Effect of ageing on the properties of a clay soil contaminated with glycerol

Effect of ageing on the behaviour of a contaminated clay soil was studied. Contaminated soil samples were prepared by adding 4, 7 and 10% solution of glycerol to an uncontaminated soil. Atterberg limits, compaction, free swelling and unconfined compression strength (UCS) tests were performed on the contaminated soil samples at ages of 0 (immediate), 7, 14, 30, 60 and 90 days. The results show that the Atterberg limits are increased with increasing the percent of glycerol and ages except samples with 0 ages. For sample contaminated with 10% glycerol at age of 90 days the reduction in maximum dry unit weight and the increase in optimum water content were 5.4% and 16.7%, respectively. The results also indicate that the potential of swelling is proportional to the percents of glycerol and ages. The changes in the value of UCS are in opposite direction with percent of glycerol and ages. The reduction in strength of contaminated samples with 7 and 10% glycerol at age of 90 days are 62 and 68%, respectively, compared to the samples that were contaminated with 4% glycerol solution. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) shows that increasing the age will change the structure and behaviours of soil samples.

Automated summary

This study investigated the effect of ageing on the behavior of contaminated clay soil. The results showed that the Atterberg limits, swelling potential, and unconfined compression strength of the soil samples changed with increasing glycerol content and ageing time.