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SOIL STRUCTURE AND

FABRIC

The structure of a soil is taken to mean

both the geometric arrangement of the
particles or mineral grains as well as the
interparticle forces which may act between
them.
Soil fabric refers only to the geometric
arrangement of particles (from Holtz and
Kovacs, 1981).
*Fabric and structure are used interchangeably
sometimes.

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The interparticle forces (or surface forces)

are relatively important for fine-grained
soils at low confinement (low state of
stress).
Although the behavior of a coarse-grained
soil can often be related to particle size
distribution, the behavior of a fined-grained
soil usually depends much more on:
geological history and
structure
than on particle size.

SOIL FABRIC AND STRUCTURE

Fabric is the arrangement of particles,

particle group and pore spaces in a
soil.
Structure is the combined effects of
fabric, composition and interparticle
forces.

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Microfabric at least an optical

microscope is needed.
Macrofabric stratification,
fissuring,
voids and
large scale
inhomogeneties
(by naked eye or a hand lense).

NET ENERGY AND FORCE OF INTERACTION

Dispersion or flocculation
Fabric of soil
Determines the
engineering properties.
If repulsion dispersion
If attraction flocculation

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Very small particles provide very large

surface area.
Negatively charged surface
provide very active surface for chemical
interaction.

(From Bennett and Hulbert, 1986)

DISPERSION AND
FLOCCULATION OF CLAY
Colloidal clay
Clay is a colloid. Colloidal particles have
special properties due to their very small
size.
Firstly, their large surface area in relation
to their mass makes them very reactive;
in clays, this reactivity is shown
as an electrostatic attraction of cations.

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Secondly,
colloids can exist in
water as either:
o suspensions (dispersed) or
o as gels (flocculated).

The tendency of a colloid to

o flocculate or
o disperse
depends on three things:
the nature of the colloidal particles;
the total salt concentration;
the nature of the adsorbed ions.

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The type and amount of different cations in

a clay-water-electrolyte system have a
major influence on double layer interaction.
Flocculation to describe particles that are
connected
edgetoedge or edgetoface,
Aggregation to
describe particles that are connected
facetoface.

TERMINOLOGY
Face (F)
Edge (E)
Clay Particle

Dispersed: No face-to-face association of clay particles

Aggregated: Face-to-face association (FF) of several clay particles.

Flocculated: Edge-to-Edge (EE) or edge-to-face (EF) association

Deflocculated: No association between aggregates or particles.

van Olphen, 1991 (from Mitchell, 1993)

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Flocculated fabric

Dispersed fabric

Edge-to-face (EF):
positively charged edges and
negatively charged surfaces
(more common)

Edge-to-edge (EE)
Aggregated fabric

Face-to-Face
(FF)

The net interparticle force

between surfaces is
repulsive

Shifted
Face-to-Face
(FF)

CLAY FABRIC
edge-to-face contact

Flocculated

face-to-face contact

Aggregated

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ENVIRONMENT EFFECT ON CLAY FABRIC

Electrochemical environment i.e.:

pH,
acidity,
temperature,
cations present in the water
during the time of
sedimentation influence clay fabric
significantly.

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Flocculation is the first step in aggregate formation.

Examples of flocculated and dispersed organic
molecules.

Thickness of the diffuse double layer will

depend on:
Concentration of soil solution:
High concentration of soil
solution yields a thin DDL.

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Valence of exchange ions: Monovalent

ions yield a thick DDL
Size of an ion (or hydration radius):
Strongly hydrated ions yield a thick
DDL.
Particles with thick DDL tend to
DISPERSE
Particles with thin DDL tend to
FLOCCULATE

Colloidal particles are either:

hydrophilic (water-loving) or
hydrophobic (water-hating).
Hydrophilic colloids form
stable suspensions and do not
readily flocculate.

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Hydrophobic colloids form

unstable suspensions
and flocculate easily.
The nature of the colloidal clay particle
(hydrophobic) means that clay
will flocculate if allowed to.
This is good for soil structure!

