Swell Characteristics of Natural and

Treated Compacted Clays

Mohammed Shukri Al-Zoubi
Civil Engineering Department
Faculty of Engineering / Mutah University
malzoubi@mutah.edu.jo
ABSTRACT
This study investigates the swell characteristics of a highly plastic clay in its natural state
and after this clay was separately treated with potassium and calcium chlorides. Free
swell tests were conducted on these three (natural and treated) soils at two different
temperatures (26C and 40C) This study shows that a linear relationship exists between
the percent free swell and the liquid limit for the tested soils at given water content, dry
density, and temperature and also shows that these soils are not susceptible to expansion
when the liquid limit drops below about 40 % regardless of the initial states of water
content and dry density as well as test temperature. This study confirms that the percent
free swell may reliably be modelled by a rectangular hyperbolic equation as a function of
time and liquid limit. The influence of temperature on the swell potential are observed to
be dependent on initial compaction states.
KEYWORDS: swell potential, expansive soils, rectangular hyperbola,
compaction, liquid limit, and plasticity index.
INTRODUCTION
Expansive soils are a worldwide problem. The hazards posed by expansive soils with regard
to the civil engineering structures (buildings, roads, pavements, slab-on-grade, and other
lightly loaded structures) have been documented the world over (Likos, 2004) The estimated
damage caused to these structures by expansive soils amounts to billions of US dollars
annually (Jones 1973; Sheriff et al. 1982)
The solutions to problems of foundations on expansive soils require understanding the
fundamental characteristics of expansive soils and the involved variables that affect the
swelling phenomenon. The swelling behavior of soils is influenced by many physical and
environmental factors that contribute to the expansive nature of a soil; these factors include
the type and amount of clay minerals, physicochemical properties of pore fluid, soil density,
water content, plasticity indices, surcharge pressure, temperature, and time (Nayak and
Christensen 1971; Sherif et al. 1982, Hilf 1991) Aging also affects the swelling potential of
soils (Rao and Tripathy 2003)
Numerous theoretical and experimental studies have shown that correlations for identifying
and predicting the swell potential utilizing the basic properties of soils do exist (e.g., Holtz
Vol. 13, Bund. D 2
and Gibbs 1956; Holtz 1959; Ladd 1960; Seed et al. 1962; Van Der Merwe 1964;
Ranganatham and Satyanarayan 1965; Komornik and David 1969; Vijayvergiya and Gazzaly
1973; Nayak and Christensen 1971; O'Neill and Gazzaly 1977; Johnson and Snethen 1978;
Sherif et al. 1982; Snethen 1984; Chen 1988; Mckeen 1992; Yilmaz 2006) Different forms of
relationships between the swell potential or swell pressure and the basic soil properties were
suggested. For example, Seed et al (1962) empirically correlated the swell potential with the
soil activity and plasticity index whereas O'Neil and Ghazzaly (1977) developed an empirical
equation for the swell potential utilizing liquid limit and water content. On the other hand,
Nayak and Christensen (1971) devised a semi-empirical equation for both the swell potential
and swell pressure based on plasticity index, clay fraction, and water content. The presence of
these different forms may be attributed to the limitations involved in applying either the
theoretical studies that involve several simplifying assumptions and/or the empirical
investigations that are valid only statistically particularly for the specific soils for which the
empirical correlations were developed (e.g., Nayak and Cristensen 1971)
This study utilizes results of free swell tests on a highly expansive clay in its natural
(untreated) state and after treatment with potassium chloride (KCl) and calcium chloride
(CaCl
2
) in order to contribute to the understanding of the fundamental swell characteristics.
This highly expansive clay (in its untreated and treated conditions) was tested at two different
temperatures and three different states of water content and dry density in order to investigate
the effect of these factors (water content, dry density, temperature, pore fluid) on the swelling
characteristics of this clay. Based on the results of present study, a general model is proposed
based on a linear relationship between swell potential and liquid limit for predicting the
amount and the time history of swell a soil of a given mineralogy and consistency might
exhibit. This general model is validated by experimental and theoretical studies obtained from
literature.
EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM
Soils and Testing Procedures
In this study, results of free swell tests conducted in the oedometer apparatus on the highly
plastic Azraq Green Clay (AGC) in its natural state and after treatment with the two salts
(KCl and CaCl
2
) are utilized in order to assess the swell characteristics and the factors
affecting swell behavior of soils. The selection of this clay was motivated by utilizing a
natural soil with known mineralogical composition in order to minimize the number of
variables affecting the soil swell characteristics. However, different factors such as water
content, dry density, test temperature, and pore fluid are investigated. The Azraq Green Clay
was obtained from the Azraq basins, Jordan. This clay includes clay minerals such as mixed
layer illite/smectite, kaolinite, palygorskite, montmorillonite, discrete illite (Abdullah et al.
1999)
Treatment of the clay with salts was to make a specific species of cations dominant in the
exchange complex. The clay was treated with concentrated solution (1 normality
concentration) of the selected salt (potassium or calcium chloride) In each case, the clay was
washed three times with the solution and became nearly homo-ionic; the alteration procedure
and results are described in more detail by AL-Zoubi (1993) and Abdullah et al. (1999) The
liquid and plastic limits of the untreated and treated clays were measured in line with the
procedure of ASTM-D4318 (Standards of the American Society of Testing and Materials)
The basic properties of this soil in its untreated and treated states are summarized in Table 1.
As can be seen from this table, the liquid limit decreased after treatment with the two salts.
Figure 1, which represents the plasticity chart, shows that untreated and Ca treated soils can
Vol. 13, Bund. D 3
be classified as CH (clay with high plasticity) and K treated soil may be classified as MH
(silt with high compressibility) according to the Unified Soil Classification System.
Table 1: The basic properties of the untreated and treated Azraq Green Clay
utilized in the present study.
Soil
Particle size Compaction
Liquid
limit


