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KEYWORDS Abstract Peat has considerable negative geotechnical properties such as high water content, low
Peat; shear strength, high organic matter, and low bearing capacity and consequently a signicant sever-
Organic soils; ing high compressibility takes place that makes it as one of the most difcult soils for constructing
Properties; structures over its natural state. Because of these geotechnical problems of peat soil, improvement
Improvement methods mechanism is so essential when the peat soil exists to deal with it as a soil foundation. In this paper,
the physical and mechanical properties of the peat are discussed. Also, the two creative mixtures
were prepared to study their effect on the properties of peat and to what extent can these new mix-
tures improve both the physical and mechanical properties of peat layers to bear stresses as the soil
foundation, the rst one consisted of clayey diatomite which is widespread in Egypt, calcium car-
bonate, lime and water. On the other hand, the prepared second mixture has the same ingredients of
the rst one except to replace the clayey diatomite by the cement. For both mixtures two systems of
cubes were prepared, and peat was added to the two prepared mixtures. Then the all cubes were
submerged in clean water, and also in sewage water for forty-ve days for the sake of studying their
durability against submergence and environmental changes, and the cubes resistances were mea-
sured. The obtained results in this study were compared by other currently used mixtures for sta-
bilizing peat soils to date for focusing clearly on the performance magnitude of this study.
2016 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Housing and Building National Research
Center. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
by-nc-nd/4.0/).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.hbrcj.2016.11.004
1687-4048 2016 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Housing and Building National Research Center.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Please cite this article in press as: A.E. Abdel-Salam, Stabilization of peat soil using locally admixture, HBRC Journal (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.
hbrcj.2016.11.004
2 A.E. Abdel-Salam
Table 2 Classication of peat and organic soils (After landva and Pheeney, 1980).
Soil type Peats Peaty organic soils Organic soils Soil with organic content
Group symbol Pt PtO O MO or CO
Ash content% <20 2040 4095 9599
Organic content >80 6080 560 15
Particle density <1.7 1.61.9 >1.7 >2.4
Moisture content 2003000 150800 100500 <100
Liquid limit Dicult Test to perform >50 <50
Fiber content >50 <50 Insignicant
Degree of decomposition H1-H8 H8- H10 H 10
Please cite this article in press as: A.E. Abdel-Salam, Stabilization of peat soil using locally admixture, HBRC Journal (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.
hbrcj.2016.11.004
Stabilization of peat soil using locally admixture 3
Figure 2 Shear strength gain (28 day) of various types of soil (After [7]).
agent or hydraulic binder because it can be used alone to bring Clayey diatomite as stabilizing material
about the stabilizing action required (Sherwood, 1993), while
lime provides an economical way of soil stabilization and lime The samples of clayey diatomite of Upper Miocene age origi-
modication describes an increase in strength resulting by nated from Kom Osheam at south of Giza and north of
cation exchange capacity rather than cementing effect resulting Fayom. The world product about 1.930 thousand metric tons,
by pozzolanic reaction [8]. When cement reacts with water in commercial diatomite products provide ne-sized, irregular-
peat, it forms calcium silicate hydrate or tobermorite gels 2 shaped porous non-caking particles that have a large surface
(3CaO.2SiO .3H O), which act as glue that bind and hold area and high liquid absorption capacity.
the soil particles together [9]. As shown in Fig. 2, cement Diatomite is a silica mineral composed of the fossilized
and/or lime as the binder material among peat particles could skeletal remains of microscopic single celled aquatic plants
not achieve satised performance in spite of tedious effort and (algae) called diatoms. Over 10,000 species of microscopic
high cost required where the maximum obtained performance algaes have been recognized, each one has its own distinct
is 30 kPa (0.30 kg/cm2) after 28 days by using cement. shape and ranging in size from below 5 lm to above 100 lm.
Please cite this article in press as: A.E. Abdel-Salam, Stabilization of peat soil using locally admixture, HBRC Journal (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.
hbrcj.2016.11.004
4 A.E. Abdel-Salam
The XRD of the sample clearly explain the highly crystalline tests were performed by preparing three groups of cubes for
peaks of calcite, clay, quartz, beside the amorphous peak of every mixture. The test method consists of applying a compres-
diatomite phase. The two types of carbonates, calcite and sive axial load to molded cubes at a rate which is within a pre-
dolomite, were quit detected (Fig. 3) and the mineralogy com- scribed range until failure occurs. The compressive strength of
ponent were explain before. Table 3 illustrates the chemical the specimen is calculated by dividing the maximum load
analysis of the sample, which conrms the predicted XRD attained during the test by the cross-sectional area of the spec-
phase analysis of the ore. imen. After one day, the unit weight and relatively dry com-
pressive strength of the rst group were measured. Then the
Stabilizing of peat soil second group of cubes was submerged in clean water and the
other used cubes of third group were submerged in sewage
In this study, stabilizing the peat soil or improving its property water for 45 day; thereafter, the unit weight and compressive
to sustain safely any relatively high compressive strength by strength for both second and third groups were measured.
