Foundation in Collapsible Soils

By Chaitanya Raj Goyal Jaypee University of Engineering & Tech (08511g)

The great loess plateau (china)

Collapsible Soils - Introduction

Collapsible soils pose a serious hazard in many countries

around the world. Large areas of Canada, Eastern Europe, China and the USA are blanketed by soils that are prone to collapse.
A wide variety of sediments are considered as being collapsible

soils, some examples include lake sediments, loess (wind-blown silts), quickclays and volcanic ash.
An ever increasing number of people live in regions underlain by

collapsible soils. It is therefore essential that the behaviour of these materials is understood so that the hazards posed by them can be minimised.
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Collapsible Soils - Definition

A collapsible soil is one in which the constituent parts

have an open packing and which forms a metastable state that can collapse to form a closer packed, more stable structure of significantly reduced volume.

The collapse process that occurs in these soils gives them a

geotechnical significance.

(C.D.F. Rogers, 1994)

Collapsible Soils - Formation

Each different collapsible soil is formed under a unique set of conditions.

For example, a volcanic ash is formed through very different processes to that of a quick clay but both are recognized as being collapsible soils. As such, it is impossible to discuss the formation of every collapsible soil here but the formation of loess, the most common of the collapsible soils, is detailed below:
Loess is a fine-grained (silt) material that has been transported and

deposited by the wind. The sediments come from glacial outwash plains (where glaciers deposit particles of silt and clay) or from desert areas that have little vegetation to anchor small particles. Prevailing wind patterns blowing across these environments can produce thick deposits of loess downwind of the area.
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Picture of a thick loess deposit in America

Collapsible Soils - Global Distribution

The map below shows the location of some important collapsible deposits
Quickclays Gypsum soils Loess Brickearths Saline soils

Loess

Aeolian sands Volcanic ash Loess

Cemented soils Loess and volcanic dust

Parma*

Granitic sands

Kalahari sands

Collapsible Soils - Properties

Collapsible soils display the following properties:

They are a geologically young or recently altered deposit They have an open structure They consist of silt and fine sand size grains They possess a high void ratio They display high porosity (n > 50%)

They have high sensitivity

They have a low dry density (11-14 kn/m3) The inter particle bond strength of the soil is low
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Mineralogy
Loess dominated by 20-60 m quartz particles
Quartz is most abundant, feldspar is also present Clay types: mica>montmorillinite (average 15%)>illite and kaolinite (average 5%)

Collapsible Soils - Holding Bonds

The most important property that a collapsible soil possesses is

that of low inter-particle bond strength.

All collapsible soils display some form of holding bonds. These

bonds provide the means by which grains are kept apart from each other.
There are numerous types of bond: clay bridges, clay bonds,

carbonates & negative pore water pressures are the most common.
It is when these bonds are destroyed (through either soil

loading, soil saturation or a combination of both) that the collapse of the soil occurs.
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Collapsible Soils - Fabric (Metastable Condition)

Holding bonds Sand/Silt Grains

Void Spaces
As grains are not in contact, the geotechnical behaviour of the soil is controlled by the structure and strength of the holding bonds

Open packing of grains (honeycomb structure), collapse will cause packing to become closed.

Collapsible Soils - Triggers for Collapse

Collapse can be triggered by either increasing the load on the

soil or by wetting it.

Loading (changing the stress state) can result from the gradual

accumulation of deposits on top of the soil or through more dynamic processes such as an earthquake or construction work.
Wetting refers to an increase in the moisture content of the soil,

normally from a partially saturated state to one approaching full saturation. Wetting can be caused by natural events (severe rainfall event, groundwater rise etc.) or by human activity.
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Huge deposit of loess in California

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Sinkhole formed by dispersion in collapseprone soils east of Olathe, Colorado

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Collapsible Soils - Triggers for Collapse

When development occurs on collapsible soils, many potential sources of

additional wetting are introduced. These sources (listed below) may increase the moisture content of the soil and ultimately trigger failure.
Irrigation Changes Septic

of landscaping and/or crops in surface drainage of rainwater

systems

Leakage

from unlined canals, pipelines, swimming pools, storage tanks, etc.

Most leakages are confined to the top few meters of soil only but a long, sustained leak can wet the soil to a considerable depth. Such wetting can lead to large scale collapses.
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Collapsible Soils - Effects of Collapse

The collapse of a soil represents a rearrangement of the constituent grains into a denser state of packing. In other words, the volume of the soil is reduced. Where wetting is the trigger, collapse usually occurs suddenly. Their high potential for failure creates significant geohazards for people living on, or close to, collapsible soils:

Structures built immediately on top of failing soils are likely to be destroyed. The dramatic alteration of the soil structure will cause foundations to fail. Depending on the topography of the area, collapse can lead to landsliding. In the case of quick clays, liquefaction can lead to the development of mud flows. If the soil collapses into a body of water, tsunamis can be generated. This was the case in Rissa, Norway (April 1978)
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Collapsible Soils - Fabric (Collapsed Condition)

Holding bonds have been destroyed by triggering event

Loss of volume is a consequence of collapse

The diagram above illustrates how the open packing and general structure of the soil is lost upon collapse.
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Collapsible Soils - Behaviour

This graph shows

how the void ratio of a soil is lost as a trigger mechanism acts upon it. Note how the effect of wetting is more dramatic than that caused by loading.