(%)
Plastic
Limit


(%)

Sand

(%)

Silt

(%)

Clay

(%)
Opt.
Water
Content
(%)
Max.
dry
density
(kN/m
3
)
Untreated 8 23 69 31.5 12.8 107.8 42.0
Ca - treated ----- ---- ----- 23.0 14.3 72.0 30.9
K - treated 8 52 40 23.5 14.1 54.5 42.7


Figure 1: Plasticity chart showing the change in liquid limit and plasticity index before and
after treatment of the Azraq Green Clay.
For the free swell tests, all the specimens were compacted directly inside the oedometer ring
by using a special mold to a pre-specified dry density at given molding water content. The
ring was 76 mm in diameter and 20 mm in height. These specimens were compacted at three
different initial states of water content and dry density as demonstrated in Fig. 2, which shows
the results of the standard Proctor compaction test (ASTM-D698-78) on the untreated soil.
The three states were selected to be on the dry side of optimum and at optimum water content
where the swell potential is considerably higher than those on the wet side of optimum.
Liquid Limit , LL , %
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
P
l
a
s
t
i
c
i
t
y

I
n
d
e
x

,

P
I

,

%
0
20
40
60
80
Natural clay
Ca - treated clay
K - treated clay
A

-

l
i
n
e
Vol. 13, Bund. D 4

Figure 2: Standard Proctor compaction curve and selected states of water content and dry
density for the present study.

Figure 3: Free swell-time curves for untreated Azraq Green Clay (a) at
o
26
C (b) at
o
40
C.
water content , %
20 30 40 50
d
r
y

d
e
n
s
i
t
y

,

g

/

c
c
1.15
1.20
1.25
1.30
1.35
1.40
1.45
w
opt
= 31.5 %

dmax
= 1.30
s
a
t
u
r
a
t
i
o
n

l
i
n
e
states investigated
dry of optimum
optimum - 1
optimum - 2
Azraq Green Clay
time , min
0 50 100 150 200
d
e
f
o
r
m
a
t
i
o
n

,

A
H

,

0
.
0
0
2

m
m
0
1000
2000
3000
AGC - 1
AGC - 2
AGC - 4
Natural clay
at 26
o
C
sl-time3.spw
time , min
0 50 100 150 200
d
e
f
o
r
m
a
t
i
o
n

,

A
H

,

0
.
0
0
2

m
m
0
1000
2000
3000
Natural clay
at 40
o
C
AGC - 21
AGC - 22
AGC - 24
Vol. 13, Bund. D 5

