Abstract
Quick determination of soil's stiffness/strength is very often
required during pavement construction, especially when soft
subgrade is encountered. There are several ways of determining
soil's stiffness/strength such as Dynamic Cone Penetrometer
(DCP), Resistance value (R-value), California Bearing Ratio
(CBR), resilient modulus (MR), etc. DCP is a very quick test for
determining in-situ soil's stiffness/strength. Pavement
Mechanistic-Empirical Design (PMED) guide provides some
correlations among different subgrade tests. However, those
correlations are derived from national data. Research was thus
needed to investigate the correlation between single-mass, and
dual-mass DCP, and determine correlations among other
subgrade tests for local pavement soils. Suitable test sites were
found out from ongoing construction projects. Both single-mass
(10.1 lb/4.6 kg), and dual-mass (17.6 lb/8 kg) DCP, CBR, R-
value, and soil classification testing were conducted. Results
show that the single-mass DCP produces an average of 62%
penetration compared to that of dual-mass DCP. The calculated
R- values and CBR using the PMED equations and the
developed equations are statistically equal at 95% confidence
interval. The developed regression equations to calculate the R-
value yield more accurate and statistically equal R-value
compared to that by the PMED equations. The R-value
calculated by PMED equation using the soil's gradation, and
plasticity index are less accurate compared to other methods.
However, the R-value calculated by developed equation using
the soil's gradation, and plasticity index are the most accurate
compared to other methods.
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Correlating Dynamic Cone Penetrometer and Laboratory
Resilient Modulus of Subgrade. 8th International Conference
on Maintenance and Rehabilitation of Pavements
(MAIREPAV8), 27 to 29 July, 2016, Singapore.
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Webster et al. (1992) determined the correlation of DCP
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Their developed model is being used by the PMED software
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Abstract
Micaceous soils are considered to be detrimental due to low
compactability, high compressibility and low shear strength
behavior; which results in failures of pavements under traffic
loading, earthen dams, embankments, cuts & excavations of
retaining walls etc. Mica particles are platy, fragile and resilient in
nature with inherent material anisotropy due to numerous intact
mica flakes foliated over each other with low stiffness & hardness
unlike spherical sand particles. As a result of resilient and fragile
nature of mica particles, typical failures such as potholes,
differential settlement, peeling of asphalt finish, warping of
bituminous layer, subsidence and distortion are common feature in
micaceous soils. The conventional stabilizing agents available are
lime, cement, etc. but these techniques have a negative impact on
the environment and ecosystem. In this study, bentonite was used
as a stabilizing agent to treat micaceous sand due to its cohesive and
eco-friendly nature. Different percentages of bentonite were used
to increase the shear strength of micaceous sand. Also,
conventional non ecofriendly lime stabilization was also used to
conduct a comparative study on effective stabilization of micaceous
sand with bentonite and lime in terms of improvement in shear
strength, swelling-shrinkage characteristics, compressibility and
overview on environmental impacts.
Keywords:
Micaceous sand, Differential settlement, Stabilization, Bentonite, Lime
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Abstract
Micaceous soils are generally known for their high compressibility
and low compacted density behavior. Mica particles have an
influence on the compaction properties of soil due to their platy
shape, ability to split into very thin flakes and the inter-space within
the thin flakes. The mica flakes also impart resilience to the soil,
which makes it difficult to compact. The spring nature of mica
flakes helps them to recover their shape, when the stress is removed.
The presence of mica particles in non-cohesive (sandy/silty) soil
affects its grain packing. The particles of non-cohesive soils (sand,
silt) are predominantly rounded particles, and the presence of mica
in such soils tends to decrease the packing efficiency by increasing
the size of void space within the soil mass. Mica flakes alter the
packing of rounded particles (silt, sand) through bridging &
ordering effects at significant percentage of mica content in soils.
If mica content in soil is more than 10%, it has strong impact on
compressibility, compressive strength and volume stability of
micaceous soil. The current research is focused on the effect of
water content on shear strength behavior of naturally available
micaceous silty soil (Kutch, Gujarat). The resilience behavior of
mica particles and the presence of water molecules in the inter-
space of mica thin flakes were studied to understand the variation
in shear strength behavior of micaceous Kutch soil (14% mica) due
to the change in its water content. A series of shear strength tests
were performed on micaceous Kutch soil at different water content
varying from 0% to 23.5%. A series of XRD, SEM and AFM tests
were also performed on Kutch soil to determine the mica content
and understand the size, shape and geometric arrangement of
particles (mica, silt, sand) within the soil mass.
Keywords:
Mica, Shear strength, XRD, SEM, AFM, Micaceous
soil
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construction", Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, Vol. 13,
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"Micaceous sand: Microscale mechanism and macroscale
response", Journal of Geotechnical & Geoenvironmental
Engineering, Vol.133, No.9, pp. 1136-1143.
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content on stress-deformation behavior of Micaceous sand",
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