Swell-Shrink Behavior of Expansive Soils, Damage and Control PDF
Swell-Shrink Behavior of Expansive Soils, Damage and Control PDF
Swell-Shrink Behavior of Expansive Soils, Damage and Control PDF
Masoumeh Mokhtari
Department of civil engineering, University of Hormozgan, Bandar abbas, Iran;
e-mail: mokhtarimasi@yahoo.com
Masoud Dehghani
Assistant professor, Department of civil engineering, University of Hormozgan,
Bandar abbas, Iran;
e-mail: Mdehghani@Hormozgan.ac.ir
ABSTRACT
Expansive soils occurring in arid and semi-arid climate regions of the world cause serious
problems on civil engineering structures. Such soils swell when given an access to water and
shrink when they dry out.
Several attempts are being made to control the swell-shrink behavior of these soils.
The Swelling potential of the expansive soil mainly depends upon the properties of soil and
environmental factors and Stress Conditions.
Each year, expansive soils cause in damage to houses, other buildings, roads, pipelines, and
other structures. This is more than twice the damage from floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and
earthquakes combined. This article presents description of expansive soil, shrink - swell
behavior and control it, Factors Influencing Swelling and Structural damage.
KEYWORDS: Expansive soils, swell-shrink behavior, Factors Influencing Swelling,
Structural damage.
INTRODUCTION
Engineering problems due to expansive soils have been reported in many countries all
around the world. They cause millions of dollars due to their severe damages on structures. These
damages are most common especially in the arid and semi-arid regions. Expansive soils contain
the clay mineral montmorillonite with claystones, shales, sedimentary and residual soils are
capable of absorbing great amount of water and expand. The expansive nature of the clay is less
near the ground surface where the profile is subjected to seasonal and environment changes. The
more water they absorb the more their volume increases. Expansive soils also shrink when they
dry out. Fissures in the soil can also develop. These fissures help water to penetrate to deeper
layers when water is present. This produces a cycle of shrinkage and swelling that causes the soil
to undergo great amount of volume changes. This movement in the soil results in structural
damages especially in lightweight structures such as sidewalks, driveways, basement floors,
pipelines and foundations.
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Vol. 17 [2012], Bund. R 2674
The effect of cyclic swell-shrink on the swelling behavior of natural soil is studied by many
researchers (Popesco 1980; Chen and Ma 1987; Subba Rao and Satyadas 1987; Dif and Blumel
1991; Day 1994; Al Homoud et al 1995; Bilsel 2002; Tripathy 2002). Some investigators studied
the swelling characteristics of expansive soils after repeatedly wetting-drying cycles. Chen et al
(1985), Chen and Ma (1987), Subba Rao and Satyadas (1987), Dif and Bluemel (1991) concluded
that when soils were subjected to full swell and allowed to shrink to their initial water content,
they showed less expansion due to the fatigue of clay after Popesco (1980), Day (1994) and
Guney (2007) concluded that swelling potential increased with the number of cycles. Al Homoud
et al (1995) stated that cyclic wetting-drying resulted in particle aggregation. He supported his
findings by the reduction in clay content and the plasticity index values of the soils after the
increasing number of cycles. This inevitably caused reduction in the swelling characteristics
(Tawfiq, 2009).
Figure 1: Expansive soil with "popcorn" texture Figure 2: Expansive soil with cracks
(http://www.surevoid.com/..., 2006). (http://www.surevoid.com/..., 2006).
workm
manship or calamities, poor
p drainag
ge characterisstics, climatiic condition and intricatte
behav
vior of expanssive soils.
The
T most obv vious identificcations of daamage to buiildings are dooors and winndows that get
jammmed, uneven floors,
fl and craacked foundaations, floors,, masonry waalls and ceilinngs. Moreoveer,
differrent crack pattterns mean diifferent causes for differennt foundation m
materials.
In
n most cases, cracks due tot shrinkage and expansivve clay usuallly run from ccorner towardds
adjaceent opening and
a are uniforrm in width or
o v-shaped, w
wider at the toop than the fooundation walll.
This pattern
p of craccks happens when
w the moiisture movem
ment is from thhe perimeter tto the centre oof
the ho
ouse (Lucian, 2011). Severral examples of
o damage to structures shhow in figuress below.
Figu
ure 3: Resideential drivew
way damaged
d by expansiive soil (httpp://www.sureevoid.com/...,
2006).
Figure 4:
4 Structurall damage to house
h causedd by ‘end lifft’ (Jones, 20011).