Figure 4: Free swell-time curves for Ca-treated Azraq Green Clay
(a) at 26C (b) at 40C.
time , min
0 50 100 150 200 250
d
e
f
o
r
m
a
t
i
o
n

,

0
.
0
0
2

m
m
0
500
1000
1500
2000
AGC - 6
AGC - 7
AGC - 9
Ca - treated clay
at 26
o
C
time , min
0 50 100 150 200 250
d
e
f
o
r
m
a
t
i
o
n

,

0
.
0
0
2

m
m
0
500
1000
1500
2000
AGC - 26
AGC - 27
AGC - 29
Ca - treated clay
at 40
o
C
Vol. 13, Bund. D 6

Figure 5: Free swell-time curves for K-treated Azraq Green Clay
(a) at 26C (b) at 40C.

time , min
0 50 100 150
d
e
f
o
r
m
a
t
i
o
n

,

0
.
0
0
2

m
m
0
500
1000
AGC - 11
AGC - 12
AGC - 14
K - treated clay
at 26
o
C
time , min
0 50 100 150
d
e
f
o
r
m
a
t
i
o
n

,

0
.
0
0
2

m
m
0
500
1000
K - treated clay
at 40
o
C
AGC - 31
AGC - 32
AGC - 34
time , min
0.1 1 10 100 1000
P
e
r
c
e
n
t

f
r
e
e

s
w
e
l
l

,

c
F
S
,

%
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
AGC - 21 at T = 40
o
C
c
r
= 21.55 %
t
r
= 90 min
t
r
: reference time
c
r
: reference strain
Vol. 13, Bund. D 7
Figure 6: Typical percent free swell-time curve.
The influence of pore fluid chemistry on the swelling behavior of this soil is described by
Alshibli (1992) and Abdullah et al. (1999) and on the consolidation behavior can be found in
AL-Zoubi (1993) and Abdullah et al. (1997)
In the free swell test, the specimen was placed in the oedometer apparatus under a surcharge
of about 6.9 kPa (1 psi) Distilled de-ionized water was then added to the sample, and the
increase in the height of the specimen (volume expansion under constant cross sectional area)
was recorded for one day (all specimens reached equilibrium within this period) The percent
free swell may be expressed as
100
0
x
H
H
FS
A
= c (1)
H A is height of swell due to saturation and
0
H is the original height of specimen.
The temperature at which the tests were conducted was controlled by modifying the
oedometer apparatus as described in detail by Abdullah et al. (1997) The temperature was
measured at four different locations inside trial specimens that were tested at
o
40 C and was
found to range within
o
5 . 1 C during the entire test.
Analysis and interpretation of the experimental results
The free swell curves, shown in Figs. 3 to 5, were obtained by plotting the free swell, H A , as
a function of time, t . Figures 3(a), 4(a), and 5(a) show the results of tests conducted at
o
26 C
for the untreated, Ca treated, and K treated soils, respectively, on the other hand, Figs.
3(b), 4(b), and 5(b) show the results of tests conducted at
o
40 C for the untreated, Ca
treated, and K treated soils, respectively.
It can be seen from Figs. 3 trough 5 that the curves, which correspond to two different
temperature, three different states of water content and dry density, and three different pore
fluids, are similar in shape even though these curves exhibit different amount and rate of
swell. This similarity suggests that these curves can be normalized and then mathematically
expressed by an equation. This can be achieved by dividing the ordinates and abscissas,
respectively, by a reference swell and reference time. The reference parameters can be
identified arbitrarily in different ways. One way of identifying these reference parameters is to
use graphical construction to obtain "end of primary swell" similar to that of the log t method
(Casagrande and Fadum 1940) utilized for identifying end of primary consolidation since soil
swelling is similar but opposite to soil consolidation. Figure 6 shows the free swell against
logarithm of time and the procedure to obtain the end of primary swell where the ordinate is
identified as the reference percent free swell, ( )
r FS
c , and the abscissa as the reference time,
r
t .
All the results of free swell tests of Figs. 3 to 5 were normalized by dividing the ordinates by
the reference percent free swell, ( )
r FS
c , and the abscissa by reference time,
r
t . The
normalized results are plotted in Fig. 7. As can be seen from Fig. 7, the results may be
represented mathematically by a hyperbolic function of the following form
Vol. 13, Bund. D 8

