4th International Conference on Chemical, Ecology and Environmental Sciences (ICEES'2015) Dec.

15-16, 2015 Pattaya (Thailand)

Non- Dimension Chart to Determine the

Thickness of CNS Soil to Minimize the Effect
of Expansive Soil Exerted on Circular Footing
Talal Y .Masoud

 structure before starting the construction on such type of soils.

Abstract— This paper is concerned with the investigating the
behaviour of circular footings resting on expansive soils before and
after using cohesive non-swelling (CNS) soil. To understand the
nature of swelling and safety of the structure before starting the
construction on such type of soils, experimental investigation have
been carried out to study the complex problem of the swelling
pressure and uplift pressure exerted by the expansive soil on the
circular footing. The uplift pressure of the plain expansive soil was
studied and compared with the swelling pressure founded form the
constant volume method using consolidometer apparatus in the
laboratory .The result shows that the uplift pressure is less than the
swelling pressure, that is, the vertical uplift pressure exerted by
expansive soil in the field is only about 70% of the swelling
pressure founded on the laboratory. The effect of cohesive non-
swelling (CNS) soil as a layer was studied and founded that as the
thickness of cohesive non-swelling soil increase the uplift pressure
is decrease. On the basis of the present experimental studies, non-
dimensional chart has been developed, this chart use to determine
the thickness of the cohesive non-swelling (CNS) soil needing to
minimize or eliminate the effect of the expansive soil, this chart may
be considered of great practical importance for the design of circular
footing resting on expansive soil in the filed.
Keywords—Circular footings, Cohesive non-swelling,
Consolidometer, Expansive soils.
I. INTRODUCTION
In-situ, tests on circular footings resting on expansive soil are
expensive and not always practicable, where a simple test on
model circular footings is can be made before construction
stage to allow for any design consideration. Model footing
test in the laboratory offer the advantages of economy and of
controlled test conditions.
II. EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM
1. Uplift Pressure Exerted by Expansive Soil As a Layers.
The tank used in this test was. 36cm in diameter and 30cm
in depth. To study the behavior of the circular footing on
expansive soil, a model footing of 60mm in diameter and 8
mm in thickness was used. The expansive soil was filled in
layers of 50mm and compacted using the vibrator to get the
initial dry density ρd=1.76gm/cm3.
To be sure that the model footing represent the actual
condition of the footing in the field, the model footing should
be in case that can go up and down smoothly and without any
restrain and the effect of the lateral swelling should be
minimize to the value can be taken to zero. In this case there
is no effect of confining and the model footing in condition
similar to the condition of the footing in nature.
To do so, a big circular iron plate equal in diameter to the
tank diameter (36 cm) and 15mm in thickness was used as a

E XPANSIVE soils are a term generally applied to any soil

material that has a potential for shrinking or swelling
under changing moisture conditions. The primary problem
cover of the tank after made a circular hole in the middle of
this plate equal in diameter to the model footing that is 60mm
as shown in Fig. 1
that arises with regard to expansive soil is that swelling
pressure is significantly greater than elastic deformations and
they cannot be predicted by classical elastic or plastic theory.
Movement is usually in uneven pattern and of such a
magnitude as to cause extensive damage to the structures
resting on them. The magnitude of the swelling pressure and
heave resulting from swelling soils with increase in moisture
content are high enough in comparison to the weight of
lightly loaded structures to move the foundation. The
structures resting on these soils are subjected to severe
damages, such as distresses in foundation, excessive cracking
of walls and floors. It is necessary for the foundation engineer
to know the nature of swelling, stability and safety of the

Talal1. Masoud is with the Civil Engineering Department, University, Fig1: Model footing with the Circular Iron Plate
Jerash, Jordan (phone:0772175443, e-mail:
dr.talalmasoud@outlook.com).

