Expansive soils: Expansive soils are those soils which exhibit abnormal behavior of excessive swelling i.e.

volume increment under saturated conditions and excessive shrinkage i.e. volume decrement under desiccated conditions. These are most common in and around the world and 20% of total areal extent of India consist of these soils and spread over the regions in western Madyapradesh, parts of Rajasthan, Bundhelkhand in Utterpradesh, parts of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and almost over the entire Deccan plateau. The losses due to extensive damage to highways running over expansive soil sub grades are estimated to be in billions of dollars all over the world (Jones & Holtz 1973; Steinberg, 1992). Expansive soils of India are more commonly known as black cotton soils which have liquid limit value ranging from 50-100%, PI ranging from 20-65%, Shrinkage limit from 9-14% and FSI may be upto150%.These expansive soils can be sub-divided into 3categories on the basis of physical characteristics, they are Expansive argillaceous sediments Expansive argillaceous rocks Expansive argillaceous soils Here argillaceous refers to argellum i.e. nothing but another name for clay mineral which plays a vital role in the abnormal behavior of these soils. Degree of expansion of these soils mainly depends on presence of active clay minerals in these soils. Of those mineral groups, Montmorillonite is found to be more in contents and observed to be the sole reason for expansive nature of these soils mainly due to high affinity for waters. Structure of clay minerals: The atomic structures of clay minerals are composed of two basic crystalline sheets, namely tetrahedral sheets and octahedral sheets. Based on the nature of the bonding forces present over there and metallic ions present in the crystal lattice, different clay minerals came into picture. Montmorillonite: The structural arrangement of the mineral is composed of two tetrahedral sheets and one octahedral sheet in which the octahedral sheet is being sandwiched between those two tetrahedral

sheets. And moreover partial isomorphic substitution is more pronounced resulting in large net negative charge deficiency. It results in the intrusion of large amounts of water and other exchangeable ions into the layers of soil. This in turn results in swelling of soils as if water enters and shrinks as if water leaves. Its excessive swelling nature may impart the severe ill effects on the life of overlying structure and pavements resting over those soils.
Fig:Structure of Montmorillonite clay mineral

Kaolinite: Kaolinite consists of alternate layers of silica tetrahedron and gibbsite which are bound together by relatively strong hydrogen bonds. Being relatively larger in particle size (having particle thickness 0.5 to 2m) and having stable structure these soils exhibit less expansive nature. Illite: It consists of gibbsite sheets surrounded by silica tetrahedron in 2:1 structure. Here about 20% of silicon ions are replaced by aluminum ions and the resulting negative charge is balanced by potassium ions between the 2:1 sheets. Potassium bonds being strong prevent ingress of waters between the layers.

Swell mechanism:
Volume changes in soils occurs mainly due to imbalance in the internal energy of the system i.e. soil /water / plants/air. The largest component of volume change is the clay micelle which surrounds the clay particles in soil. When the waters are forced in and forced out from clay micelle it results in swelling and shrinkage of those soils respectively. The volume changes resulting from both shrinkage and swelling of fine-grained soils are often large enough to damage buildings and pavements founded on those soils. Generally buildings / pavements are constructed under dry conditions of soil; evaporation from soils under the structure/pavement is prevented by the structure/pavement present over there and results in increase in water contents due to capillary action which results in swelling of soils over there.

if the pressure exerted by the pavement or building is less than swelling pressure, then it results in development of heave which is being uneven and causes structural damage. Magnitude of swell and swelling pressure of soil present under the pavement or under the structure depends on clay minerals present and also on soil structure and fabric and on several other aspects.montmorillonite exhibit more swelling nature than illites and kaolinites.soils with random fabric structure exhibit more swell than to soils with oriented fabrics. Old soils which are disturbed by remoulding exhibit more swell.clays with monovalent cations exhibit more swell than those soils with divalent clays. Being swelling and shrinkage are confined to the upper portions of a soil deposit; resulting damages are more effective on lighter structures such as small buildings, highway pavements, and canal linings. Particularly speaking, the three ingredients generally necessary for potentially damaging swelling to occur are 1) Presence of Montmorillonite in soil 2) Natural water content must be around the PL 3) There must be a source of water for the potentially swelling clay (gromko, 1974). One of the simple swelling identification tests developed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is called free-swell test (Holtz &Gibbs, 1956) Free swell =

Soils with free swells of 100% may cause damage to light structures when they become wet. For compacted fill material, it had been found that compacted soils show fewer tendencies to swell mainly due to more oriented soil structure over there. Prewetting of suspected soils will allow potentially damaging swelling or collapse to take place prior to construction (Holtz and Kovacs). Chemical stabilization has also been found successful to reduce swelling of soils. Tables give the Chens method of classification, Bureau of Indian standard classification and USBR classification system respectively for classifying an expansive soil. Chens method of classification (1965): Swelling pressure .5 1.5-2.5 2.5-9.8 >9.8 (kg/cm2) Degree of expansion Low Medium High Very high

