Abstract
Road construction in peatlands is challenging. The ability to make rapid estimates of the response of construction soils derived from natural peats to changes in water content is useful for pavement and geotechnical engineers. This paper details some laboratory test results on peat soils sourced from two sites in the South-west of England. The samples were sieved and the roots and natural fibres removed prior to laboratory testing. Water contents on the natural specimens were determined. The percentage of roots in the samples was determined. The thread rolling test was used to estimate the plastic limit of the peat soil material. A series of fall cone tests were conducted at varying moisture contents to determine the liquid limit of the peat soil as well as study the variation of fall cone undrained shear strength with the liquidity index, logarithmic liquidity index and the water content ratio. Both the liquidity index and logarithmic liquidity index are able to predict the fall cone undrained strength to within ± 40% around 90% of the time. When using the water content ratio to predict the fall cone undrained shear strength an accuracy of ± 40% is achieved around 85% of the time. The study concludes that the liquidity index and logarithmic liquidity index are better predictors of fall cone undrained shear strength but the water content ratio approach may be preferred if the engineer is less confident in plastic limit determination for peat soils.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
J. O. Tresidder, A Review of Existing Methods of Road Construction Over Peat. Road Research Technical Paper No. 40. Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Road Research Laboratory, Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1958.
P. J. Spedding, Peat. Fuel, 67 (7) (1988) 883–900.
T. B. Edil, Construction over peats and organic soils. In: Proceedings of Conference on Recent Advances in Soft Soil Engineering, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia, 1 1997 85–108.
H. Moayedi, R. Nazir, Malaysian Experiences of Peat Stabilization, State of the Art. Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, 36 (1) (2018) 1–11.
E. T. Hanrahan, An Investigation of Some Physical Properties of Peat. Géotechnique, 4 (3) (1954) 108–123.
E. T. Hanrahan, A road failure on peat. Géotechnique, 14 (3) (1964) 185–202.
L. Casagrande, Construction of embankments across peaty soils. Journal of Boston Society of Civil Engineers, 53 (3) (1966) 272–317.
N. Boylan, P. Jennings, M. Long, Peat slope failure in Ireland. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, 41 (1) (2008) 93–108.
T. B. Edil, Recent advances in geotechnical characterization and construction over peats and organic soils. In: Proceedings of the Second Conference on Advances in Soft Soil Engineering and Technology, Putrajaya, Malaysia, 2003 3–26.
T. B. Edil, Recent advances in construction over soft ground including peat. In: Proceedings of the Soft Soils 2016 Conference, Bandung, Indonesia, 2016.
B. C. O’Kelly, S. P. Pichan, Effects of decomposition on the compressibility of fibrous peat — A review. Geomechanics and Geoengineering, 8 (4) (2013) 286–296.
L. Nie, Y. Lv, M. Li, Influence of organic content and degree of decomposition on the engineering properties of a peat soil in NE China. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, 45 (4) (2012) 435–446.
A. W. Skempton, D. J. Petley, Ignition loss and other properties of peats and clays from Avonmouth, King’s Lynn and Cranberry Moss. Géotechnique, 20 (4) (1970) 343–356.
N. B. Hobbs, Mire morphology and the properties and behaviour of some British and foreign peats. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology, 19 (1) (1986) 7–80.
C. P. Wroth, D. M. Wood, The correlation of index properties with some basic engineering properties. Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 15 (2) (1978) 137–145.
P. J. Vardanega, S. K. Haigh, The undrained strength — liquidity index relationship. Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 51 (9) (2014) 1073–1086.
B. Kuriakose, B. M. Abraham, A. Sridharan, B. T. Jose, Water content ratio: an effective substitute for liquidity index for prediction of shear strength of clays. Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, 35 (4) (2017) 1577–1586.
P. J. Vardanega, S. K. Haigh, Discussion of “Water Content Ratio: An Effective Substitute for Liquidity Index for Prediction of Shear Strength of Clays” by Beshy Kuriakose, Benny Mathews Abraham, A. Sridharan & Babu T. Jose. Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, 35 (6) (2017) 3039–3044.
C. H. Hickey, Some Fall Cone Testing on English Peats. Undergraduate Research Report No. 1617RP031. Department of Civil Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol, U.K., 2017.
K. Y. Lau, Investigative Laboratory Characterisation of some English Peats. Individual Research Project Report. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol, U.K., 2017.
H. D. L. Sarzier, C. M. Couturier, A characterisation study of an English peat. Undergraduate Research Report No. 1516RP024. Department of Civil Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol, U.K., 2016.
B. C. O’Kelly, Atterberg limits are not appropriate for peat soils. Geotechnical Research, 2 (3) (2015) 123–134.
Haigh, S. K., Vardanega, P. J. and Bolton, M. D. The plastic limit of clays. Géotechnique, 63 (6) (2013) 435–440.
P. T. Sherwood, M. D. Ryley, An investigation of a conepenetrometer method for the determination of liquid limit. Géotechnique, 20 (2) (1970) 203–208.
D. M. Wood, Cone penetrometer and liquid limit. Géotechnique, 32 (2) (1982) 152–157.
B. C. O’Kelly, P. J. Vardanega, S. K. Haigh, Use of fall cones to determine Atterberg limits: a review. Géotechnique, 68 (10) (2018) 843–856, Corrigendum, 935.
H. B. Nagaraj, A. Sridharan, H. M. Mallikarjuna, Reexamination of Undrained Strength at Atterberg Limits Water Contents. Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, 30 (4) (2012) 727–736.
