PERPUSTAKAArJ UMP 111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 0000092771 AN INVESTIGATION ON THE USE OF OEDOMETER METHOD FOR DETERMINATION OF LIQUID LIMIT VALUE OF SOIL VICKRAM ALAKUVENTHAN *Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of B. ENG (HONS.) CIVIL ENGINEERING FACULTY OF CIVIL ENGINEERING AND EARTH RESOURCES UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA PAHANG JUNE 2014
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AN INVESTIGATION ON THE USE OF OEDOMETER METHOD FOR
DETERMINATION OF LIQUID LIMIT VALUE OF SOIL
VICKRAM ALAKUVENTHAN
*Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the award of the degree of
B. ENG (HONS.) CIVIL ENGINEERING
FACULTY OF CIVIL ENGINEERING AND EARTH RESOURCES
UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA PAHANG
JUNE 2014
ABSTRACT
Consistency limits are extensively used in geotechnical engineering practice. These limits are commonly referred to the Atterberg Limits and the limits are the liquid limit, plastic limit and shrinkage limit. Consistency limits is potentially useful as an index property for predicting the behaviour of clay soils. The liquid limit in particular is used in many correlations with engineering properties. It provides a good basis form predicting the soil properties such as deformability, expansion, hydraulic conductivity and strength. Therefore, liquid limit has strong links to underlying mechanical behaviour. However, the determination of the liquid limit by Casagrande Liquid Limit Device and Cone Penetration Method which are in international standards have their own limitation as they requires several points to determine liquid limit of soil as these both methods uses trial and error method. This study presents the investigation on the use of oedometer method as an alternative way to determine the liquid limit of zeolite from saturated slurried condition by using a small consolidation pressure of 0.9 kPa and 6 kPa. Thus by doing this, one can determine the liquid limit by one point determination technique as the equilibrium water content reached from the consolidation will be equivalent or nearer to the liquid limit of soil under the consolidation pressure either 0.9 kPa or 6 kPa. The physical properties of zeolite were determined and the liquid limit of zeolite was determined from cone penetration method. The test results shows that by using a consolidation pressure of 0.9 kPa, the value of liquid limit obtained from oedometer method is much nearer to the value of liquid limit obtained from the cone penetration method and the difference between those values obtained is less than 1%. Meanwhile, the liquid limit value obtained by using consolidation pressure of 6 kPa does not tally and far away from the value of liquid limit obtained from cone penetration method. Hence, by using consolidation pressure of 0.9 kPa, oedometer method can be used to determine the liquid limit of soil and for consolidation pressure of 6 kPa, other methods or different soil should be used and applied for determination of liquid limit value.
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VII
ABSTRAK
Had ketekalan adalah luas digunakan di dalam amalan kejuruteraan geoteknikal. Had-had mi biasanya dirujuk kepada had Atterberg dan had tersebut adalah had cecair, had plastik dan had pengecutan. Had ketekalan berpotensi untuk digunakan sebagai hartanah indeks untuk meramalkan kelakuan tanah hat. Had cecair khususnya digunakan dalam banyak korelasi dengan ciri-ciri kejuruteraan. la menyediakan satu bentuk asas yang baik meramalkan sifat-sifat tanah seperti kebolehcanggaan, pengembangan, kekonduksian hidraulik dan kekuatan. Oleh itu, had cecair mernpunyai hubungan yang kuat dengan tingkah laku mekanikal asas. Walau bagaimanapun, penentuan had cecair melalui kaedah Casagrande had cecair peranti dan kaedah tusukan kon yang dalam piawaian antarabangsa juga mempunyai had terbatas kerana kedua-dua kaedah memerlukan beberapa perkara untuk menentukan had cecair tanah kerana kedua-dua kaedah mi menggunakan kaedah percubaan dan kesilapan. Oleh iitu, kajian mi membentangkan siasatan terhadap penggunaan kaedah oedometer sebagai kaedah alternatif untuk menentukan had cecair zeolite dari tepu keadaan slurried dengan menggunakan tekanan penyatuan kecil yang bernilai 0.9 kPa dan 6 kPa. Oleh itu dengan melakukan mi, seseorang boleh menentukan had cecair dalam sam teknik penentuan sebagai kandungan air keseimbangan dicapai dari penyatuan mi akan sama atau lebih hampir kepada had cecair tanah di bawah tekanan penyatuan bernilai sama ada 0.9 kPa atau 6 kPa. Sifat-sifat fizikal zeolite telah ditentukan dan had cecair zeolite telah ditentukan melalui kaedah tusukan kon. Keputusan ujian menunjukkan bahawa dengan menggunakan tekanan penyatuan 0.9 kPa, nilai had cecair yang diperolehi daripada kaedah oedometer adalah lebih dekat dengan nilai had cecair yang diperolehi danipada kaedah tusukan kon clan perbezaan antara nilai-nilai yang diperolehi adalah kurang daripada 1%. Manakala, nilai had cecair yang diperolehi dengan menggunakan tekanan penyatuan 6 kPa adalah tidak sama dan jauh daripada nilai had cecair yang diperolehi melalui kaedah tusukan kon. Oleh itu, dengan menggunakan tekanan penyatuan 0.9 kPa, kaedah oedometer boleh digunakan untuk menentukan had cecair tanah dan manakala untuk tekanan penyatuan 6 kPa, kaedah lain atau tanah yang berbeza perlu digunakan dan diaplikasikan untuk penentuan nilai had cecair.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
SUPERVISOR'S DECLARATION
STUDENT'S DECLARATION
DEDICATION iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v
ABSTRACT vi
ABSTRAK vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS viii
LIST OF FIGURES xi
LIST OF SYMBOLS xii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xiii
LIST OF APPENDICES xiv
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTON
1.1 Background of the Study 1
1.2 Problem Statement 3
1.3 Objectives 4
1.4 Scope of study 4
1.5 Thesis Overview 5
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Applications of clay
2.3 Types of clay 2.3.1 Clays and their composition structure
7
2.4 Zeolite
10
2.5 Clay Soil- Water Interaction
11
2.5.1 Hydrogen Bonding 12
2.5.2 Hydration of Exchangeable Cations
12
ix
2.5.3 Attraction by Osmosis 12
2.5.4 Charged Surface- Dipole Attraction 13
2.5.5 Attraction by London Dispersion Force 13
2.5.6 Capillary Condensation 13
2.6 Consistency of Fine-Grained Soil
2.6.1 Plastic Limit of Soil 15
2.6.2 Liquid Limit of Soil 16
2.6.3 Importance! Significance of Liquid Limit 17
2.6.4 Determination of Liquid Limit
2.6.4.1 Casagrande Liquid Limit Device Method 18
2.6.4.2 Cone Penetration Method 19
2.6.4.3 Oedometer Method 20
CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction 22
3.2 Selection of Soil Sample 24
3.3 Determination of Physical Properties of Zeolite 3.3.1 Specific Gravity 25
3.3.2 Particle Size Distribution 25
3.3.3 Initial Water Content 26
3.3.4 The Atterberg Limits 26
3.4 Liquid Limit Determination
3.4.1 Cone Penetration Test27
3.4.2 Oedometer Method 29
3.4.2.1 Preparation of Slurry Specimen 29 3.4.2.2 Testing Procedure 29