SHEAR STRENGTH, COLLAPSIBILITY AND COMPRESSIBILITY CHARACTERISTICS OF COMPACTED BAIJI DUNE SOILS

Abstract

Baiji city is a vital industrial centre in Iraq since it has the biggest oil refinery. Therefore, Baiji has become an attractive site for strategic construction projects. Dune sand covers about 220 km2 of the area of Baiji city. However, few researches had attempted to study its behaviour. In this study laboratory tests were conducted to determine the shear strength, collapsibility and compressibility of the dune sand at its natural and compacted status. The effect of dry unit weight, moisture content, relative density and soaking on mechanical properties of dune soil was investigated. The results demonstrated that dry and soaked dune specimens tested at their in-situ condition exhibited similar volume changes during shear and identical friction angles. The results of shear tests of both of compacted soaked and unsoaked samples were identical. The collapse potential of dune soil is inversely proportional with the relative density. The minimum axial strain is observed when the samples are compacted to modified effort. The compression index of the compacted specimens is affected by moulding water content, while the rebound index is less sensitive.

Keywords

• Dune sand
• Compaction
• Relative density
• Collapsibility
• Compressibility
• Shear strength