S. K. Haigh, P. J. Vardanega, Discussion of “Re-Examination of Undrained Strength at Atterberg Limits Water Contents” by H.B. Nagaraj, A. Sridharan and H.M. Mallikarjuna. Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, 30 (6) (2012) 1389–1391.
S. Hansbo, A new approach to the determination of shear strength of clay by the fall cone test. Proceedings of the Royal Swedish Geotechnical Institute, 14 (1957) 5–47.
British Standards Institute (BSI) BS 1377-2. Methods for test of soils for civil engineering purposes: Classification tests. British Standards Institute, London, United Kingdom, 1990.
T. Koumoto, G. T. Houlsby, Theory and practice of the fall cone test. Géotechnique, 51 (8) (2001) 701–712.
D. M. Wood, Some fall-cone tests. Géotechnique, 35 (1) (1985) 64–68.
P. J. Brown, M. A. Huxley, The cone factor for a 30° cone. Ground Engineering, 29 (10) (1996) 34–36.
D. M. Wood, Soil behaviour and critical state soil mechanics. Cambridge University Press, UK., 1990.
A. N. Schofield, C. P. Wroth, Critical State Soil Mechanics. McGraw-Hill, UK., 1968.
A. Skempton, R. Northey, The sensitivity of clays. Géotechnique, 3 (1) (1952) 30–53.
B. Sharma, P. K. Bora, Plastic Limit, Liquid Limit and Undrained Shear Strength of Soil — Reappraisal. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 129 (8) (2003) 774–777.
D. M. Wood, Discussion: “Cone penetrometer and liquid limit”, Géotechnique, 33 (1) (1983) 79–80.
T. S. Nagaraj, M. S. Jayadeva, Re-examination of one point methods of liquid limit determination. Géotechnique, 31 (3) (1981) 413–425.
T. S. Nagaraj, B. R. S. Murthy, Rationalisation of Skempton’s compressibility equation. Géotechnique, 33 (4) (1983) 433–444.
T. S. Nagaraj, B. R. Srinivasa Murthy, A critical reappraisal of the compression index equation. Géotechnique, 36 (1) (1986) 27–32.
F. J. Griffiths, R. C. Joshi, Identification of cementation in overconsolidated clays. Géotechnique, 38 (3) (1988) 451–452.
A. Federico, Relationships (cu — w) and (cu — δ) for remoulded clayey soils at high water content. Rivista Italiana di Geotecnica, 17 (1) (1983) 38–41.
A. Federico, A comment on undrained residual strength. Rivista Italiana di Geotecnica, 17 (3) (1983) 164–166.
L. T. Lee, Predicting geotechnical parameters for dredged materials using the slump test method and index property correlations. DOER Technical Notes Collection (ERDC TN-DOER-D-X), U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Vicksburg, Mississippi, USA., 2004.
S. A. Berilgen, H. Kiliç, K. Özaydin, Determination of undrained shear strength for dredged golden horn marine clay with laboratory tests. Proceedings of the Sri Lankan geotechnical society’s first international conference on soil & rock engineering, August 5–11, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2007.
A. Atterberg, Lerornas forhållande till vatten, deras plasticitetsgränser och plasticitetsgrader. Kungliga Lantbruksakademiens Handlingar och Tidskrift, 50 (2) (1911) 132–158 (In Swedish).
A. Atterberg, Die Plastizität der Tone. Internationale Mitteilungen der Bodenkunde, 1 (1911) 4–37 (In German).
J. Kodikara, Seneviratne, H. N. and Wjyakulasooriya, C. V. Evaluation of plastic limit and plasticity index by Cone Penetrometer. Proceedings of the Asian Regional Symposium on Geotechnical Problems and Practices in Foundation Engineering, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 1 1986 117–121.
T-W. Feng, Fall-cone penetration and water content relationship of clays. Géotechnique, 50 (2) (2000) 181–187.
T-W. Feng, A linear log d — log w model for the determination of consistency limits of soils. Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 38 (6) (2001) 1335–1342.
K. Prakash, Discussion of “Plastic Limit, Liquid Limit, and Undrained Shear Strength of Soil — Reappraisal” by Binu Sharma and Padma K. Bora. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 131 (3) (2005) 403.
A. Casagrande, Classification and identification of soils. Proceedings of the American Society of Civil Engineers, 73 (6) (1947) 783–810.
A. K. Howard, The revised ASTM standard on the Unified Classification System. Geotechnical Testing Journal, 7 (4) (1984) 216–222.
Y. M. Reznik, A Brief Note on Nonlinear Relationship Between Liquid Limits and Plasticity Indices of Soils. Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, 35 (6) (2017) 3035–3038.
British Standards Institute (BSI) BS 1377-3. Methods for test of soils for civil engineering purposes: Chemical and electrochemical tests. British Standards Institute, London, United Kingdom, 1990.
T. J. Waters, P. J. Vardanega, Re-examination of the coefficient of determination (r2) using road materials engineering case studies. Road and Transport Research, 18 (3) (2009) 3–12.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Peer review under responsibility of Chinese Society of Pavement Engineering.
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
About this article
Cite this article
Vardanega, P.J., Hickey, C.L., Lau, K. et al. Investigation of the Atterberg limits and undrained fall-cone shear strength variation with water content of some peat soils. Int. J. Pavement Res. Technol. 12, 131–138 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42947-019-0017-0
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42947-019-0017-0