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91

185

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The effects of temperature

on the physical properties
of cohesive soil
by Peter

ea

ass oai sumac tu me u

8SIe H ~ ~ aI ~ aofel ~ Ialellmala ~ a alaalI

n
ne

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Correction to authorship
A new approach to the design of
unpaved roads, Ground
Engfneenng, Vol 22, No 3, April

1989.

The above paper was published in error

under incorrect authorship. The correct
list of authors is as follows:
GT Houlsby, GWE Milligan, RA Jewell and
HJBurd.
Any reference to the above paper should

make use of the above corrected list.

The following corrections to the paper
should also be noted:
Equation (1)should read:

N~ =

1+ n/2+ cos

's + Vl ao

The sixth reference should read:

Milligan, GWE, Houlsby, GT, surd, HJ and Jewell, RA

(1989)Anew approach to the design on unpaved

roads- Part JL Ground Engineerntg, Vol 22 No 8,
September 1989.

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11

J13 .,L
15

17

19

21

Water content %

Hg.2. Water content trsdry denafty'for

optlmnm molstnre contents.

decreased with increased temperature.

Ctori'aa

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The laboratory testing of soil is usually

carried out at room temperature (20 C).
However the actual in situ temperature
maybe quite different; ranging from much
higher in tropical or desert climates to
much lower even in Britain.
If the physcial properties of soil are
affected by temperature then results
gained from laboratory tests could be
misleading.
Experiments carried out at Coventry
Polytechnic in 1988 as part of a final year
project suggest that temperature could
affect shear strength, optimum moisture
content and other important physical
properties of a cohesive soil.

Tests were carried out on a brick clay at

6 C, 20'C and 35 C. They were; Atterberg
limit, optimum moisture content,
unconfmed compression, shear vane,
consolidation and sedimentation. The
results of these tests and some tentative
conclusions form the basis of this paper. It
is not proposed to describe each test in
detail, however all experiments were
conducted in a controlled environment in
which apparatus, soil and distilled water
were left to acclimatise to the desired
temperature.

Summary of experiments

When liquid limit was plotted on a

plasticity chart (Esty.l) the graph
produced was parallel and above the
A-line. It could clearly be seen that
between 6'C and 35'C the classification of
the soil changes from a clay of medium
plasticity to one of low plasticity.
femperature

Liquid
limit

'C
6
20
35

TaMe

41

36.5
26

l. Attorherft

Plastic
limit

Plasticity
index

'Yo

'Yo

20
18
15

21
'18.5
11

limf t resnlts.

Certainly during the plastic limit test the

soil felt more 'silt like't 35 C compared to

6'C.
The question arose as to whether
increasing the temperature of the soil
promoted flocculation in the clay making
it act like a silt? Such speculation led to a
sedimentation test heing included as an
experiment.

Opthuum moisture content

Optmtum moisture content decreased
with increasing temperature, and
maximum dry density increased. These

results are similar to those obtained by

Youssef and Ramli.

When considering particle to particle
contacts in a cohesive soil the large forces
involved over such small areas give rise to
relatively high stresses in the contact
region.

Atterberg limit tests

The Atterberg limit tests shows that liquid
limit, plastic limit and plasticity index all

Con ection:
Further extensions to the Bishop 8c
Morgenstern slope stability charts
by RJ Chandler and TE Peiris
published in GE May 1989.
Table 3 and 4 c'/yH = 0 025 (not 0.25)
Table 9. Note that 4.830, last column,
40'is not italics
t6'
Table 15. t6' 35'; 2:1,n, should read
2.451 not 2.452.
Table 18. t6' 40'; I:1,n, should read
2.499 not 2.449.
On all tables should be 0I'ot tJI.
GROUND

ENGINEERING

JULY

. 1989

80

s
c

Et@ 3 Partfole toparttcle contacts

o
K

10

20

30

40

50 60

Liquid limit 9L

Fig.

l. Plastfclty

chart.

70

80 90 100

The stress strain relationship under such

conditions, instead of being elastic, is
more likely to be viscous in nature.
An explanation of the results could be that
increasing the temperature of the soil
decreases the viscosity of the contacts.

im

(mm)

III

100

8m Iso
08

cl
m

80

BO

44'..

