. This paper investigates the development of one-dimensional volumetric strain (ε) (1) with time during soaking and (2) with gravimetric water content (w) during wetting over a wide range of initial densities (ρd) and vertical stress (σv) levels, for an expansive clay collected from Nanyang, China. It was found that (1) specimens with high ρd tend to swell during wetting or soaking under low σv. Swelling gradually transfers to collapse with increasing σv and decreasing ρd. The amount of swelling or collapse is sensitive to the σv and ρd; (2) collapse and swelling ε–log(t) relationships during soaking are similar and have three distinct stages. They are well described by a unique model; (3) the speed of the volumetric change during soaking is only sensitive to the σv and ρd when the ρd is higher than a threshold value (1.5 Mg/m3 for the investigated clay); (4) during soaking, relationships between the final ε, ρd, and log(σv) are linear and continuous from swelling to collapse and are described using a linear equation; and (5) the collapse and swelling ε–w relationships during wetting have similar nonlinear characteristics. A simple model was proposed to predict all measured swelling and collapse ε–w relationships under various σv and ρd levels using only one set of parameters. Experimental data and models presented in this study contribute to better understanding and predicting the volumetric behavior of expansive clays for the long-term stability and serviceability evaluation of geotechnical structures.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, Grant nos. 51779191, 51809199, and 51979206) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant no. 2042019kf0026).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Xijing University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China

    Wei-lie Zou

  2. School of Civil Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, China

    Wei-lie Zou, Zhong Han & Jia-bing Ye

  3. Key Laboratory of Rock Mechanics in Hydraulic Structural Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, China

    Wei-lie Zou & Zhong Han

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  1. Wei-lie Zou
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  2. Zhong Han
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Correspondence to Zhong Han.

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Zou, Wl., Han, Z. & Ye, Jb. Influence of external stress and initial density on the volumetric behavior of an expansive clay during wetting. Environ Earth Sci 79, 211 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-020-08960-1

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