Abstract
Laterite soils in compacted from are widely used as fills and road construction materials in countries within the tropics. Certain unusual engineering characteristics have been established for some of them and these have been the subject of previous investigations.
The present work concerns the examination of one such unusual engineering characteristic. The stress-strain behaviour of three compacted laterite soils from North-East Brazil have been examined using the shear-box machine. The investigation reveals the existence of a “collapse behaviour” previously identified only in undisturbed laterite soils.
The “collapse behaviour” has been interpreted in terms of degradable soil particles which comminute under load. The comminution occurs before the ultimate failure of the soil body is reached.
Résumé
Les sols latéritiques compactés sont très largement employés comme remblais et matériaux de construction routière dans les pays tropicaux. Certaines caractéristiques techniques inhabituelles, sont déjà bien connues et ont fait l'objet d'études antérieures. Le travail actuel porte sur l'examen plus détaillé de l'une de ces caractéristiques techniques inhabituelles.
Le comportement en tension-deformation de trois sols latéritiques compactés du nord-est du Brésil a été examiné en employant une boite de cisaillement direct.
L'étude révèle un comportement “d'effondrement” précédemment identifié seulement sur les sols latéritiques non remaniés. Ce comportement “d'effondrement” a été expliqué par l'existence de particules dégradables du sol qui se fragmentent sous la charge. La fragmentation a lieu avant que la rupture finale du sol se produise.
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Malomo, S. Stress-strain behaviour of some compacted laterite soils from north-east Brazil. Bulletin of the International Association of Engineering Geology 28, 49–54 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02594796
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02594796