( ) 20 . 0 / 80 . 0
/
+
=
r
r
r FS
FS
t t
t t
c
c
(2)
A rectangular hyperbolic function was also suggested by different researchers (e.g., Sherif et
al. 1982; Komine and Ogata 1992; Abdullah et al. 1997) as a mathematical model for
presenting the swell - time relationship.
The maximum possible free percent swell value may be obtained by taking the limit of Eq. 2
as time approaches infinity and thus may be expressed in terms of the reference swell as
follows
( ) ( )
r FS FS
c c 25 . 1
max
= (3)
Combining Eqs. 2 and 3, the following expression is obtained for percent free swell and time
relationship

( ) 25 . 0 /
/
max
+
=
r
r
FS
FS
t t
t t
c
c
(4)
Sherif et al. (1982) called the right hand side of Eq. 4 as the swell invariant function.
Based on Eq. 4, the percent free swell
FS
c at any time t may be obtained if the maximum
percent swell value ( )
max FS
c and the reference time
r
t are known. Therefore, a procedure to
assess ( )
max FS
c must be developed in order to utilize Eq. 4 for predicting the amount and rate
of swell.

Figure 7: Normalized percent free swell - time curve
for all the soil specimens of the present study.
Normalized time , t / t
r
0 1 2 3 4
N
o
r
m
a
l
i
z
e
d

p
e
r
c
e
n
t

f
r
e
e

s
w
e
l
l

,

c

/

c
r

0.0
0.4
0.8
1.2
1.6

20 . 0 / 80 . 0
/
+
=
r
r
r
t t
t t
c
c
Results of 18 specimens of untreated and treated Azraq
Green Clay; same data of Figs. 3 to 5 including the variations
of temperature, water content, and dry density.
Vol. 13, Bund. D 9
Figure 8: Maximum percent free swell liquid limit relationship for T= 26C.
In order to achieve this objective, the maximum percent free swell values ( )
max FS
c were
calculated for the soil samples shown in Figs. 3 to 5 as a function of test temperature, water
content, and dry density using the procedure shown in Fig. 6 and Eq. 3. These ( )
max FS
c
values are plotted against the liquid limit ( LL) in Figs. 8 and 9. As can be seen from these
figures, a linear relationship does exist between ( )
max FS
c and liquid limit ( LL) for given test
temperature, water content, and dry density. This relationship can be expressed as follows
( ) ( )
0 max
LL LL B
FS
= c (5)
where B is the slope of the ( ) LL
FS

max
c linear relationship and
0
LL is the liquid limit
below which soils are not susceptible to expansion. Figures 8 and 9 show that the
0
LL value
for the tested clays is equal to about 40 % regardless of the initial states of water content and
dry density and test temperature.
Combining Eqs. 4 and 5, a general model for predicting the percent free swell may be
expressed as follows
( )
25 . 0 /
/
0
+
=
r
r
FS
t t
t t
LL LL B c (6)
where the B value for a given soil is generally a function of water content, dry density, and
test temperature as can be seen from Figs. 8 and 9.

Liquid limit , LL , %
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
m
a
x
i
m
u
m

p
e
r
c
e
n
t

f
r
e
e

s
w
e
l
l

,

M
P
F
S

,

%
0
10
20
30
40
Untreated and treated
Azraq Green Clay
Temperature = 26
o
C
optimum 2
optimum 1
dry of optimum MPFS = 0.336 (LL - 40)
MPFS = 0.276 (LL - 40)
MPFS = 0.168 (LL - 40)
Vol. 13, Bund. D 10

Figure 9: Maximum percent free swell liquid limit relationship for T= 40C.
The influences of water content and test temperature on the B value are shown in Fig. 10.
Despite the limited number of data points, Fig. 10 (a) shows that the B value generally
decreases with the increase of initial water content for a given test temperature whereas Fig.
10(b) shows that the B value increases with the increase of test temperature and the rate of
increase depends on the initial compaction state.

