Oedometric response of an artificially prepared sand-bentonite mixture improved by potassium silicate

In this paper, articially prepared sand-bentonite samples with dierentbentonite contents were employed to investigate the role of the clay content in the swellingpotential, swelling pressure and oedometric behavior of expansive clays. specimens werealso dynamically compacted utilizing an identical compaction eort at various initial watercontents to study the eect of the initial fabric of the soil on its volume change behavior andalso to nd the moisture content corresponding to the minimum drying-wetting inducedswell and shrinkage of the material. furthermore, commercially available potassium silicateis evaluated as a potential stabilizer in improving the volume change features of the sandbentonitemixtures. three dosage levels of the potassium silicate solutions were utilized tostabilize the expansive clayey soil. free swelling, drying-wetting and consolidation testswere conducted on the stabilized soil samples. the results indicate that the swellingpotential of the improved soil specimens are much lower than those of the non-stabilizedsoils. also, potassium silicate eliminates the shrinkage behavior of the expansive clay.besides, the mechanical oedometric behavior of the stabilized and non-stabilized soils issimilar and potassium silicate does not change the response of the soil samples to themechanical loading.