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 4th International Conference on Chemical, Ecology and Environmental Sciences (ICEES'2015) Dec. 15-16, 2015 Pattaya (Thailand)
The circular iron plate fixed on the top of the tank by mean
of bolts in a condition that the vertical heave is prevent to
take place and the only way of the soil to move is from the
circular hole.
The model footing was put on the circular hole so that the
model footing can go up and down without any effect of the
restrain and adjusted so as to receive the load application
point at its center. The proving ring of 200 kg capacity was
used to the loading frame.
The loading system was allowed to come down by moving
the load over the lever arm till it touched the ball resting on
the center of the model footing but did not apply any load.
Dial gauge was also positioned before applying any load to
record heave of the soil as shown in Fig 2.
Fig. 2. Testing Tank with the Model footing in the circular Iron
Plate on Plain Expansive soil
Then water was allowed to come to the dry soil from the
bottom and from the sides.
The heave was taken place and recorded by the dial gauge.
This heave was prevented by applied load to the model
footing so that the model footing kept in the same position,
that is zero heave zero settlement.
The maximum force applied by the soil to the model
footing called uplift force, and the uplift force divided by the
area of the model footing give the up lift pressure that the soil
exerted to the model footing so that there is no heave take
place when water come to the dry soil. The test was repeated
twice to ensure the reproducibility of results. The results of
this test given in Table 1.
TABLE I
RESULTS OF UPLIFT PRESSURE TEST OF EXERTED BY PLAIN EXPANSIVE SOIL
Diameter model Area of the Uplift farce Uplift pressure
footing model
60mm 2.27cm2 52.6Kg 2.04Kg/cm2
2. Uplift Pressure Exerted by Expansive Soil With (CNS)
Soil As a Layers.
The tank used in this test was the same tank, that is 36 cm
in diameter and 30 cm in depth. To study the effect of
cohesive non-swelling soil (CNS) on the uplift pressure of the
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expansive soil, the tank filed with expansive soil in layers of
50 mm and compacted using the same kind of vibrator to get
the same initial dry density that is ρd=1.76 gm/cm3. The high
of the expansive soil was 27 cm (90% of the tank high). Then
cohesive non-swelling soil with 3 cm high was compacted to
the top layer of the tank (10% of the tank high) as show in the
Fig. 3 .
hc = the thickness of CNS soil
H – hc : the thickness of expansive soil.
H : total high of the tank = 30 cm
Then the same model footing (that is 60 mm in diameter)
was used.
The circular iron plate fixed on the top of the tank by mean
as bolts in a condition that the vertical heave is prevent to
take place except from the circular hole.
Fig.3. Testing Tank with the Model footing in the circular Iron Plate
on Plain Expansive soil with CNS Soil
The model footing was put on the circular hole on the top
layer of cohesive non-swelling soil and adjusted so as to
receive the load application point at its center. The proving
ring of 200 kg capacity was used to the loading frame. The
loading system was allowed to come down by moving the load
over the lever arm till it touched the ball resting on the center
as the model footing but did not apply and load. Dial gauge
was also positioned before applying any load to record heave
of the soil.
The water was allowed to come to the dry soil [expansive
soil + cohesive non-swelling soil] from the bottom and from
the sides. The heave was prevented by applied load to the
model footing so that the model footing was kept in the same
point.
The maximum force applied by the soil to the model
footing called uplift force, and the uplift force divided by the
area of the model footing give the uplift pressure that the
expansive soil with cohesive non-swelling soil exerted to the
model footing so that the model footing not effect of the
heave.
The test was repeated in the same manner and with the
same condition and the model footing but after change the
thickness of cohesive non-swelling soil. The results of these
test were give in Table 2.
 4th International Conference on Chemical, Ecology and Environmental Sciences (ICEES'2015) Dec. 15-16, 2015 Pattaya (Thailand)

TABLE II Fig. 5shows the effect of CNS soil on the uplift pressure it
RESULTS OF THE UPLIFT PRESSURE TEST WITH (CNS) SOIL
founded that as the thickness of CNS layer increase the uplift
Thickness Total Up lift
of (CNS)mm thickness of the pressure pressure degreases.
hc(mm) expansive soil H Kg/cm2
(mm)
0 300 0 2.05
30 300 10% 1.44
60 300 20% 0.9
90 300 30% 0.35
120 300 40% 0.2
150 300 50% 0.07

