Physico-Chemical Behavior of Dry Silty Clays

Abstract

This study reports the influence of physico-chemical factors on the swell/collapse characteristics of laboratory-prepared dry silty clay specimens. Also, a comparison of the physico-chemical behavior of dry and saturated silty clay specimens is made in light of an earlier proposed concept for saturated clays. Dry sodium-rich/calcium-rich silty clay specimens were wetted with tap water, 0.4 N sodium chloride, and 0.4 N calcium chloride solutions in the double odometer tests. The compression behavior of the saturated silty clay specimens was dominated by the physico-chemical effects at all the experimental pressures. Comparatively, the physico-chemical effects dominated the volume change behavior of the dry silty clay specimens on wetting only at the lower stresses, whereas the mechanical effects prevailed at the higher stresses.