'I

mm

as

colm
Itmm
QmR

100

80
80

Bo

70

70

IJ'9

R'

40

8
crt

50

40

40

. 20

20

111j

40
m

eo

50

fJ

This enables particles to flow over each

other more easily aiding compaction and
increasing the maximum dry density.

'60

30

li'y

'r

20
IE

Unconfined compressive strength

and vane shear strength

0
0 0001

0 001

'O

lo

'ti

0 Ol

Ol

PcrtIclc cIIc

lo

100

(mm)

Hg.?. Sedtmentatton curtres.

cc

Consolidation tests

8
8 rc
a.

10

increases the curve moves to the right.

12

18

16

14

Icm

Root time Isthj

E
0
u

o8
C

cc
C

0
u

10

20

30

40

Temperature 'C

This showed that the 'apparent'article

size increases with increasing
temperature and that perhaps flocculation
is promoted at higher temperatures.
Again an explanation has been postulated
for this; increasing temperature
strengthening the effect of Van der Waals
forces of attraction.

Hg.4. Uncontiued comitsstfion vs

Conclusions

temperature.

The results of the tests carried out in

Coventry appear to show some interesting
trends of behaviour, although a more
extensive test programme would be
required to confirm the correctness of the
results.

Cm

Hg.6. Root time vs settlement for

consolidation.
ER
All consolidation test results were

corrected for the effect of temperature on

the 'free'ater as speciTiedin BS 1377.
The effect of temperature on
consolidation is difficult to analyse due to
the many different factors involved.

0
0

10

20

30

40

Temperature 'C

Hg.S. Vane shear stress vs

tom peratmte.
Unconfined compression and vane shear
strength decreased with increased
temperature. Shear vane tests were
simple to carry out and, in the case of peak
strengths, showed this relationship
particularly well.

Explanation of these results, to be found in

Ctori'nd is similar to that for optimum
moisture content.

These results agree with those obtained

by Kelly who studied the effect of
temperature on the undrained shear
strength of marine clay and proposed a
correlation for it.

Increasing temperature decreases the

initial void ratio of a sample as a result of a
number of factors as discussed in Ctori'.
Thus one might assume that the coefficient
of volume compressibility should

decrease.
However this argument is counteracted by
that previously put forward for viscosity.
Both must affect consolidation but by how
much is not easy to determine.

As it was suspected that flocculation may

be temperature dependent,
sedimentation tests were carried out in
accordance with BS 1377 (1975)but
without the use of a de-flocculent.

The sedimentation curves are

approximately parallel but as temperature
@

Temperature

6
20
35

QC

U mm

U100 (mm)

0.065
0.075
0 070

0.140
0.153

0165

hu (mm)

Vtt00

0.075
0.078
0 095

TaMe.Z. Summary ofresultsfor consolidation tests.

~t1 0 (5')

tl00 (5)

1.556
1.750
2.611

2.42

3.06
6.82

The aim of the work was to show what

difference (if any) temperature could
make to results obtained by accepted
engineering practice.

For example during a plastic limit test it is

not uncommon to rub samples between
the palms of the hands in an effort to
reduce their moisture content. Such a local
introduction of heat could be a source of
error.
The aim of many laboratory tests in soil
mechanics is to try and reproduce in situ
conditions without the expense of full
scale tests on site. With this in mind all
laboratory tests would ideally be carried
out at the temperature of the in situ soil if
the trends of behaviour described here

are correct.
Failing this a temperature of 20'C should
be speciTied in all standard tests and

correction factors applied.

'nyone interested in learning more

about the project should contact Peter
Ctori at Rendel Palmer and Tritton, 61
Southwark Street, London, SE1 1SA.
Telephone
01- 928-8999.
References
1. P Ctori. 'The effects of temperature on the physical
properties of cohesive soil'. Final year project,
Coventry Polytechnic, Civil Engineering Department
1988.

GROUND

ENGINEERING

JULY

. 1989

27