The more concentrated the salts

(electrolytes) in the soil solution,
the more likely it is that clay will
flocculate.
This is the 'electrolyte effect'.
The salt is not necessarily common salt,
sodium chloride.
Any soluble salt, such as
gypsum, will have this effect.

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An 'electrolyte' is any salt.

It is not necessarily common salt
(sodium chloride).
It could be any combination
of cation and anion.
Salts in soil can come
from the weathering of
soil minerals.

Weathering releases cations such as

sodium,
potassium,
calcium,
iron and magnesium.
Anions produced by weathering include:
sulphate,
chloride,
carbonate and phosphate.

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Calcium adsorbed onto the clay surface allows

the clay to flocculate
when the total salt concentration is
fairly low.
However,
Sodium adsorbed onto the clay surface
will not allow the clay to flocculate
until the total salt concentration is
much higher.

Changes in the double layer thickness

modifies the soil properties like:

the shear strength,

compressibility and
plasticity.

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MODES OF PARTICLE ASSOCIATIONS IN CLAY

SUSPENSION

1. Dispersed no face to face association of

clay particles.
2. Aggregated face to face association of
several clay particles.
3. Flocculated edge to edge or edge to face
association of particles or aggregates.
4. Deflocculated no association of particles
or aggregates.

PARTICLE
ASSOCIATIONS
Dispersed and deflocculated

Aggregated but deflocculated

Edge-to-face flocculated
but dispersed

Edge-to-face flocculated
and aggregated

Edge-to-edge flocculated but

dispersed
Edge-to-edge flocculated
and aggregated

Edge-to-face and edge to

edge flocculated and
aggregated

van Olphen, 1991

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FABRIC IN COHESIVE SOILS

Dispersed fabric: formed by settlement of individual
clay particles. More or less parallel orientation.
Flocculant fabric: formed by settlement of flocs of
clay particles.
Domain: aggregated or flocculated sub-microscopic
units of clay particles.
Cluster: domains group to form clusters, can be seen
under light microscope.
Peds: they are clusters group to form peds, can be
seen without microscope.

DOMAIN CLUSTER PED

The individual clay particles seem to always be
aggregated or flocculated together in submicroscopic
fabric units called domains.
Domains then in turn group together to form clusters,
which are large enough to be seen with a visible light
microscope.
Clusters group together to form peds and even groups
of peds.
Peds can be seen without a microscope, and they and
other macrostructural features such as joints and
fissures constitute the macrofabric system.

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FABRIC OF NATURAL CLAY SOILS

Domains and
clusters with
micropores

1.Domain
2.Cluster
3.Ped
4.Silt grain
5.Micropore
6.Macropore

Yong and Sheeran (1973) (from Holtz

and Kovacs, 1981)

Enlargement

Diagram of the fundamental particle units called domains that comprise the
building blocks of clay fabric in sediments and rocks. (From Bennett et al., 1991)

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MICROFABRIC FEATURES IN NATURAL

SOILS

1.Elementary particle arrangements, which consist

of single forms of particle interaction at the level of
individual clay, silt, or sand particles or interaction
between small groups of clay platelets or clothed
silt and sand particles.

2.Particle assemblages, which are units of particle

organization having definable physical boundaries
and a specific mechanical function. Particle
assemblages consist of one or more forms of
elementary particle arrangements or smaller
particle assemblages.
3.Pore spaces within and between elementary
particles arrangements and particle assemblages.
Collins and McGown, 1974
(from Holtz and Kovacs,
1981)

ELEMENTARY
PARTICLES
Individual clay
platelet interaction

Individual silt or
sand particle
interaction
Clay platelet group
interaction

Clothed silt or sand

particle interaction

Particle discernible
Collins and McGown, 1974
(from Holtz and Kovacs,
1981)

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PARTICLE
ASSEMBLAGES

Collins and McGown, 1974

(from Holtz and Kovacs,
1981)

PARTICLE ASSOCIATIONS IN SOILS

Those main groupings can be identified:

1. Elementary particle arrangements, particle
interaction of individual clay, silt or sand particles
2. Particle assemblages
3. Pore spaces
4. Intrapedal pores pore within the ped
5. Interpedal pores pores between the ped
6. Transpedal pores the pores that transverse the
soil beyond the limits of a single ped.
Ped: it is an individual soil aggregate consisting of a
cluster of primary particles and separated from
adjoining peds by surfaces of weaknesses.

