Identification of Collapsible Soil—A Case Study

Soil is material formed due to weathering and erosion process of rocks. Water in contact with some type of soil causes problems in civil activities. These problems include swelling, dispersing, and collapse of soil materials. Structures built on collapsible soils may settle if saturated under loading. Formations of collapsible soils are due to geologic deposits of silty or loamy material such as loess which are loosely cemented by calcium carbonate and are mainly deposited by the wind. Field observations and laboratory tests can be useful to identify problematic soils. Some properties of soils are helpful to estimate the collapsibility potential of soils. In this present paper, a case study of a project in the northern part of India has been considered to evaluate the geotechnical properties of soil materials. Laboratory investigations such as liquid limit, plastic limit, plasticity index, moisture content, dry density, and one-dimensional consolidation tests on 19 undisturbed soil samples collected at various depths from two different locations were carried out. Most of the samples were Silty Sand and were Non-Plastic as per IS Classification of soils. Identification of the collapsible nature of the soil was determined by conducting Double Oedometer tests. Void ratios arrived by conducting Double Oedometer tests were used for measuring collapse potential. The severity of foundation problems associated with the collapsible soils has been correlated with the collapse potential, which shows that all soil samples fall under moderate trouble nature.