Hydromechanical behavior of a natural swelling soil of Boumagueur region (east of Algeria)

Mehdi Mebarki, Toufik Kareche, Feth-Ellah Mounir Derfouf, Said Taibi and Nabil Abou-bekr

Abstract

This work presents an experimental study of the hydromechanical behavior of a natural swelling soil taken from Boumagueur region east of Algeria. Several pathological cases due to the soil shrinkage / swelling phenomenon were detected in this area. In a first part, the hydric behavior on drying-wetting paths was made, using the osmotic technics and saturated salts solutions to control suction. In The second part, using a new osmotic oedometer, the coupled behavior as a function of applied stresses and suction was investigated. It was shown that soil compressibility parameters was influenced by suction variations that an increase in suction is followed by a decrease in the virgin compression slope. On the other hand, the unloading slope of the oedometric curves was not obviously affected by the imposed suction. The decrease in suction strongly influences the apparent preconsolidation pressure, ie during swelling of the samples after wetting.

Key Words

clay swelling soil; suction; shrinkage-swelling; drying-wetting; hydromechanical behavior; compressibility

Address

Mehdi Mebarki and Toufik Kareche: Departement of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Technology, University of Batna 2, Batna 5000, Algeria Feth-Ellah Mounir Derfouf: 1.) EOLE, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Tlemcen, Tlemcen 13000, Algeria 2.) Department of Hydraulic and Civil Engineering, University of Saida, Algeria Said Taibi: LOMC, UMR CNRS 6394, University of Le Havre Normandy Nabil Abou-bekr: EOLE, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Tlemcen, Tlemcen 13000, Algeria

← Back to Volume 17, No. 1