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IMPROVING METASTABLE LOESS GROUND Ian F. Jefferson,1 Alena Klukanov.,2 Dimcho Evstatiev3, Roumyana Angelova4 and Ian J. Smalley5.

17 Modelling the Collapse of Metastable Loess Soils - H. Miller, Y. Djerbib, I.F. Jefferson and I.J. Smalley

This indicates how collapsibility potential varies, maximum collapse more likely to occur at moisture contents corresponding to higher void ratio.

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IMPROVING METASTABLE LOESS GROUND Ian F. Jefferson,1 Alena Klukanov.,2 Dimcho Evstatiev3, Roumyana Angelova4 and Ian J. Smalley5.

SUDDEN SUBSIDENCE IN LOESS SOIL

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Collapsible Soils - Collapsibility

For effective and targeted remediation to take place, it is necessary to

quantify the hazard that a particular soil poses.

The amount by which a soil is likely to collapse is described in terms of its

coefficient of collapsibility. This coefficient (Ccol) is defined as:

Ccol = dh/h = de/(1+e)

e = void ratio prior to collapse Change in height upon collapse
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Original height

Change in void ratio upon collapse

Collapsible Soils - Collapsibility

The coefficient of collapsibility for a given soil can be determined

through laboratory testing. The procedure involves single and double oedometer tests on undisturbed soil samples. (See http://www.engineering.uiowa.edu/~swan/courses/53139/difficult.pdf for further information about these tests.)
Once determined, the coefficient of collapsibility can be used (in

conjunction with the table below) to indicate the potential severity of a collapse should it occur.
Collapse % (Ccol x 100) 0-1 1-5 5 - 10 10 - 20
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Severity of Problem No problem Moderate trouble Trouble Severe trouble Very severe trouble

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Collapsible Soils Collapsibility

The following ques. can thus be answered:-

1.

The void ratio of a collapsible soil is reduced from 0.7 to 0.3 upon failure. What coefficient of collapsibility does the soil have? The same soil had a thickness (height) of 10 m prior to collapse. What is the thickness of the soil now that failure has taken place? How severe are the troubles caused by such a collapse likely to be?

2.

3.

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Case History - The Terraces in Glenwood

Springs, Colorado
The town of Glenwood Springs lies on colluvial soils

that were derived from sediments that were shed from the steep valleysides.
These soil deposits are highly susceptible to hydro-

compaction.
The Terrace development included 13 two-story

structures with basement-level garage drive-outs.

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Thick collapsible soils were previously mapped and identified at the site -Figure 1. The wall constructed behind the development was built for rockfall and debris flow mitigation.

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 Significant errors were made in design, construction, and

grading and landscaping.

The back of the units did not have proper drainage and rain

gutters were omitted from the roof line (Figure 2).

These units were built from 2001 to 2003 and within 6

months of the first units completed and sold, collapse of the soil was causing settlement of the back concrete retaining-wall foundations, which caused deflection of interior beams (Figure 3), a host of interior cracks and structural offsets, and distortion of windows and doors (Figure 4).
Compaction grouting was used to structurally lift the

settled areas of the buildings.

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 Figure 3. View down

concrete retaining wall at basement/garage level. Note deflection of ceiling beam due to settlement of the wall.

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 View of the back of the Terrace units. Note the

poor drainage of the nearly flat, rock-in area that is adjacent to the heavy concrete basement retaining wall needed for garages. Most significantly, note the lack of rain gutters at the roof.
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 Xining Qinghai - three storey building

destroyed due to subsidence of foundation soils from a leaking pipe

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Collapsible Soils - Mitigation

If a soil is found to pose a collapse hazard, what can be

done to mitigate against the associated risk? The mitigation methods that are applicable to collapsible soils are as follows:
Structure considerations Site features Collapsible soil avoidance Ground Modification

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Collapsible Soils - Mitigation

Structure Considerations - Residences are usually supported on
shallow spread footings. These footings should be lightly loaded with low bearing pressures. The load of a building should be carried by reinforced foundation walls NOT by the soil. Mat foundations can be used to reduce the potential for differential settlement. positive surface drainage to prevent ponding. Gutters should be fitted with drain downspouts that discharge water away from the structure. Landscape irrigation should be restricted or eliminated. Foundation drains and water features should be underlain with an impermeable liner to prevent water from seeping into the soil. from a site if they form only a thin deposit. Where deposits are thick, foundations can extend to a depth where a suitable bearing material is encountered. This option is subject to cost-benefit analysis, i.e. is it economically feasible to build foundations that are x meters deep?

