土木工程类专业英文文献及翻译.docx
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土木工程类专业英文文献及翻译
土木工程类专业英文文献及翻译
PAVEMENTPROBLEMSCAUSED
BYCOLLAPSIBLESUBGRADES
BySandraL.Houston,1AssociateMember,ASCE
(ReviewedbytheHighwayDivision)
ABSTRACT:
Problemsubgradematerialsconsistingofcollapsiblesoilsarecom-
moninaridenvironments,whichhaveclimaticconditionsanddepositionaland
weatheringprocessesfavorabletotheirformation.Includedhereinisadiscussion
ofpredictivetechniquesthatusecommonlyavailablelaboratoryequipmentand
testingmethodsforobtainingreliableestimatesofthevolumechangeforthese
problemsoils.Amethodforpredictingrelevantstressesandcorrespondingcollapse
strainsfortypicalpavementsubgradesispresented.Relativelysimplemethodsof
evaluatingpotentialvolumechange,basedonresultsoffamiliarlaboratorytests,
areused.
INTRODUCTION
Whenasoilisgivenfreeaccesstowater,itmaydecreaseinvolume,
increaseinvolume,ordonothing.Asoilthatincreasesinvolumeiscalled
aswellingorexpansivesoil,andasoilthatdecreasesinvolumeiscalleda
collapsiblesoil.Theamountofvolumechangethatoccursdependsonthe
soiltypeandstructure,theinitialsoildensity,theimposedstressstate,and
thedegreeandextentofwetting.Subgradematerialscomprisedofsoilsthat
changevolumeuponwettinghavecauseddistresstohighwayssincethebe-
ginningoftheprofessionalpracticeandhavecostmanymillionsofdollars
inroadwayrepairs.Thepredictionofthevolumechangesthatmayoccurin
thefieldisthefirststepinmakinganeconomicdecisionfordealingwith
theseproblemsubgradematerials.
Eachprojectwillhavedifferentdesignconsiderations,economiccon-
straints,andriskfactorsthatwillhavetobetakenintoaccount.However,
withareliablemethodformakingvolumechangepredictions,thebestdesign
relativetothesubgradesoilsbecomesamatterofeconomiccomparison,and
amuchmorerationaldesignapproachmaybemade.Forexample,typical
techniquesfordealingwithexpansiveclaysinclude:
(1)Insitutreatments
withsubstancessuchaslime,cement,orfly-ash;
(2)seepagebarriersand/
ordrainagesystems;or(3)acomputingoftheserviceabilitylossandamod-
ificationofthedesignto"accept"theanticipatedexpansion.Inordertomake
themosteconomicaldecision,theamountofvolumechange(especiallynon-
uniformvolumechange)mustbeaccuratelyestimated,andthedegreeofroad
roughnessevaluatedfromthesedata.Similarly,alternativedesigntechniques
areavailableforanyroadwayproblem.
Theemphasisherewillbeplacedonpresentingeconomicalandsimple
methodsfor:
(1)Determiningwhetherthesubgradematerialsarecollapsible;
and
(2)estimatingtheamountofvolumechangethatislikelytooccurinthe
'Asst.Prof.,Ctr.forAdvancedRes.inTransp.,ArizonaStateUniv.,Tempe,AZ
85287.
Note.DiscussionopenuntilApril1,1989.Toextendtheclosingdateonemonth,
awrittenrequestmustbefiledwiththeASCEManagerofJournals.Themanuscript
forthispaperwassubmittedforreviewandpossiblepublicationonFebruary3,1988.
ThispaperispartoftheJournalofTransportation.Engineering,Vol.114,No.6,
November,1988.ASCE,ISSN0733-947X/88/0006-0673/$1.00+$.15perpage.
PaperNo.22902.
673
fieldforthecollapsiblesoils.Thenthisinformationwillplacetheengineer
inapositiontomakearationaldesigndecision.Collapsiblesoilsarefre-
quentlyencounteredinanaridclimate.Thedepositionalprocessandfor-
mationofthesesoils,andmethodsforidentificationandevaluationofthe
amountofvolumechangethatmayoccur,willbediscussedinthefollowing
sections.
COLLAPSIBLESOILS
FormationofCollapsibleSoils
Collapsiblesoilshavehighvoidratiosandlowdensitiesandaretypically
cohesionlessoronlyslightlycohesive.Inanaridclimate,evaporationgreatly
exceedsrainfall.Consequently,onlythenear-surfacesoilsbecomewetted
fromnormalrainfall.Itisthecombinationofthedepositionalprocessand
theclimateconditionsthatleadstotheformationofthecollapsiblesoil.
Althoughcollapsiblesoilsexistinnondesertregions,thedryenvironmentin
whichevaporationexceedsprecipitationisveryfavorablefortheformation
ofthecollapsiblestructure.