Figure 10: Effect of initial water content and temperature on the B value.
A linear relationship between percent free swell and liquid limit can also be established from
the experimental results obtained from the literature (e.g., Nayak and Christensen 1971;
O'Neil and Gazzaly 1977; okca 2002; and Yilmaz 2006) The experimental results of free
swell tests conducted on specimens compacted at optimum (standard ASSHTO compaction
test) from laboratory prepared grundite-bentonite and kaolinite-bentonite mixtures reported by
Nayak and Christensen (1971), shown in Fig. 11, support the linearity of the percent free
swell-liquid limit relationship. This relationship can be given as follows
Liquid limit , %
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
m
a
x
i
m
u
m

p
e
r
c
e
n
t

f
r
e
e

s
w
e
l
l

,

M
P
F
S

,

%
0
10
20
30
40
Untreated and treated
Azraq Green Clay
Temperature = 40
o
C
optimum 2
optimum 1
dry of optimum MPFS = 0.524 (LL - 40)
MPFS = 0.317 (LL - 40)
MPFS = 0.187 (LL - 40)
molding water content
20 25 30 35
V
a
l
u
e

o
f

B
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
dry density = 1.25 g/cm
3
40
o
C
26
o
C
w
opt
= 31.5 %
temperature ,
o
C
20 25 30 35 40 45
dry of optimum
Optimum - 1
Optimum - 2
(a) (b)
Vol. 13, Bund. D 11
( ) 6 . 21 427 . 0 = LL
FS
c (7)
The coefficient of determination
2
r and the standard error of estimate SEE are 0.971 and
1.79 %, respectively.

Figure 11: Percent free swell vs. liquid limit (data from Nayak and Christensen 1971)

Figure 12: Percent free swell data on compacted kaolinite - bentonite mixtures
(data from okca, 2002)
The experimental results reported by okca (2002) also exhibit a linear relationship between
the percent free swell and liquid limit as shown in Fig. 12 that can be expressed in a similar
way to the proposed model as follows
Liquid Limit , LL , %
0 30 60 90 120 150
P
e
r
c
e
n
t

F
r
e
e

S
w
e
l
l

,

P
F
S

,

%
0
20
40
60
PFS = 0.427 (LL - 21.6)
Data from Nayak and Christensen (1971)
on compacted soil samples with water
content and dry density at optimum.
Liquid Limit , LL , %
0 100 200 300
P
e
r
c
e
n
t

F
r
e
e

S
w
e
l
l

,

P
F
S

,

%
0
100
200
PFS = 0.672 (LL - 7.3)
Data from Cokca (2002) on mixtures
of kaolinite and bentonite.
r = 0.9967
Vol. 13, Bund. D 12
( ) 3 . 7 672 . 0 = LL
FS
c (8)
The coefficient of determination
2
r for this equation is 0.997.

Figure 13: Percent free swell of undisturbed soil samples with variety of water content and
dry density (data from US Bureau of Reclamation reported by Seed et al. 1962)
It should, however, be pointed out that the relationship between the percent free swell and
liquid limit may exhibit considerable scatter when the variations of the water content, dry
density, and/or temperature are not taken into consideration in obtaining this relationship as
can be seen from Fig. 13, which shows the experimental results of the US Bureau of
Reclamation on percent free swell reported by Seed et al. (1962) for undisturbed soil samples
with variety of water content and dry density. In order to demonstrate that the considerable
scatter observed in these results of the US Bureau of Reclamation may be attributed to the
variations of the initial water content, dry density, and/or temperature, Fig. 14 was prepared
such that the maximum percent free swell of the soils utilized in the present study (presented
earlier in Figs. 8 and 9) is plotted against the liquid limit regardless of the initial compaction
states and test temperature. As can be seen, the results of Fig. 14 exhibit similar considerable
scatter as that of Fig. 13 when the compaction conditions and test temperature are ignored in
developing a model for predicting the swell potential. Despite the scatter, Fig. 13 generally
supports the findings of the present study that a linear relationship exists between the percent
free swell and liquid limit particularly as can be seen from the lower and upper limits
represented by the dashed lines in Figs. 13 and 14.
Liquid Limit , LL , %
0 20 40 60 80 100
P
e
r
c
e
n
t

