PROCEEDINGS JOINT CONVENTION SURABAYA 2005 HAGI-IAGI-PERHAPI

The 30th HAGI, The 34th IAGI, and The 14th PERHAPI Annual Conference and Exhibition

JCS2005-Y016

AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION
ON SWELLING CHARACTERISTICS OF MUDROCKS

I. A. Sadisun1, Bandono1, H. Shimada2, M. Ichinose2, and K. Matsui2

1
Department of Geology, Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB)
2
Department of Earth Resources Engineering, Kyushu University, Japan

ABSTRACT

Some representative specimens of two different mudrocks, namely Ikeshima shale and Subang claystone,
were selected for laboratory testing of unconfined swelling test. A modified device enable measurement
of unconfined strain in various shapes of specimens was fabricated to comfortably allow a measurement
of time dependent swelling displacement at three axial directions. Besides, the investigation was also
petrographical aspects by means of XRD and SEM in order to determine any inherent factors which
possibly affecting in swelling processes. The test results indicated that the relationship between axial
swelling strain buildups versus time exhibited non-linear and anisotropic. There were significant
differences in the swelling characteristics between the shales and the claystones. The tested specimens of
the shales generally demonstrated higher in the anisotropic index than did the claystones, even until the
peak of strain was reached. In this case, the anisotropy index of the shales ranged from 2.97 to 3.75, while
the claystones ranged from 2.35 to 3.13. Meanwhile, the development of volumetric swelling strains of
the shales and the claystones were 5.95%-9.04% and 8.79%-12.12%, respectively. It was evidenced that
the main petrographical factors controlled in swell-ability of the rocks were expandable clay mineral
smectites and non-clay mineral pyrites. Moreover, there was a quite importance of inherent bonding
material and stress release energy in the swelling process.

