Investigations of Kaolin Clay Collapse Behavior Using an Oedometer Apparatus

Geotechnical engineers face serious problems when construction sites contain collapsible soils, which are known by their strength when dry and experience sudden excessive settlement when inundated. Response-to-wetting oedometer tests can be used to obtain estimates of collapse settlements of structures founded on collapsible soil deposits. Generally, the collapsibility of soils is governed by the amount of water within the sample and the magnitude of the applied pressure. In this paper, an experimental study was performed, by using the one-dimensional compression test (single and double oedometer tests), to investigate the effect of the change in initial water content (IWC) and void ratio on the collapse potential of kaolin clays upon wetting. The test results confirmed that, the collapse potential value decreases with the decrease of initial v oid ration at a low vertical load increment. However, for the samples with different initial water content, the increase of initial water content leads to a decrease of the collapse potential values.