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PORE SPACE TYPES

Collins and McGown, 1974 (from Mitchell, 1993)

EARLY CONCEPTS OF CLAY FABRIC

Minerals of chemically sensitive clays:

in a flocculated system, cardhouse structure
(flocculated ).
Lambe (1953), particle orientation in a dispersed system is
a parallel arrangement (oriented fabric).

Cardhouse, of saltwater

Cardhouse of freshwater

Mitchell (1956) pointed out important differences between dispersed

and flocculated clays in relation to their geotechnical properties.

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Van olphen proposed

various modes of
particles association
when clay particles
flocculate: FF, EF, and
EE.
EE and EF produce
agglomerates (called
floc).
FF association is
termed aggregation.

Flocculation and aggregation have major

effects on engineering properties.
Flocculation affects flow behavior.
It influences permeability,
the ease with which a liquid
moves through the soil.

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Particles that are dispersed would have

less permeability.
Flocculation also affects shear strength
and compressibility.
Soils that have an edge-to-face contact of
clay particles (flocculated) are much
stronger than soils
with a parallel
alignment (dispersed).

One effect of the double layer is to cause two

clay particles to repel each other when they
approach so closely.
Repulsive forces caused by overlapping
double layers have been used to describe the
compression and swelling behavior of clays.
Dispersion phenomena is used to explain
erosion of clays and
tunneling failures in dams.

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EROSION AND PIPING IN CLAYS

In the past, clay soils were considered to be
highly resistant to erosion by flowing
water;
however, in the recent years
it is recognized that highly erodible clay
soils exist in nature.
Some natural clay soils disperse or
deflocculate in the presence of relatively
pure water and are, therefore, highly
susceptible to erosion and piping.

The importance of the subject in civil

engineering practice was not recognized
until the early 1960's when
research on piping failure in earth dams
due to dispersive clay
behavior was initiated
in Australia because
of many failures of small clay dams
(Aitchison and Wood, 1965).

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The tendency for dispersive erosion in a

given soil depends on variables such as:
mineralogy and chemistry of the clay,
dissolved salts in the water in soil pores
and in the eroding water.
Such clays are eroded rapidly by slowmoving water, even when compared to
cohesionless fine sands and silts.

When dispersive clay soil is immersed in

water, the clay fraction behaves like
single-grained particles;
that is, the clay particles
have a minimum of electrochemical
attraction and
fail to closely
adhere to, or bond with
other soil particles.

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Thus, dispersive clay soil erodes in

the presence of flowing water when
individual clay platelets
are split off and carried away.
Such erosion may start in a drying
crack, settlement crack, hydraulic
fracture crack, or other channel of
high permeability in a soil mass.

SUSCEPTIBILITY TO DISPERSION
PIPING
One of the properties controlling the
susceptibility to dispersion piping is
the percentage of
adsorbed sodium cations within the clay
particles relative to the quantities of
other polyvalent cations
(calcium, magnesium, and potassium).

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A second factor controlling susceptibility

of a clay mass to dispersion piping is the
total content of
dissolved salts
in the reservoir or canal water.
The lower the content of dissolved salts in
the reservoir or canal water,
the greater the susceptibility
of sodium saturated clay to dispersion.

SWELL
Any change in the pore solution chemistry that
depresses or reduces the double
layer leads to a
reduction in swell.
Calcium ions in the interlayer region
compress the double layer,
so the sheets are closer together and
do not adsorb water and swell as easily.

