Abstract
EPS geofoam is an excellent material for building road embankments on very soft soils, in slope stabilization, for reducing earth pressures acting on rigid structures, etc. Expansive soils give major challenges to geotechnical engineers because of high swelling and shrinkage characteristics that may severely damage the lightly loaded structures. Limited studies are available for the possible use of EPS geofoam for the reduction of vertical swelling of expansive soils. Columns techniques are preferable for deep stabilization of highly problematic soil. The use of compressible inclusion such as EPS geofoam column technique can be used to control the swelling potential of expansive soils. In this paper, an attempt has been made to study the effectiveness of EPS geofoam columns to control the vertical swelling of expansive soil with and without inclusions. For this study, EPS specimen with bulk density of 12 kg/m3 (EPS12) was chosen and column diameters were varied to study the effect of area replacement ratio (Ar) on swelling characteristics. Laboratory swell tests have been carried out on statically compacted swelling clay with and without EPS geofoam columns (EPSC) with varying diameter. Tests results show that there is a reduction in the vertical swelling of soil with the inclusion of EPSC when compared to the soil without inclusion. Also with the increase in Ar of EPSC, there is significant reduction in the swell potential of the soil.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Chen FH (1988) Foundations on expansive soils. Elsevier Scientific Publishing Co., Amsterdam
Nagaraj HB, Munnas MM, Sridharan A (2009) Critical evaluation of determining swelling pressure by swell-load method and constant volume method. Geotech Test J 32:305–314. https://doi.org/10.1520/GTJ102051
Viswanadham BVS, Phanikumar BR, Mukherjee RV (2009) Swelling behaviour of a geofiber-reinforced expansive soil. Geotext Geomembr 27:73–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geotexmem.2008.06.002
Katti RK (1979) Search for solutions to problems in black cotton soils. First IGS Annual Lecture, Indian Geotechnical Society at Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India
Sharma RS, Phanikumar BR (2005) Laboratory study of heave behavior of expansive clay reinforced with geopiles. J Geotech Geoenvironmental Eng 131:512–520. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1090-0241(2005)131:4(512)
Thyagaraj T, Suresh P (2012) In-situ stabilization of an expansive soil in desiccated state In-situ stabilization of an expansive soil in desiccated state. Int J Geotech Eng 6:287–296. https://doi.org/10.3328/IJGE.2012.06.03.287-296
Jamsawang P, Nuansrithong N, Voottipruex P, Songpiriyakij S, Jongpradist P (2017) Laboratory investigations on the swelling behavior of composite expansive clays stabilized with shallow and deep clay-cement mixing methods. Appl Clay Sci 148:83–94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clay.2017.08.013
Phani Kumar BR (1997) A study of swelling characteristics of Granular Pile Anchor-Foundation system in expansive soils. Ph.D. Thesis, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad, India
Ingles OG (1970) Mechanism of clay stabilization with inorganic acids and alkalis. Aust J Soil Res 8:81–95
Koerner RM (2012) Designing with geosynthetics. Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ
Al-Omari RR, Hamodi FJ (1991) Swelling resistant geogrid-A new approach for the treatment of expansive soils. Geotext Geomembr 10:295–317. https://doi.org/10.1016/0266-1144(91)90008-K
Ikizler SB, Aytekin M, Nas E (2008) Laboratory study of expanded polystyrene (EPS) geofoam used with expansive soils. Geotext Geomembr. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geotexmem.2007.05.005
Ikizler SB, Aytekin M, Vekli M (2009) Reductions in swelling pressure of expansive soil stabilized using EPS geofoam and sand. Geosynth Int. https://doi.org/10.1680/gein.2009.16.3.216
Horvath JS (1994) Expanded polystyrene (EPS) geofoam: an introduction to material behaviour. Geotext Geomembr 4:263–280
Liu HL, Deng A, Chu J (2006) Effect of different mixing ratios of polystyrene pre-puff beads and cement on the mechanical behaviour of lightweight fill. Geotext Geomembr 24:331–338. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geotexmem.2006.05.002
ASTM D4546-14 (2014) Standard test methods for one-dimensional swell or collapse of soils. ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA
Beju YZ, Mandal JN (2017) Expanded polystyrene (EPS) geofoam: preliminary characteristic evaluation. Procedia Eng. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2017.05.038
Acknowledgements
This investigation was supported financially by Department of Science and Technology Science and Engineering Research Board (DST-SERB) India under Early Career Research scheme is gratefully acknowledged by the authors.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this paper
Cite this paper
Selvakumar, S., Soundara, B. (2019). Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) Geofoam Columns in Expansive Soil: Preliminary Swelling Characteristics Evaluation. In: Arellano, D., Özer, A., Bartlett, S., Vaslestad, J. (eds) 5th International Conference on Geofoam Blocks in Construction Applications. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78981-1_27
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78981-1_27
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-78980-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-78981-1
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)