INTRODUCTION tunnels and slopes within these rocks. Moreover,

It has become evident that many construction
works throughout the globe will encounter
problems connected to swelling rocks. This
includes damage to lightly-loaded foundation
structures of buildings resting on, as well as
swelling rocks may also lead to high maintenance
costs or may constitute a safety hazard so far they
receive insufficient attention. Therefore, a better
understanding of rock swelling characteristic is
significantly needed in order to gain a precise
engineering design and stability.
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 PROCEEDINGS JOINT CONVENTION SURABAYA 2005 HAGI-IAGI-PERHAPI
The 30th HAGI, The 34th IAGI, and The 14th PERHAPI Annual Conference and Exhibition
Our present study was addressed for knowing the
slaking characteristics of mudrocks immersed in
water by means of unconfined swelling test. As a
case study, the test was performed on mudrocks
obtained from an underground mining activity of
the Ikeshima coal mine, Ikeshima Island,
Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan, and from an industrial
estate development of the southern Karawang area
of West Java Province, Indonesia.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Mudrock samples
The mudrock samples used in this experimental
investigation were then called as Ikeshima shale
(IKS) and Subang claystone (SC), respectively.
Ikeshima shale is a part of coal-bearing Sakito
Formation, which is a Paleogene deposit of the
Southwest Japan Basin with a maximum-recorded
thickness up to 180 m. All shale samples used in
this study were collected from some collapsed
roofs of an underground coalmine within the
formation. Meanwhile, Subang claystone is a part
of the rock formation called Subang Formation; a
soft rock formation of Late Miocene to Pliocene
ages within a geological structure known as the
Bogor-Kendeng trough in the northern West Java,
Indonesia. Rock sampling was conducted in the
southern Karawang area for the claystone is the
most abundant rock type within this area.
Furthermore, this area is also one of the areas that
have good outcrops of Subang Formation, in
particular the upper part of the formation, which
having approximately 516 m thick.
Petrographical aspects of the rock
In order to determine mineral composition, X-ray
diffraction (XRD) analysis method was carried
out. About this method, the detail principle and
determination method can be found elsewhere
(Klug and Alexander, 1974; More and Reynolds,
1997). Results of typical diffraction patterns
including mineralogical analysis of Ikeshima
shale and Subang claystone are shown in Figure 1.
Quantitative analysis obtained from diffraction
patterns was then performed by a reference
intensity ratio (RIR) method based on measuring
the intensity one or more peaks for each mineral
present and the added internal standard (Hillier,
2000). Table 1 shows a summary of type and
percentage of minerals present in both samples. It
is quite obvious that most of samples show an
abundance of quartz, plagioclase, pyrite and clay
minerals with the other constituent of rutile,
calcite and siderite. Smectite is already widely
known as the main group of the most expandable
clay minerals. Samples from Subang claystone
possess very large amounts of smectite, with a
range of 13.1% to 47.5%. On the opposite, the
smectite content in the Ikeshima shale ranges
from 4.4% to 7.8%, which mostly identified only
from mixed-layered illite/smectite.
The scanning electron microscope (SEM) was
used for the examination of the microfabric
characteristics of the samples. Figure 1 shows the
ideal scanning electron micrograph of wavy sheet
structures of smectite in the Subang claystone
among little fibrous structures of illite. An
examination of intact samples under SEM also
revealed that the samples from Ikeshima shale
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The 30th HAGI, The 34th IAGI, and The 14th PERHAPI Annual Conference and Exhibition
were characterized by very thin stratified fabric
patterns, which might indicate a high degree of
compaction and induration, on opposite condition
to the samples from Subang claystone.
Experimental device and testing procedure
An modified device of unconfined swelling test to
that suggested by ISRM (1979) was fabricated in
the Laboratory of Rock Engineering, Kyushu
University (Sadisun et al., 2002), and
schematically shown in Figure 3. It was designed
to accommodate specimen with 30-60 mm height
in different shapes, i.e., cubical, rectangular and
cylindrical specimens. Moreover, it was possible
to comfortably measure a simultaneous swelling
strain at three directions of axes (x, y, z) by five
micrometer dial gauges. A dial gauge is oriented
in the vertical direction (z), while two pair dial
gauges are oriented perpendicular to each other (x
y). Due to the low to medium durability of the
samples, some representative fresh specimens
were selected for the test. In this study, a set-up
was made to investigate the performance of 35-45
mm sides of cubic specimens. This specimen size
seems correct with regard to the heterogeneity of
argillaceous rock samples. As the stratified
structures was relatively easy to determine, it was
comfortable to conduct the test on a cubic
specimen cut according to apparent stratification
planes. For consistency, it was decided to be
prerequisite of the test by determination of the
stratified structures that might be present in each
specimen prior to the test; hence the stratification
planes must be normal (perpendicular) to the z
axis of the device.
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
The unconfined swelling test indicates
unrestricted swelling in all directions and results
indicate a swelling strain magnitude as a function
of time. The experimental results for selected
representative specimens of both Ikeshima shale
and Subang claystone are summarized in the Table
2. Some typical results are presented in Figure 4,
showing the axial swelling strain buildup versus
time relationships in different plotting methods. It
can be recognized that the use of semi-logarithmic
plot depicts the process of swelling with time
much more clearly than does the use of linear
plots that usually used by previous authors.
Through the linear plotting method, it can be seen
that the swelling process is occurs mostly in the
first week of the whole test period. However, it is
difficult to recognize the detailed process of
swelling that occurs. For this limitation, the use of
semi-logarithmic graph to the test results guides to
some interesting patterns in the swelling process.
This represents a step towards a better
understanding of fundamental processes
responsible for swelling which pertaining to
argillaceous rocks.
Swelling characteristics
The relationships between axial swelling strain
buildups versus time exhibited the non-linear
swelling strain process during immersion. There
were significant differences in the characteristics
