Experimental Investigations of Hydro-Mechanical Behavior of Problematic Soils

Abstract

Foundation soils of all civil infrastructure projects in the rain amid regions are most commonly subjected to wetting and drying cycles throughout the year due to intermittent rainfalls, which may consequently alter the physical properties of these soils. In some situations, the foundations lose significant strength due to these seasonal climatic variations, which ultimately lead to structure failure, resulting in substantial human and financial losses. Various research studies are available in the literature, reporting different performance properties of treated and untreated soils under different conditions for wetting and drying cycles. Still, the scope of this work needs to be explored, specifically focusing on behavioral changes of the problematic soils. So, the novelty of the research work involves; executing the hydro-mechanical behavior of terrazyme treated problematic soils for various wetting-drying cycles. Laboratory testing approaches, such as unconfined compression, hydraulic conductivity, and compaction tests, etc., were followed to attain the set objectives. The test results showed that the compressive strength decreased, and hydraulic conductivity increased for a gradual increase in wetting and drying cycles, for both treated and untreated soils. The compressive strength of natural soil reduced up to 45%, 34%, and 40% during wetting and drying cycles for Nandipur, Kallar Kahar, and Lodhran soils, respectively, and similarly, 37%, 20%, and 35% decrease in the compressive strength was noted for treated Nandipur, Kallar Kahar, and Lodhran soils. Resultantly, the treated soils provided more strength than untreated soils for wetting and drying cycles. The hydraulic conductivity of treated Nandipur, Kallar Kahar, and Lodhran soils was noticed 15%, 8%, and 10% less than untreated soils, respectively.