Asthesoildriesbyevaporation,capillarytensioncausestheremaining
watertowithdrawintothesoilgraininterfaces,bringingwithitsolublesalts,
clay,andsiltparticles.Asthesoilcontinuestodry,thesesalts,clays,and
siltscomeoutofsolution,and"tack-weld"thelargergrainstogether.This
leadstoasoilstructurethathashighapparentstrengthatitslow,natural
watercontent.However,collapseofthe"cemented"structuremayoccur
uponwettingbecausethebondingmaterialweakensandsoftens,andthesoil
isunstableatanystresslevelthatexceedsthatatwhichthesoilhadbeen
previouslywetted.Thus,iftheamountofwatermadeavailabletothesoil
isincreasedabovethatwhichnaturallyexists,collapsecanoccuratfairly
lowlevelsofstress,equivalentonlytooverburdensoilpressure.Additional
loads,suchastrafficloadingorthepresenceofabridgestructure,addto
thecollapse,especiallyofshallowcollapsiblesoil.Thetriggeringmechanism
forcollapse,however,istheadditionofwater.
HighwayProblemsResultingfromCollapsibleSoils
Nonuniformcollapsecanresultfromeitheranonhomogeneoussubgrade
depositinwhichdifferingdegreesofcollapsepotentialexistand/orfrom
nonuniformwettingofsubgradematerials.Whendifferentialcollapseof
subgradesoilsoccurs,theresultisarough,wavysurface,andpotentially
manymilesofextensivelydamagedhighway.Therehavebeenseveralre-
portedcasesforwhichdifferentialcollapsehasbeencitedasthecauseof
roadwayorhighwaybridgedistress.AfewoftheseintheArizonaandNew
Mexicoregionincludesectionsof1-10nearBenson,Arizona,andsections
of1-25inthevicinityofAlgadonas,NewMexico(Lovelaceetal.1982;
Russman1987).Inadditiontotheexcessivewavinessoftheroadwaysur-
face,bridgefoundationsfailures,suchastheSteinsPassHighwaybridge,
1-10,inArizona,havefrequentlybeenidentifiedwithcollapseoffoundation
soils.
IdentificationofCollapsibleSoils
Therehavebeenmanytechniquesproposedforidentifyingacollapsible
soilproblem.Thesemethodsrangefromqualitativeindextestsconductedon
674
disturbedsamples,toresponsetowettingtestsconductedonrelativelyun-
disturbedsamples,toinsitumeausrementtechniques.Inallcases,theen-
gineermustfirstknowifthesoilsmaybecomewettedtoawatercontent
abovetheirnaturalmoisturestate,andifso,whattheextentofthepotential
wettedzonewillbe.Mostmethodsforidentifyingcollapsiblesoilsareonly
qualitativeinnature,providingnoinformationonthemagnitudeofthecol-
lapsestrainpotential.Thesequalitativemethodsarebasedonvariousfunc-
tionsofdrydensity,moisturecontent,voidratio,specificgravity,andAt-
terberglimits.
Insitumeasurementmethodsappearpromisinginsomecases,inthatmany
researchersfeelthatsampledisturbanceisgreatlyreduced,andthatamore
nearlyquantitativemeasureofcollapsepotentialisobtainable.However,
insitutestmethodsforcollapsiblesoilstypicallysufferfromthedeficien-
cyofanunknownextentanddegreeofwettingduringthefieldtest.This
makesaquantitativemeasurementdifficultbecausethezoneofmaterial
beinginfluencedisnotwell-known,and,therefore,theactualstrains,in-
ducedbytheadditionofstressandwater,arenotwell-known.Inaddition,
thedegreeofsaturationachievedinthefieldtestisvariableandusually
unknown.
Basedonrecentlyconductedresearch,itappearsthatthemostreliable
methodforidentifyingacollapsiblesoilproblemistoobtainthebestquality
undisturbedsamplepossibleandtosubjectthissampletoaresponsetowet-
tingtestinthelaboratory.Theresultsofasimpleoedometertestwillindicate
whetherthesoiliscollapsibleand,atthesametime,giveadirectmeasure
oftheamountofcollapsestrainpotentialthatmayoccurinthefield.Potential
problemsassociatedwiththedirectsamplingmethodincludesampledistur-
banceandthepossibilitythatthedegreeofsaturationachievedinthefield
willbelessthanthatachievedinthelaboratorytest.
Thequalityofanundisturbedsampleisrelatedmoststronglytothearea
ratioofthetubethatisusedforsamplecollection.Thearearatioisameasure
oftheratioofthecross-sectionalareaofthesamplecollectedtothecross-
sectionalareaofthesampletube.Athin-walledtubesamplerbydefinition
hasanarearatioofabout10-15%.Althoughundisturbedsamplesarebest
obtainedthroughtheuseofthin-walledtubesamplers,itfrequentlyoccurs
thatthesestiff,cementedcollapsiblesoils,especiallythosecontaininggravel,
cannotbesampledunlessatubewithamuchthickerwallisused.Samplers
havinganarearatioasgreatas56%arecommonlyusedforArizonacol-
lapsiblesoils.Further,itmaytakeconsiderablehammeringofthetubeto
drivethesample.Theresultis,ofcourse,somedegreeofsampledistur-
bance,broken.bonds,densification,andacorrespondinglyreducedcollapse
measureduponlaboratorytesting.However,forcollapsiblesoils,whichare
compressivebydefinition,theinsertionofthesampletubeleadstolocal
shearfailureatthebaseofthecuttingedge,and,therefore,thereisless
sampledisturbancethanwouldbeexpectedforsoilsthatexhibitgeneralshear
failure(i.e.,saturatedclaysordilativesoils).Resultsofanongoingstudy
ofsampledisturbanceforcollapsiblesoilsindicatethatblocksamp