Bureau of Indian standards (1498-1970): Free swell (%) <50 50-100 100-200 >200 USBR classification system (1973): Shrinkage limit(%) >15 10-16 7-12 <11 Chemical stabilization: One of the methods of altering the clay structure/clay water combination is to prevent/minimize swelling of expansive clays. Cementation by lime, lime fly ash and cement has been used. And also ion exchange (by addition of divalent and trivalent salts) cation fixation in expanding lattice clays (with potassium), deactivation of sulfates (with calcium chloride), waterproofing (silicones, asphalts), cementation (with silicates carbonates phosphoric acid ) and alteration in permeability and wetting properties (with surface active agents ,wetting agents) have all been attempted or used to reduce expansive properties of swelling place. From the experimental studies conducted by G.V.R Prasad Raju et al, electrolytes like kcl, cacl 2, fecl3 were effectively used in place of traditionally used lime, due their rapid dissolvability in water and supply of adequate cations for ready cation exchange. It was also observed that max heave values were reduced by 22%, 30% and 43% for soils treated with kcl, cacl2, fecl3 respectively with respected to untreated soils and more over it was observed that time taken to attain max heal for fecl3 treated test track is nearly one half of the time taken by the untreated test track to attain max heave. It can be predicted that heave reduction in soil treated with fecl3 may be due to cationic exchange with ferric ion and increased electrolyte concentration by addition of fecl3 solution there by the double layer thickness would be suppressed(proceedings of IGC December 15-17 2011 kochi Paper no H-053 ). Degree of expansion Low Medium High Very high Degree of severity Non critical Marginal Critical Severe

The exchangeable cations which are more predominant in soils are calcium and magnesium ions. It can be found effectively the relative energy with which different cations are held on clay surface by measuring the reparability or exchangeability of a chosen cation at chosen concentration with relative ease. The valence of cations has the predominant influence on ease of replacement. Higher is the valence greater is the replacement power. The order of replacement is as follows Li+ < Na+ < H+ < K+ < NH4+ < Mg+2 < Ca+2 < Al+3 < Fe+3. Origin of expansive soils: Expansive soils are typical tropical formation, generally found in poorly drained localities where there are marked dry and wet seasons. The clay minerals are formed thru extensive physical and chemical withering of parent materials. Donaldson (1973) classified the parent material into two groups; the first group comprises the basic igneous rocks and second group comprises the sedimentary rocks, which contain Montmorillonite as a constituent. The basic igneous rocks, poor in silica and rich in feldspars, pyroxenes and amphiboles, disintegrate to form clay minerals. Sedimentary rocks such as shale and clay stones which contains varying amount of volcanic ash and lime stone and marls rich in magnesium can also disintegrate to form clay minerals. An alkaline environment and the absence of leaching, the presence of Ferro magnesium minerals in parent materials and presence of bases favor the formation of Montmorillonite. The other important clay minerals are Kaolinite and Illite. Kaolinite formation is favorable by prolonged leaching under acidic environment at high temperatures with parent rocks rich in ferric ions. The conditions for the formation of Illite are found to be similar to those leading to formation of Montmorillonite and in addition, the presence of potassium in the parent materials is essential. Black cotton soils found in India are formed by weathering of basalt and traps of Deccan plateau. Extent of Swelling The swelling potential of clay is dependent upon the amount and kind of clay minerals present, their exchangeable ions, the electrolyte content of the aqueous solution, particle size distribution, void size and distribution, water content, superimposed load, and probably other factors (Lal and Shukla, 2004). Volume changes of 1400 to 2000 percent are reported from laboratory tests in which samples of dry Na-Montmorillonite were immersed in water, and changes of 45 to 145 percentages reported for Ca-Montmorillonite. The inherent swelling capacities of vermiculite, attapulgite, Illite, and degraded chlorite have not been fully investigated but they have low to moderate swelling capacities. This is possibly due to

changes in digenetic and environmental factors as a consequence of collecting and preparing specimens for testing. Dry swelling clays absorb much larger quantities of water before becoming plastic than do dry, non swelling clays. The PI bears a direct relation to the amounts and types of clay minerals present and to the orientation and size of clay particles. Other factors remaining constant, the PI increases with (1) Increase in amount of expandable clay minerals, (2) Decrease in degree of parallel orientation of the platy clay minerals, and (3) Decrease in clay-particle size. Many plastic types of clay swell considerably when water is added to them and then shrink with the loss of water. Foundations constructed on these clays are subjected to large uplifting forces caused by the swelling. ( CONTROLLING HEAVE IN SOILS BY STABILISATION by Prof. P V. Sivapullaiah)