of swelling strain between Ikeshima shale and
Subang claystone. The tested specimen of
Ikeshima shale generally demonstrated more
severe stages of swelling strain than did Subang
claystone, until the peak of strain was reached.
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The 30th HAGI, The 34th IAGI, and The 14th PERHAPI Annual Conference and Exhibition
The development of axial swelling strains in the
Ikeshima shale was mostly fairly steady leveled
off after 8-20 days, and then there was still
sequentially little increase in swelling magnitude
through the periods of 30 days. The maximum
magnitude of swelling strain in the vertical and
lateral directions was 5.27% and 2.19%,
respectively. Meanwhile, the observed maximum
magnitude of swelling strain of the Subang
claystone specimens was 7.16% of the vertical
strain and 3.06% of the lateral strain, which most
of them took place within the first of 5-16 days
immersion and were almost steady along the
periods of 20-30 days.
Since the parameter of volumetric swelling strain
could express the whole swelling displacement
occurred, it was convenient to use the volumetric
strain instead of the vertical and lateral strains as
variable. Volumetric swelling strains of all tested
specimens were computed, and the trends of
volumetric swelling strain versus duration time of
immersion of representative specimens from both
Ikeshima shale and Subang claystone were
graphically illustrated (Figure 5). The maximum
volumetric swelling strain of Ikeshima shale
found in this experiments fell within a range of
5.95% to 9.04%, while the maximum volumetric
swelling of Subang claystone was in a range of
9.51% to 12.12%.
Anisotropy of swelling process
The swelling behavior of almost all specimens
was found to anisotropy (see Table 2). In this test,
vertical and lateral strains increased
simultaneously with inconstant ratio. The typical
results of anisotropy analysis of both anisotropy
indexes within time are presented in Figure 6. It is
interesting to note that the ratio of vertical to
lateral swelling strain (av) is always high and the
highest values occur within the first minutes of the
test in the Ikeshima shale, while in the Subang
claystone these appear within the first hours. The
value of av ranges from 2.54 to 3.75 with an
average of 3.07. These values mean that the
swelling strain in vertical direction is always
much greater than those in other two directions.
Moreover, it can be suggested that the
deformability of the stratified structure planes
possibly play as an important role in the swelling
process. For the two lateral swelling strains, it can
be noticed that the anisotropy between the two
lateral strains is quite small expressing by the
value of al is occasionally nearly equal to 1. It
means that the value of two lateral swelling strains
measured by four dial gauges on two different
side directions are nearly identical. This implies
that the swelling behavior of argillaceous rocks
parallel to the stratified structure planes is quite
homogeneous. However, the anisotropy of the two
lateral swelling strains is also occasionally high
obtained up to 2.23 which generally occurs within
the first minutes of the test and appears
significantly in Subang claystone. These
phenomena confirm that the argillaceous rock
behavior is anisotropy in nature.
Inherent factors affecting the swelling process
It has been noted by Wong (1998) that that
interpretation of swelling test results is not as
simple as the conventional analysis method
suggests, and requires a well-designed swelling
test and improvement of the analysis method. In
fact, inherent factors affecting the swelling
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The 30th HAGI, The 34th IAGI, and The 14th PERHAPI Annual Conference and Exhibition
process are difficult to measure individually in the
laboratory. Accordingly, the interpretations from
an analysis of test data were performed in this
study.
Since it is widely known that smectite is the main
expandable clay mineral, it is interesting to
evaluate the variation of swelling strain as a
function of smectite content. It can be identified
that the vertical swelling strain is a function of
smectite content. In this case, the observed
vertical swelling strain increased with the increase
of the smectite content. Meanwhile, another
mineral that can generate an expandable process is
non-clay mineral pyrite. Pyrite is stable only
under strongly reduced oxygen condition.
Generally, when the pyrite is exposed, it will
oxidize to ferrous sulphate and free sulphuric acid.
If any calcium carbonate present, as found in the
samples of Subang claystone, pyrite may alter to
sulphate (gypsum) resulting in a slow increase in
volume and, hence, in rock cracking.
The rock fabrics and the microstructures release
strain energy (dissipation energy) resulting from
the diagenetic process through their geological
history is another prosible significant factor in the
controlling of the rock to potentially increase
volume. The relative differences in diagenetic
maturity estimated from the illite-smectite ratio
were confirmed that there was a rebound effect
due to the increase of swelling strain generated by
the inherent stress release of the rock, which was
also indicated by high value of the vertical to
lateral anisotropy index in the most of Ikeshima
shale specimens. In this case, the extension or
release of the stratified structural planes seemed
as the dominant factor controlling the swelling
process revealing by a closure phase of initial
hairline cracks at the beginning of the test.
CONCLUSIONS
An experimental program has been conducted to
investigate the characteristics of swelling strain in
two different mudrocks, which are Ikeshima shale
and Subang claystone, by means of modified test
device. Extensive experimental results of the shale
and the claystone during unconfined swelling test
have been presented offering an original database,
which is necessary to establish swelling
characteristics of mudrocks. Finally, since
behavior of mudrocks is usually dominated by its
stratified structure planes in some field cases,
further studies are encouraged to investigate the
effects of rock structure and its orientation on the
swelling characteristics.
REFERENCES
Hillier, S., 2000. Accurate quantitative analysis of
clay and other minerals is Sandstone by XRD:
Comparison of a Rietveld and a reference
intensity ratio (RIR) method and the important of
sample preparation. Clay Minerals, 35: 291-302.
ISRM 1979. Suggested method for determining
water content, porosity, density, absorption and
related properties, and swelling and slake
durability properties. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci.
& Geomech. Abstr., 16: 143-156.
Klug, H. P. and Alexander, L. E., 1974. X-Ray
Diffraction Procedures, 2nd ed., Wiley, New York,
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The 30th HAGI, The 34th IAGI, and The 14th PERHAPI Annual Conference and Exhibition