F
r
e
e

S
w
e
l
l

,

P
F
S

,

%
0
20
40
60
P
F
S

=

0
.
7
2
3

(
L
L

-

1
2
)
P
F
S

=

0
.
3
7
3

(
L
L

-

2
5
)
Data of the US Bureau of Reclamation
obtained from Seed et al. (1962) on
undisturbed soil samples with variety
of water content and dry density
due to variation of water content,
dry density, and/or temperature
Vol. 13, Bund. D 13

Figure 14: results of percent free swell of the present study regardless of compaction
conditions and test temperature.
Experimental Validity of the proposed model for
predicting swell potential
The experimental results of the soils of the present study as well as those of the Nayak and
Christensen (1971) are utilized in order to assess the proposed model as shown in Figs. 15 and
16. Figure 15 compares the one-day percent free swell predicted using Eq. 6 and the actual
one-day percent free swell observed from swell tests conducted on 18 specimens at two
different temperatures and three different initial states of water content and dry density. Fig.
16 compares the percent free swell values predicted by the proposed model and actual values
obtained from Nayak and Christensen (1971) As can be seen from Figs. 15 and 16, the
proposed model can reliably be utilized for predicting the swell potential of these soils.

Liquid limit , LL , %
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
m
a
x
i
m
u
m

p
e
r
c
e
n
t

f
r
e
e

s
w
e
l
l

,

M
P
F
S

,

%
0
10
20
30
40
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
0
10
20
30
40
P
F
S

=

0
.
5
2
4

(
L
L

-

4
0
)
P
F
S
=
0
.1
6
8
(
L
L
-
4
0
)
Results of the present study regardless
of water content, dry density, and test
temperature.
due to variation of water content,
dry density, and/or temperature
actual free swell at 24 hr , %
0 10 20 30 40
p
r
e
d
i
c
t
e
d

f
r
e
e

s
w
e
l
l

a
t

2
4

h
r

,

%
0
10
20
30
40
Results of three soils
of the present study
at two temperatures
Vol. 13, Bund. D 14
Figure 15: Comparison of predicted and actual one-day percent free swell values.

Figure 16: Comparison of predicted and actual percent free swell values
(data from Nayak and Christensen 1971)

Theoretical Validity of the proposed model for predicting
swell potential
Every empirical rule is valid only statistically. Therefore, the proposed empirical model must
be supported by theoretical basis to be reliably and usefully utilized for predicting the swell
behavior of all soils. Nayak and Christensen (1971) derived a basic form of the theoretical
relationship between percent free swell and basic properties of soils from the consideration of
the diffuse double layer and the osmotic pressure for parallel clay plates. Nayak and
Christensen (1971) showed that this relationship might be given by the following expression

m
m
m FS
K
w
C E
K " ' + = c (9)
where
m
K' ,
m
K" , and m are empirical constants; E can, according to Nayak and
Christensen (1971), be taken as the liquid limit, plasticity index, or shrinkage index.
Nayak and Christensen (1971) found statistically that the percent free swell as a function of
the plasticity index, water content, and clay content can be expressed as follows ( E was
taken as the plasticity index)
( )( ) 38 . 6 10 29 . 2
45 . 1 2
+ =

w
C
PI x
FS
c (10)
As can be seen from Eq. 10, the percent free swell is a nonlinear function of the plasticity
index and depends on the ratio of the clay content to water content.
Actual percent free swell , %
0 20 40 60
P
r
e
d
i
c
t
e
d

p
e
r
c
e
n
t

f
r
e
e

s
w
e
l
l

,

%
0
20
40
60
Data from Nayak and Christensen (1971) on
compacted soil samples with variety of water
content and dry density at optimum.
Vol. 13, Bund. D 15
However, in the present study, the experimental results of Nayak and Christensen (1971) are
re-plotted in terms of the percent free swell as a function of liquid limit as depicted in Fig. 11.
Figure 11 shows that a linear relationship exists between the percent free swell and liquid
limit for the experimental results of Nayak and Christensen (1971) for which the exponent m
is equal to unity. Therefore, Eq. 10 can be rewritten in a similar form to the proposed model
as follows ( E is taken as the liquid limit, LL)
( )
0
' LL LL B
FS
= c (11)
where

w
C K
B
m
'
' = (12)

