Non-destructive experimental testing and modeling of electrical impedance behavior of untreated and treated ultra-soft clayey soils

The characterization of ultra-soft clayey soil exhibits extreme challenges due to low shear strength of such material. Hence, inspecting the non-destructive electrical impedance behavior of untreated and treated ultra-soft clayey soils gains more attention. Both shear strength and electrical impedan...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Aram M. Raheem, Cumaraswamy Vipulanandan, Mohammad S. Joshaghani
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2017-06-01
Series:Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674775516300907
Description
Summary:The characterization of ultra-soft clayey soil exhibits extreme challenges due to low shear strength of such material. Hence, inspecting the non-destructive electrical impedance behavior of untreated and treated ultra-soft clayey soils gains more attention. Both shear strength and electrical impedance were measured experimentally for both untreated and treated ultra-soft clayey soils. The shear strength of untreated ultra-soft clayey soil reached 0.17 kPa for 10% bentonite content, while the shear strengths increased to 0.27 kPa and 6.7 kPa for 10% bentonite content treated with 2% lime and 10% polymer, respectively. The electrical impedance of the ultra-soft clayey soil has shown a significant decrease from 1.6 kΩ to 0.607 kΩ when the bentonite content increased from 2% to 10% at a frequency of 300 kHz. The 10% lime and 10% polymer treatments have decreased the electrical impedances of ultra-soft clayey soil with 10% bentonite from 0.607 kΩ to 0.12 kΩ and 0.176 kΩ, respectively, at a frequency of 300 kHz. A new mathematical model has been accordingly proposed to model the non-destructive electrical impedance-frequency relationship for both untreated and treated ultra-soft clayey soils. The new model has shown a good agreement with experimental data with coefficient of determination (R2) up to 0.99 and root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.007 kΩ.
ISSN:1674-7755