decreasing the void ratio by lling the space among peat par- For main tests, cubes 5 * 5 * 5 cm3 were used for mixtures
ticles by grouting with the two creative prepared mixtures, ingredients without peat and cubes 10 * 10 * 10 cm3 were used
both of them has spedaj (calcium carbonate), lime, water, plus when adding peat to the mixtures with unit weight 0.11 gm/
clayey dolomite for the rst tested mixture or plus cement for cm3 as mentioned before. The gained original consistency of
the second one. the tested grout mixes into cubes was so close to the consis-
tency of very soft clay as shown in Fig. 4 for the sake of signif-
The Experimental program icantly improving the pump ability to distribute
homogeneously the grout mix through injection action among
peat particles.
At rst, preliminary trial and error tests were carried out to
Clayey diatomite and cement have considerable ability to
obtain the ideal or critical percentages of each component of
absorb water while calcium carbonate (spedaj) and lime have
the both mixtures. The components for the rst one are clayey
also relative ability to absorb water and they are also working
dolomite, spedaj, lime, and water and cement, spedaj, lime,
as ller material among peat particles (see Tables 4 and 5).
and water for the second one. The ideal or critical percentages
were obtained when the mixtures could able to keep their dry
Results and discussion
shapes exactly unchanged for long time after submergence. It
has been obtained that, mixture (1) consists of 20% clayey dia-
tomite, 27% calcium carbonate, 12% lime and 41% water, and Peat in normal case does not have any strength with very
on the other hand, mixture (2) consists of 25% cement, 33% high water content and therefore it is necessary for a ller
calcium carbonate, 14% lime and 28% water. Hence main material among its particles able to improve its physical
Please cite this article in press as: A.E. Abdel-Salam, Stabilization of peat soil using locally admixture, HBRC Journal (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.
hbrcj.2016.11.004
Stabilization of peat soil using locally admixture 5
(a) Prepared cubes 5*5*5 cm3 (b) Prepared cubes 10*10*10 cm3
and mechanical properties to bear safely any stresses from sewage water for 45 days. On the other hand, the second
the structures constructed over it. The two grout mixes that mixture cement, spedaj, lime and water improves cumula-
were processed in this paper were achieved by considerable tively the peat strength from zero to 4200 kPa when sub-
performance of the peat properties compared to other cur- merged in clean water and to 3800 kPa when submerged
rently used materials. in sewage water for the same period.
The approach of this philosophy was based on the superior The maximum obtained improvement or performance
ability of the ingredients mixed together and each of the two through the currently used injected mixtures to date on
creative injected mixes in this study was allowed to absorb
the peat strength is 30 kPa [Ahnberg et al., 1995] which con-
water to change the primary consistency of the two pre- sidered clearly unsatised improvement comparing to both
pared grout mixes from very soft to very stiff consistency required tedious effort and tremendous cost through the
(closely less or more) by time among the peat particles. injection procedure. The rst mixture in this study increases
The rst mixture clayey diatomite, spedaj (calcium carbon- that strength of injected peat (30 kPa) by 6 times when sub-
ate), lime and water is worked as stabilizing material and merged in clean water and by 5 times when submerged in
improves the peat strength from zero to 180 kPa when sub- sewage water. The second mixture increases cumulatively
merged in clean water and to 160 kPa when submerged in that strength of injected peat by 140 times when submerged
Please cite this article in press as: A.E. Abdel-Salam, Stabilization of peat soil using locally admixture, HBRC Journal (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.
hbrcj.2016.11.004
6 A.E. Abdel-Salam
in clean water and by 126 times when submerged in sewage The cost of the clay diatomite mixture is cheaper than the
water. By compare the result with different other stabilizing cement mixture while the performance of cement mixture
system can nd the result after 28 days at the same Wc. at is cumulatively bigger than the rst one. The project needs
medium position. which through its technical and nancial aspects make the
The cost of the clay diatomite is so cheap than cement but geotechnical engineer to select the suitable used mixture.
the cement in the grout mix introduces cumulative strength The prepared two injected grout mixes achieve considerable
values than clayey diatomite in the grout mix although the performance for the injected peat layer which has a great
clayey diatomite gives the considerable positive improve- gap between them and all other old current used injected
ment comparing to the current ancient used injected mate- materials to date.
rials to date. The project needs through its technical and
economic aspects set signicantly an informed decision to
select one of the two new injected mixtures which were cre- References
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Please cite this article in press as: A.E. Abdel-Salam, Stabilization of peat soil using locally admixture, HBRC Journal (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.
hbrcj.2016.11.004