966 p. means of an improved unconfined swelling test.

Proc. ISRM Regional Symposium on Rock
More, D. M. and Reynolds, JR. R. C., 1997. Engineering Problems and Approaches in
X-Ray Diffraction and the Identification and Underground Construction, Seoul, Korea, hal.
Analysis of Clay Minerals, 2nd ed., Oxford 227-234.
University Press, New York, 378 p.
Wong, R. C. K., 1998. Swelling and softening
Sadisun, I. A., Shimada, H., Ichinose, M., dan behavior of La Biche Shale. Can. Geothech. J.,
Matsui, K., 2002. An experimental study of 35: 206-221.
swelling strain in some argillaceous rocks by

Mineral (%) IKS-1 IKS-2 IKS-3 SC-2 SC-5 SC-7

Quartz 24.6 22.6 24.7 17.4 11.7 14.2
Plagioclase 13.1 14.5 12.7 8.8 5.6 6.2
Pyrite 10.3 11.0 11.1 13.6 7.6 7.7
Rutile 6.8 4.7 6.3 - - -
Calcite - - - 10.7 - 10.7
Siderite - - - 12.3 9.3 11.0
Kaolinite 11.1 13.0 12.7 17.4 10.5 17.4
Illite 16.5 18.4 16.8 6.7 7.8 Trace
Chlorite - Trace Trace Trace - -
Smectite 5.6 4.4 7.8 13.1 47.5 32.9

TABLE 1 : Mineral composition of Ikeshima shale and Subang claystone.

Axial Swelling Strain (%) Anisotropy Index Volumetric Swelling

No. Sample Strain (%)
x y z al av
IKS-1 1.14 1.45 4.86 1.27 3.75 7.59
IKS-2 0.96 1.18 3.72 1.23 3.48 5.95
IKS-3 2.19 1.38 5.27 1.61 2.97 9.04
SC-2 1.47 2.61 5.18 1.78 2.54 9.51
SC-5 3.06 1.52 7.16 2.01 3.13 12.12
SC-7 1.64 2.96 5.86 1.80 2.55 10.78

TABLE 2 : Resume of experimental results of unconfined swelling test.

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The 30th HAGI, The 34th IAGI, and The 14th PERHAPI Annual Conference and Exhibition

FIGURE 1 : Ideal XRD patterns of Ikeshima shale (IKS-3, top) and Subang claystone (SC-7, bottom).

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The 30th HAGI, The 34th IAGI, and The 14th PERHAPI Annual Conference and Exhibition

FIGURE 2 : Very thin stratified fabric patterns of Ikeshima shale (IKS-1, top) and typical flocculated
structures of wavy smectites of Subang claystone (SC-5, bottom)

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The 30th HAGI, The 34th IAGI, and The 14th PERHAPI Annual Conference and Exhibition

FIGURE 3 : Schematic device of unconfined swelling test and

structural coordinate of dial gauge position.

6.0 6.0

5.0 5.0
A xial S w elling S train (%)
A xial S w elling S train (%)

4.0 V ericalS w elling S train z 4.0

V erticalS w elling S train z
LateralS w elling S train x
LateralS w elling S train x
3.0 LateralS w elling S train y 3.0 LateralS w elling S train y

2.0 2.0

1.0 1.0

0.0 0.0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 0.0 0.1 1.0 10.0 100.0 1000.0

Elapsed T im e (hour) Elapsed T im e (hour)

8.0 7.0
V erticalS w elling S train z
7.0 6.0
LateralS w elling S train x
A xial S w elling S train (%)

A xial S w elling S train (%)

6.0 LateralS w elling S train y

5.0
V ericalS w elling S train z
5.0
LateralS w elling S train x 4.0
4.0 LateralS w elling S train y
3.0
3.0
2.0
2.0
1.0
1.0
0.0 0.0
0.0 0.1 1.0 10.0 100.0 1000.0
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Elapsed T im e (hour)
Elapsed T im e (hour)

FIGURE 4 : Typical result of axial swelling strain of Ikeshima shale (IKS-3, top)
and Subang claystone (SC-7, bottom).

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The 30th HAGI, The 34th IAGI, and The 14th PERHAPI Annual Conference and Exhibition

14
IK S -1
V olum etric S w elling S train (%)

12 IK S -2
IK S -3
10 S C -2
S C -5
8 S C -7

0
0.0 0.1 1.0 10.0 100.0 1000.0
Elapsed T im e (hour)

FIGURE 5 : Volumetric swelling strain indexes of Ikehima shale and Subang Claystone.

7.0 3.5

6.0 3.0
V ertical to lateral
A nisotropy Index

5.0 2.5
A nisotropy Index

Lateral to vertical

4.0 2.0
3.0 1.5
2.0 1.0 V ertical to lateral
1.0 0.5 Lateral to lateral

0.0 0.0
0.0 0.1 1.0 10.0 100.0 1000.0 0.0 0.1 1.0 10.0 100.0 1000.0
Elapsed T im e (hour) Elapsed T im e (hour)

FIGURE 6 : Typical anisotropy indexes within time for Ikeshima shale (IKS-3, left)
and Subang claystone (SC-7, right).

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