Vol. 17 [2012], Bund. R 2679
Swelling pressures can cause heaving, or lifting, of structures whilst shrinkage can cause
differential settlement. Failure results when the volume changes are unevenly distributed beneath
the foundation. For example, water content changes in the soil around the edge of a building can
cause swelling pressure beneath the perimeter of the building, while the water content of the soil
beneath the centre remains constant. This results in a failure known as end lift . The opposite of
this is centre lift, where swelling is focused beneath the centre of the structure or where shrinkage
takes place under the edges(Lee D Jones,2011).
Often, damage from expansive soils can be seen within the first few months or years after a
home is constructed. As water from irrigation or rainfall migrates underneath the home’s
foundation, the soil around the edge of the foundation expands, pushing up on the edges of the
foundation. This condition, called edge-lift, can cause cracking in the drywall and in the
foundation itself. Over a period of years, as the moisture further migrates underneath the center of
the slab, center-lift can occur, causing additional damage to the home.
Vol. 17 [2012], Bund. R 2680
watering the soils surrounding the foundation as need arises. However, this recommendation is
hypothetical in third world countries where water scarcity is the order of the day.
CONCLUSION
Expansive soil deposits occur in the arid and semi-arid regions of the world and are
problematic to engineering structures because of their tendency to swell during wet season and
shrink during dry season.
Expansive soils are soils that experience significant volume change associated with changes
in water contents.
The Swelling potential of the expansive soil mainly depends upon the properties of soil and
environmental factors.
Expansive soils present significant geotechnical and structural engineering challenges the
world over, with costs associated with expansive behavior estimated to run into several billion
annually.
Expansive soils are a worldwide problem that poses several challenges for civil engineers.
They are considered a potential natural hazard, which can cause extensive damage to structures if
not adequately treated.
Expansive soils cause more damage to structures, particularly light buildings and pavements,
than any other natural hazard, including earthquakes and floods .
Control and Mitigation of the swell-shrink behavior of expansive soil have been investigated
in this article. Control of the swell-shrink behavior can be accomplished in several ways,for
example by Replace existing expansive soil with non-expansive soil, Maintain constant moisture
content and Improve the expansive soils by stabilization.
REFERENCES
1. Al-Homoud, A.S., Basma, A.A., Malkavi, A.I.H. & Al-Bashabshah, M.A. (1995). Cyclic
swelling behavior of clays. Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, 121, 562-565.
2. Baser, O., 2009, Stabilization of Expansive Soils Using Waste Marble, a Thesis
Submitted to the Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences of Middle East
Technical University.
3. Bilsel, H. (2002) Climatic effects on the engineering and the physico-chemical properties
of calcareous swelling clays of Cyprus. Ph.D. Thesis, Eastern Mediterranean University,
Famagusta- Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
Vol. 17 [2012], Bund. R 2682
4. Chen, F.H. & Ma, G.S. (1987). Swelling and shrinkage behavior of expansive clays. 6th
International Conference on Expansive soils. New Delhi, 127-129.
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expansive soils. 14th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation
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6. Day, R.W. (1994). Swell–shrink behaviour of expansive compacted clay. Journal of
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Geotechnical Testing Journal, 14(1): 96-102.
8. Guney, Y., Sarı, D., Cetin, M. & Tuncan, M. (2007). Impact of cyclic wetting-drying on
swelling behavior of lime-stabilized soil. Building and Environment, 42(2): 681-68.
9. Lee D Jones,2011, British Geological Survey & Ian Jefferson, School of Civil
Engineering, University of Birmingham, Institution of Civil Engineers Manuals series,
Chapter C5 – Expansive Soils.
10. Lucian.Charles,2011, Geotechnical Aspects of Buildings on Expansive Soils in Kibaha,
Tanzania: Preliminary Study, Licentiate Thesis, Department of Civil and Architectural
Engineering Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm, Sweden.
11. Popescu, M. (1980). Behaviour of expansive soils with crumb structures. In Proceedings
of the 4th International Conference on Expansive Soils. Denver, Co., pp. 158-171.
12. Subba Rao, K.S. & Satyadas, G.C. (1987). Swelling potential with cycles of swelling and
partial shrinkage. 6th International Conference on Expansive soils. New Delhi, pp. 137-
142.
13. Tawfiq. Salma & Nalbantoglu. Zalihe,2009, Swell-shrink behavior of expansive clays,
Eastern Mediterranean University, Department of Civil Engineering, Gazimagusa, North
Cyprus,
14. Tripathy, S., Rao, K.S. & Fredlund, D.G. (2002). Water content-void ratio swell-shrink
paths of compacted expansive soils. Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 39, 938-959.
15. http://www.surevoid.com
16. http://www.irrigationtutorials.com
© EJGE 2012