Influence of compaction on the soil shrinkage and swelling curves

¹ Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UPC - Barcelona Tech, Jordi Girona, 1-3, D2, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
² Dept of Mechanical and Construction Engineering, Northumbria University, NE1 8ST, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
³ Dept. of Civil Engineering, Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK

^* Corresponding author: david.encalada@upc.edu

Abstract

The behaviour of soils undergoing deformation due to changes in water content can be described using Soil Shrinkage Curves (SSCs). The SSCs are normally influenced by several factors as the soil’s fabric, different compaction levels, residual void ratio, and the shrinkage limit. In this study, shrinkage curves at different compaction levels were obtained using both wax coating and image analysis as volumetric quantification methods. Both techniques returned consistent results. To fit the obtained experimental data, a single equation is proposed with fitting parameters pertaining to the physical characteristics of the soil samples used. The use of Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry (MIP) is also incorporated to further analyse the structure of the soils being studied. The effect of the drying path on the structure was more apparent in the size range of 100-2000 nm. The effects of compaction on soil structure and shrinkage behaviour were also discussed in the study. The presented work provides valuable insights on the effect of different compaction levels on the soil shrinkage behaviour.