III. TEST RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The uplift pressure of the plain expansive soil of dry
density ρd ≈ 1.77 gm/cm2 is found to be about 2.05 kg/cm2.
The swelling pressure of the same soil with the same dry
density founded from the constant volume method using
consolidmeter apparatus was 2.86 kg/cm3, which is higher
than the uplift pressure exerted from the same soil on the
model footing having the same diameter that is.
The percentage of the uplift pressure to the swelling
pressure is about 70%.
The uplift pressure exerted on the model footing having 60
mm diameter by plain expansive soil having ρ d= 1.77
gm/cm2 is only about 70% of the swelling pressure exerted by
a plain expansive soil having the same ρd and the cylindrical
ring of 60 mm diameter. This is may be because of the lateral
pressure exerted by swelling soil. On the swelling pressure
test a consolidometer apparatus was used to determine the
vertical pressure exerted by a soil against a confining load
and because of the lateral pressure exerted by the swelling soil
and because of the affected confining some of lateral pressure
exerted to vertical direction increase the vertical swelling
pressure as shown in Fig 4
This mean that the vertical swelling pressure exerted by
swelling soil in field is really less than the swelling pressure
founded in the \laboratory from the swelling pressure test
using the consolidometer because of the effect of lateral
pressure on the consolidometer as the effect of confining.
Fig 5. The Effect of the Cohesive Non-Swelling Soil on the Up Lift
Pressure of Expansive Soil
Determine the Thickness of CNS Soil as A replacement
Soil to Eliminate the Effect of Expansive Soil.
For highly swelling soil, dead load pressure alone generally
is not sufficient to prevent the uplifting of the footing. In a
few cases, it may be possible to completely remove the
expansive strata thus eliminating the heaving problem. In
most cases, the expansive material extends to a depth too
great to allow complete removal. Thus, removal of some
thickness of natural expansive soils and their replacement
with cohesive non-swelling soil is the most obvious method of
preventing structural damage due to soil heaving. The
problem is then to determine the thickness of excavation and
replacement required to prevent heaving. As the results of
uplift test on model footing on plain expansive soil and with
CNS soil anew non-dimension chart presented. This chart
shows the relationships between the uplift pressure of the soil
with different thickness of CNS Puc over the uplift pressure
of the plain soil Pu as a percentage and the thickness of
(CNS) soil (hc) over the total thickness of the expansive soil
H as a percentage. As shown in Fig. 6

Fig. 6 Non-Dimension Chart Used to Determine the Thickness of

Fig. 4.Lateral and Vertical Pressure (Uplift pressure) Of the CNS Soil to Minimize the Effect pf Expansive Soil Example
Expansive Soil Exerted on the model footing Then, how we can use this chart to determine the thickness
of CNS soil needed to eliminate the effect of expansive soil?.

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 4th International Conference on Chemical, Ecology and Environmental Sciences (ICEES'2015) Dec. 15-16, 2015 Pattaya (Thailand)

First, we should determine the total thickness of the

expansive soil (H), in most cases may be taken as the depth of
the active zone or the depth of desiccation in which a
moisture deficiency exists. In most cases this depth may be this mean that when the uplift pressure equal to 4.2 kg/cm2
take (3.5 m) that is, H = 3.5 m. In the design of the footing and the effective depth of expansive soil H = 3.5m the
foundation, it may be possible to allow certain amounts of minimum high of the cohesive non swelling soil layer should
uplift pressure equal to the surcharge load exerted by the be equal to 1.35 m to reduce the uplift pressure form 4
footing which should not be greater than the allowable .2kg/cm2 to 0.5 kg/cm2. the same procedure used to calculate
bearing capacity of the expansive soil. Which is about the high of the cohesive non-swelling soil should used to
0.5kg/cm2 that the uplift pressure as the expansive soil minimize the up lift pressure to the allowable pressure
exerted to the footing should be less or equal to 0.5 kg/cm2, exerted by the expansive soil to the footing without any
that is Puc= 0.5 kg/cm2. problem, that is, no effect of the swelling soil.
Then, from this information the thickness of CNS layer can For sample No. 2
be calculated using the non-dimension chart as follows.
Suppose that the results of the swelling pressure tests
conducted on remolded expansive soils on the laboratory
using the constant volume method using consolidometer
apparatus are as shown below:

And the maximum allowable uplift pressure exerted by the

expansive soil with cohesive non swelling soil should be not
more than 0.5 kg/cm2 that is Puc = 0.5 kg/cm2 and the total
effected thickness of the expansive soil is 3.5 mm, that is
H=3.5m uplift pressure of plain expansive soil Pu is equal to
70% of the swelling pressure of plain expansive founded from
the swelling pressure tests conducted on laboratory using
constant volume method that is:

Fig. 7. Non-Dimension Chart Used to Calcalute the Thickness of

CNS Needed

Concluding Remarks
The results founded from the tests carried out on the model
footing show that the uplift pressure exerted by the plain
expansive soil on the model footing was only 70% of the
swelling pressure exerted by the same soil on constant volume
method which may be due to lateral pressure. That means that
the swelling pressure in the field less than the swelling
pressure founded on the laboratories. Also these results show
that as the thickness of (CNS) soil increase, the swelling
pressure of the soil decrease using the non-dimension chart, it
is possible to determine the thickness of CNS needed to
minimize or to eliminate the effect of expansive soil on the
footing founded on such soil.

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 4th International Conference on Chemical, Ecology and Environmental Sciences (ICEES'2015) Dec. 15-16, 2015 Pattaya (Thailand)

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