Site Features - Foundation backfill should be compacted and have

Avoid Collapsible Soils - Collapsible soils can simply be removed

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Collapsible Soils - Ground Modification (Remediation)

Ground modification methods can be used to prevent collapse from occurring. They can also be used to induce collapse prior to development. The following measures can be taken when developing on metastable soils that may be wet to depths of 2 m or less: Pre-wet the soil Compact the soil using heavy rollers and heavy tamping. Treat the soil with calcium chloride and/or sodium silicate solutions in order to introduce cementing that is insoluble.

1. 2. 3.

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IMPROVING METASTABLE LOESS GROUND Ian F. Jefferson,1 Alena Klukanov.,2 Dimcho Evstatiev3, Roumyana Angelova4 and Ian J. Smalley5.

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Collapsible Soils - Ground Modification (Remediation)

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Case Study - Loess Plateau of China

High rates of erosion in Asia mean that the continent

produces large quantities of silt. After being transported by the wind, these silts are deposited to form substantial thicknesses of loess.
Loess deposits in China are up to 340 m thick and cover an

area greater than 600,000 km2. This is equivalent to about 6% of the total area of the country.

Approximately half of this area forms the Loess Plateau,

the greatest bulk accumulation of loess on earth. Everything in this region is yellow because of the loess: the land, the homes and the water. The Yellow River is so-called because of the loess sediment load that it carries.
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Case Study - Loess Plateau of China

The deposits of the Loess Plateau pose many serious problems

for the dense populations that live on or near them.

Slope failure, stream damming and endemic diseases (due to

geochemistry) are some of the hazards that the loess soils create.
The following slides highlight the effects of some of these

hazards

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A loess avalanche in Shanxi, China which killed 23 people due to structural & foundation failure of small houses on the slope & at the foot.

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Case Study - Loess Plateau of China

Landslides
Mass movements pose a serious threat to the rural communities of the

Loess Plateau. Many different landslide types develop in the loess soils, the diagram below illustrates these.

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Case Study - Loess Plateau of China

In excess of 1000 large landslides occurred in the Loess Plateau between the years 1965 and 1979. The adverse effects of the seven largest of these events are detailed below:
o 1,142 people killed o 17,500 houses destroyed o 22,500 ha of farmland inundated

800 people were killed by landslides triggered during heavy storms in August 1979 alone.
Within a single county of the plateau, more than 2500 events were recorded during the rainy season of 1984.

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Case Study - Loess Plateau of China

Subsidence
Collapsible loess can be 20 m thick in parts of the Loess Plateau.
The collapse of building foundations is often caused by subsidence

events.
Remedial measures such as consolidation and structural

reinforcement rarely work in these soils, piling into non-collapsible layers is an expensive (so rarely used) solution.
The problematic behaviour of loess is well understood in China.

Because of this, engineering zonation classifications have been developed for use in regional planning (see next slide).
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 Depending on the thickness of the loess, similar

mitigation methods as listed in Table -1 are used if the soil lies in the collapsibility potential of low risk zones.
Any sort of heavy construction activity is avoided in

the zones possessing high risk of collapsibility unless it is unavoidable.

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Another good paper on use of Geo-composites as preventive & remedial measure against collapsible soils (for personal ref.)
IAEG2006 Paper number 157 - The Geological Society of

London 2006 The geo-composite method for reinforcing building foundations - V.I. OSIPOV, S.D. FILIMONOV, O.N. EREMINA & N.A. ROUMYANTSEVA
The paper describes in detail, the geo-composite

method and its rigorous application to prevent and rectify various foundation failures in Moscow, Russia posing a risk from loess deposits.
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Bibliography and References

Genesis and Properties of Collapsible Soils E. Derbyshire, T. Dijkstra and I. Smalley Nato ASI Series Kluwer Academic Publishers Geological Hazards F. Bell E & FN Spon Loess - Geomorphological Hazards and Processes S. Okuda, A. Rapp and Z. Linyan Catena Supplement 20 Earths Dynamic Processes - Ninth Edition W. Hamblin and E. Christiansen Prentice Hall Geological Hazards in the Loess Terrain, with Particular Reference to the Loess Regions of China E. Derbyshire Earth-Science Reviews, Volume 54, pp 231-260, 2001

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Bibliography and References (cont.)

Evaluation, Design and Mitigation of Project Sites in Collapsible Soil Areas in Western Colorado
S. Palawak

http://www.hpgeotech.com/Steve_Paper.htm

53:139 Foundation Engineering, The University of Iowa, Spring Semester, 2002, Foundations on Difficult Soils

http://www.engineering.uiowa.edu/~swan/courses/53139/difficult.pdf

Geology of the Loess Hills, Iowa http://pubs.usgs.gov/info/loess/

The Loess Plateau: People Of The Dust And PRC Policy

http://www.mindground.net/loess.html

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THANK YOU!

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