The general agreement is plasticity and swell of a soil have a strong direct relationship. If plasticity increases, swell increases and vice versa. Are there any special or rare conditions or cases or exceptions for this relationship? Are there any literature related to exceptional cases? Looking for reasons for contrary relationship between plasticity and swell.
I think that the answer to this question can be related to the soil mineralogical and structural composition. For example, this situation can occur for some tropical soils: the lateritic soil can present high values for plasticity but is not expansive; on the other hand, a saprolitic soil can not have high plasticity but can be expansive. You can take a look at these papers:
- José Camapum de Carvalho, Lilian R. de Rezende, Fabricio B. da F. Cardoso,
Lêda C. de F. L. Lucena, Renato C. Guimarães, Yamile G. Valencia. Tropical Soils for Highway Construction: Peculiarities and Considerations. Transportation Geotechnics, 2015 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.trgeo.2015.10.004)
- Nogami, J.S. & Villibor, D.F. Use of lateritic fine-grained soils in road pavement base courses. Geotechnical & Geological Engineering. 1991. (9) 3-4: 167-182.
Thank you Dr. Rezende. I will take a look at those papers. Is there a possibility of such a situation arising due to stabilization of soils using lime/cement?
Yes, there is. During soil stabilization, new minerals can appear, as ettringite, and it can cause swelling. Maybe this paper and its references can help you:
- Lilian Ribeiro de Rezende; Tallyta da Silva Curado; Millena Vasconcelos Silva;
Márcia Maria dos Anjos Mascarenha; Daniel Arthur Nnang Metogo;
Manoel Porfirio Cordão Neto; and Liedi Legi Bariani Bernucci. Laboratory Study of Phosphogypsum, Stabilizers, and Tropical Soil Mixtures. J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 2016, DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0001711.
Is there a possibility of alkali silica gel formation induced swelling in stabilized soil?
For this question, you can take a look at:
- BELL, F. G., “Lime stabilization of clay minerals and soils”, Engineering Geology, v. 42, pp. 223-237, Jan., 1996.
- HORPIBULSUK, S., KATKAN, W., SIRILERDWATTANA, W., RACHAN, R., “Strength development in cement stabilized low plasticity and coarse grained soils: laboratory and field study”, Soils and Foundations, v. 46, n. 3, pp. 351-366, June, 2006.
- SUGANYA, K., SIVAPULLAIAH, P. V., “Role of Sodium Silicate Additive in Cement-Treated Kuttanad Soil”, Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, v. 28, n. 6, pp. 06016006-1-06016006-6, Jan., 2016.
- KUMAR, J., S., JANEWOO, U., “Stabilization of Expansive Soil with Cement Kiln Dust and RBI Grade 81 at Subgrade Level”, Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, DOI 10.1007/s10706-016-0024-8, May, 2016.
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