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If DDL Thickness is small

swell is small.
With sodium ions,
the clay swells more easily.
Thus the clay mineralogy has a direct
effect on
its surface chemistry.

Through its effect on surface chemistry,

clay mineralogy controls
microstructure.
The result is the:
engineering behavior of soil,
its cohesive strength,
flow behavior, permeability, and
swelling potential.

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Dispersed fabrics are more common in

clays deposited in fresh water,
while flocculated fabrics
are typical of seawater deposition.
Remolding (disturbance) of soils alters
flocculated fabrics
to dispersed fabrics.

Chemical factors favoring flocculation (favor

structure):
High salt concentration
Polyvalent cations
Low pH
Chemical/physical factors favoring dispersion
(unfavorable for structure)

Low salt concentration

Sodium is dominant cation
High pH
Mechanical disturbance

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Saline water applied to soil will allow

the clay to flocculate.
If the water is saline due to high levels
of soluble calcium, the flocculation will
persist.

If, however, the water is saline due to

high levels of sodium,
the flocculation will last
only as long as the soil solution
remains concentrated.
When rain washes excess salts from
the soil,
the soil solution becomes
dilute and the clay disperses.

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SALINE WATER

Saline water is a general term for water that

contains a significant concentration of
dissolved salts (NaCl).
According to United States Geological Survey
three categories of saline water:
Slightly saline water contains around 1,000 to
3,000 ppm,
Moderately saline water contains roughly
3,000 to 10,000 ppm.
Highly saline water has around 10,000 to 35,000
ppm of salt. Seawater has a salinity of roughly
35,000 ppm, equivalent to 35 g/L.

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Gypsum acts on clay in two ways.

Firstly, by raising the level of soluble
salts in the soil solution,
gypsum allows the clay to
flocculate even if the clay has a high
percent of exchangeable sodium (this is
the electrolyte effect).

Secondly, soluble calcium in the

gypsum replaces sodium on the cation
exchange sites.
The calcium dominated clay will
remain flocculated after the free sodium is
washed from the soil and the total salt
concentration falls.
In practice, however, several follow-up
applications of gypsum are necessary to
maintain the electrolyte effect.

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PACKING IN
COHESIONLESS SOILS
Loose packing

Dense packing

Holtz and Kovacs, 1981

Honeycombed fabric
Meta-stable structure
Loose fabric
Liquefaction
Sand boil

HONEYCOMED
Relatively fine sand and silt form small
arches with chains of particles.
Such soils have large void ratio, e and
they can carry ordinary static loads.
However under heavy loads or when
subjected to dynamic loading, the fabric
breaks down causing large settlements.

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PACKING -SAND BOIL

Loose sand

Kramer, 1996

THE RELATIVE
DENSITY (DR)
The relative density Dr is used to characterize the density of
natural granular soil.

Dr

e max e
100%
e max e min
d max
d min
d
100%
d
d max d min

The relative density of a natural soil deposit very strongly

affects its engineering behavior. Consequently, it is
important to conduct laboratory tests on samples of the
sand at the same relative density as in the field ( from Holtz
and Kovacs, 1981). (compaction)

(Lambe and Whitman, 1979)

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THE RELATIVE DENSITY (DR)

The relative density (or void ratio)
alone
is
not
sufficient
to
characterize
the
engineering
properties of granular soils (Holtz and
Kovacs, 1981). Two soils with the same
relative density (or void ratio) may
contain very different pore sizes.
That is, the pore size distribution
probably is a better parameter to
correlate with the engineering
properties (Santamarina et al., 2001).

2
Holtz and Kovacs,
1981

FABRIC IN COHESIONLESS
SOILS
Single grained
Honey combed
Single grained:
properties can be
studied by uniformly
sized spheres.

Type of
packing

Coordination
number

Porosity
(%)

Void
ratio

Single cubic

47.64

0.91

Cubical
tetrahedral

39.54

0.61

Teragonal &
Sphenoidal

10

30.19

0.43

Pyramidal

12

25.95

0.34

Tetrahedral

12

25.95

0.34

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