C K
w K
LL
m
m
'
"
0
= (13)
Figure 11 shows that ' B and
0
LL values are practically constants and equal to 0.427 and 21.6
%, respectively.
Furthermore, empirical and statistical correlations on free swell test results such as O'Neil and
Gazzaly (1977) also support the findings of the present study in the sense that a linear
relationship does exist between the percent free swell and liquid limit at given water content,
dry density, and test temperature. O'Neil and Gazzaly (1977) suggested the following
empirical model for predicting the amount of swell of a soil based on statistical analysis

c FS
w LL 27 . 0 131 . 0 27 . 2 + = c (14)
Equation 14 can be rewritten in the following form
( )
0
131 . 0 LL LL
FS
= c (15)
where ( ) 131 . 0 27 . 2 27 . 0
0
=
c
w LL ; at a given water content of 28.4 % which is the
average water content use in the present study, the value of 41
0
~ LL % which is very close
to the observed value in the present study.
It should be mentioned that the experimental results of the present study (Figs. 8 and 9) as
well as those of Nayak and Christensen (Fig. 11) suggest that the value of
0
LL is independent
of the placement conditions; however, this value may be dependent on the mineralogy of the
tested soils. The experimental results obtained from literature as well as those of the present
study show that the
0
LL value may range from about 7 to 40 %. On the other hand, the
empirical model of O'Neil and Gazzaly (1977) suggests that the
0
LL value is a function of
water content.
It should also be mentioned that the existing correlations, such as those described above, do
not take into consideration the effect of test temperature that may be significant in many cases
as demonstrated in Fig. 17, which compares the maximum percent free swell values
calculated for the nine specimens tested at
o
40 C to those of the corresponding nine
Vol. 13, Bund. D 16
specimens tested at
o
26 C. As can be seen from Fig. 17, the maximum percent free swell
values obtained at
o
40 C are generally larger than those obtained at
o
26 C and the largest
difference is observed for the specimens compacted at the dry side of optimum. Figure 17
suggests that the effect of temperature on the swell potential depends on the initial
compaction state of water content and dry density. Therefore, for any general correlation to be
reasonably successful for predicting the swell characteristics of all soils must account for the
test temperature.

Figure 17: Effect of temperature on maximum percent free swell.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This study presents an experimental investigation on swell characteristics of a highly plastic
natural clay that was also treated with potassium chloride and calcium chloride. Free swell
tests were conducted on these three untreated and treated soils at two different temperatures (
o
26 C and
o
40 C) This study confirms that the percent free swell for the tested soils may
reliably be modeled by a rectangular hyperbolic equation as a function of time and liquid
limit. This study shows that a linear relationship exists between the maximum possible
percent free swell and the liquid limit at given water content, dry density, and test
temperature.
A general model is proposed for estimating the amount of swell for all types of soils utilizing
the observed linear relationship between percent free swell and liquid limit. This model is
shown to be supported by experimental results, empirical correlations, and theoretical studies
obtained from literature.
The present study shows that the slope of the observed percent free swell liquid limit linear
relationship varies as a function of test temperature, water content, and dry density; further
investigations may be required to clarify these variations and model them mathematically.
This is recommended to be achieved by testing a wider range of natural or compacted soils
Maximum percent swell at 26
o
C, %
0 10 20 30
M
a
x
i
m
u
m

p
e
r
c
e
n
t

s
w
e
l
l

a
t

4
0
o

C
,

%
0
10
20
30
dry of optimum
optimum - 1
optimum - 2
Vol. 13, Bund. D 17
under different initial states of water content and dry density under a wider range of test
temperatures.

REFERENCES
1. Abdullah, W.S., Al-Zoubi, M.S., and Alshibli, K.A. (1997) On the physicochemical
aspects of compacted clay compressibility. Canadian Geotechnical Journal 34: 551-
559.
2. Abdullah, W.S., Alshibli, K.A, and Al-Zoubi, M.S. (1999) Influence of pore water
chemistry on the swelling behavior of compacted clays. Applied Clay Science, vol.
15, pp. 447 - 462.
3. Alshibli, K.A. (1992) Effect of physicochemical changes on swelling characteristics
of Azraq Green Clay. Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
the Degree of Master of Science in Civil Engineering at Jordan University of Science
and Technology. 138 p.
4. AL-Zoubi, M.S. (1993) Effect of physicochemical changes on the compressibility of
a selected Azraq Green Clay. Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Civil Engineering at Jordan
University of Science and Technology. 167 p.
5. Casagrande, A., and Fadum (1940) Notes on soil testing for engineering purposes.
Harvard soil mechanics, series No. 8, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
6. okca, E. (2002) Relationship between methylene blue value, initial soil suction, and
swell percent of expansive soil. Turkish J. Eng. Env. Sci. 26 , 521529.
7. Dakshanamurthy, V., Raman, V. (1973) A simple method of identifying an expansive
soil. Soils and Foundations. Japanese Society of Soil Mechanics and Foundation
Engineering 13 (1), 97104.
8. Hilf, J. W., (1991) Compacted fill. In the Foundation Engineering Handbook edited
by Hsai-Yang Fang. Chapter 9. Second Edition. Van Nostrand Reinhold. pp. 249
316.
9. Holtz, W.G. (1959) Expansive clays - properties and problems. Journal of the
Colorado School of Mines 54 (4), 89125.
10. Jones D.E. (1973) Expansive soils and housing development. Proceedings, Workshop
on Expansive Clays and Shale in Highway Design and Construction. Vol. 1.
11. Johnson, L.D, and Snethen, D.R. (1978) Prediction of potential heave of swelling
soils. Geotechnical Testing Journal, 1, 117 124.
12. Komine, H., and Ogata, N. (1992) Swelling characteristics of compacted bentonite.
The 7
th
international Conference on Expansive Soils. August 3 5 , 1992, Dallas,
Texas (USA) pp. 216 221.
13. Ladd, C.C. (1960) Mechanisms of swelling by compacted clays, Highway Research
Board Bulletin No. 245, Washington, D.C.
Vol. 13, Bund. D 18
14. Likos, W.J. (2004) Measurement of crystalline swelling in expansive clay.
Geotechnical Testing Journal, Vol. 27, No. 6, pp. 1-7.
15. McKeen, R.G. (1992) A Model for Predicting Expansive Soil Behavior. Proceedings,
7th International Conference on Expansive Soils, Dallas, vol. 1, pp. 16.
16. Nayak, N.V., and Christensen, R.W. (1971) Swell characteristics of compacted
expansive soils. Clays and clay minerals 19, 251-261.
17. O'Neil, M.W., and Gazzaly, O.I. (1977) Swell potential related to building
performance. Journal of the Geotechnical Engineering Division, ASCE 103 (12),
1363 1379.
18. Raman, V., (1967) Identifications of expansive soils from the plasticity index and the
shrinkage index data. The Indian Engineer 11 (1), 1722.
19. Ranganatham, B.V, and Satyanarayan, B. (1965) A rational method for predicting
swelling potential for compacted expansive clays: Proceedings of the International
Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering. Vol. 1, pp. 95-96.
20. Seed, H.B, Woodward, R.J., and Lundgren, R. (1962) Prediction of swell potential for
compacted clays. Proc., ASCE, Journal of Soil Mechanics and Foundation
Engineering Division, 88(3), 53 87.
21. Sherif, M.A., Ishibashi, I., and Medhin, B.W. (1982) ASCE, Journal of the
Geotechnical Engineering Division, 108(1), January, pp. 33 45.
22. Taylor, D. W. (1948) Fundamentals of soil mechanics. J. Wiley and Sons, New York.
23. Terzaghi , K., Peck, R. B., and Mesri, G. (1996) Soil Mechanics in Engineering
Practice. Third Edition, John Wiley and Sons, New York.
24. Van Der Merwe, D.H. (1964) The prediction of heave from the plasticity index and
percentage clay fraction of soils. Civil Engineer in South Africa 6 (6), 103106.
25. Vijayvergiya, V.N., Ghazzaly, O.I. (1973) Prediction of swelling potential of natural
clays. Proceedings, 3
rd
International Research and Engineering Conference on
Expansive Clays, pp. 227234.
26. Yalmaz, I. (2006) Indirect estimation of the swelling percent and a new classification
of soils depending on liquid limit and cation exchange capacity. Engineering
Geology, Vol. 85, pp. 295-301.


2008 ejge