Collapse Behavior of Unsaturated Lateritic Soils in Taiwan

B. L. Chu
Department of Civil Engineering, National Chung-Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan
blchu@ mail.ce.nchu.edu.tw

L. M. Huang
Department of CADD, Chung-Lu Construction Co., Taichung, Taiwan
danny@cctjv250.com.tw

Y. W. Jou
China Engineering Consultants Inc., Taipei, Taiwan
cww29160@ceci.org.tw

Abstract: In an effort to obtain more understandings on engineering behavior of the problematic soil, the authors have investigated collapse behavior of laterites in Taiwan with emphasis on the influence of initial water content, compaction effort, degree of saturation,
and soil plasticity. Both laboratory tests and analytical works were performed in this study. Results obtained show that: (1) Saturation
process of lateritic soil can be modeled by using a three-stage curve, namely stable suction segment, near saturation collapse segment,
and full saturation collapse segment. (2) The collapse behavior of lateritic soil is found to be a three dimensional behavior. However,
relation between quantities of collapsed settlement at different degrees of saturation and controlled time factor cannot be established.
(3) The collapse problem can be effectively reduced under the compaction effort equivalent to energy level of modified Proctor compaction. (4) Plastic lateritic soil possesses higher collapse potential than that of non-plastic one.

INTRODUCTION

The lateritic deposit is widely distributed throughout the western

terrace and foothills of Taiwan, which covers almost 65% of the
usable sloping lands. Due to its flat slope and integrity, the exploitation of lateritic soil is becoming more important for urban
developments. In Taiwan, lateritic soil is usually used as a backfill material especially for freeway, airport, high-speed railway,
and dam constructions. Furthermore, many projects in Taiwan is
planned to build on the laterite terrace. Therefore, to evaluate the
characteristics of lateritic soil is an important task for civil engineering constructions.
One feature of this lateritic soil is that most of the materials
are used in an unsaturated condition and it possesses apparent
stability due to negative pore water pressure and matric suction.
However, the unsaturated condition would also lead to wetting
induced collapse problems, which is also called hydro-collapse
problems in this paper, caused by rapidly water content increase
as a result of heavy rainfall or ground water intrusion. Engineering behaviors of such borrowed material is therefore found to be
of great influence by its water content, plasticity and degree of
compaction. Needs of understanding unsaturated engineering
properties of such lateritic material has increased.
For unfavorable or unexpected working conditions relating to
type of materials, weather and topography, that make the quality
of backfilling difficult to control. There have been cases when
continuous rainfall in north or central Taiwan that led to collapsed roads, uneven ground settlement, surface crack, and even
tilting structures. The worst case is hydro-collapse induced
ground settlement.
Study of lateritic soil as compacted backfill material has
mostly been concentrated more on its change of strength than on
its collapse behavior. Research carried out by Rao & Revansi-

dappa (2002) shows that lateritic soil can bring about collapse
behavior and in turn will weaken the function of earthwork structure and may even cause disasters. In order to ensure a safe construction of backfilling, more understanding of collapse behavior
on lateritic soil is necessary.
The engineering properties of compacted soils will depend
greatly on soil type, principal stress ratio, initial water content,
the method or type of compaction and the compaction effort applied. Of which, water content and initial dry density are the major factors. Usually the water content of compacted soils is referenced to the optimum water content (OMC) for a given type of
compaction. Depending on their position, soils are called dry of
optimum, near or at optimum, or wet of optimum. In geotechnical engineering practice, if water content of compacted soil increases dramatically, this will cause detrimental effect on stability of earthwork structure. On the other hand, in the course of
backfilling, insufficient compaction will also cause the initial dry
density of lateritic soil unable to meet the specification and cause
collapse. Until now, studies associated with hydro-collapse behavior for lateritic soil carried out in Taiwan is still limited.
In this study, two types of lateritic soils with different plasticity (PI=0 and 22) were collected from the sites in central Taiwan.
First we examined the physical properties of the collected samples and carried out compaction tests and then, remolded specimen with 8 types of different initial water content and density are
compacted under different level of energies. Conventional triaxial cell for testing saturated soils was modified to simulate the
rise of groundwater table in the field, which can change the water
content and reduce the suction of soil to its full saturation condition. Herein, a new developed triaxial hydro-collapse test apparatus, which can control soil suction through changing water content were used to study the collapse behavior of lateritic soils.
Finally, results of oedometer and triaxial collapse tests of these

lateritic soils were compared. Result of this study is hope to be

helpful of obtaining more understanding on engineering behavior
as well as improving construction control of lateritic soil in tropical area.

the Standard Proctor Compaction effort, to control their relative

compaction. Table 1 shows the physical properties of the test materials. Specimen LAT-0 and LAT-20 represents lateritic soil
with different plasticity, respectively.

LITERATURE REVIEW

With reference to Chu & Huangs research in 1993, the modified

triaxial test apparatus was utilized in this study. A steel cover is
put on the high air entry ceramic disc, which was installed into
the pedestal of the triaxial cell, to avoid possible breakage of the
discs caused by uneven contacts. Fig. 3 shows a photo of such
device. After many tests, the modified test apparatus has been
proved that it could be used in unsaturated triaxial test successfully.
In this paper, the pressure regulator system developed by
Fredlund (1978, 1988) was applied to conduct the triaxial hydrocollapse test. The triaxial apparatus may control pore air pressure and pore water pressure separately as shown in Fig. 2. The
pressure control system may be applied both for unsaturated triaxial and three-dimensional hydro-collapse tests.

Houston (1988) found that oedometer collapse test provides a

fast and accurate prediction for wetting induced collapse of the
soils at site. The shortcoming of oedometer test is that only the
effect of vertical strain/stress on collapse potential is taken into
account. Hence, the oedometer test may underestimate the collapse potential of the soil.
Rao & Revansidappa (2002) used red soils in India as testing
material. The bonded and un-bonded soil specimens were conducted with load wetting oedometer test, and the vertical consolidation stress applied were range from 6.25 to 800 kPa, respectively. The result shows that collapse induced volume
changes of bonded and un-bonded soil is increasing as consolidation stress increases. The maximum amount of collapse occurred
while consolidation pressure was applied at 200 kPa.
Kezdi, A. (1979) concluded that the stress condition of a soil
at site is not only one-dimensional, but also three-dimensional.
Therefore, the actual collapse behavior can only be simulated by
triaxial test to obtain complete information for both vertical and
radial strain.
Yen (2003) conducted three types of laterite in Taiwan with
oedometer collapse test to evaluate the effect of soil plasticity on
wetting induced settlement. He found that laterite with higher
plasticity has higher collapse settlement. The collapse strain versus vertical stress curve is concave in nature. The collapse strain
is decreasing as the initial water content increasing.
3

TEST PROGRAM

TEST MATERIALS

Lateritic samples taken from two different sites with plastic index
PI= 0 and 22 were tested in this study. Field density tests for
these two soils were conducted with Sand Cone Method. The
procedure for triaxial hydro-collapse test is similar to that of traditional triaxial test. A series of remolded specimens with different initial water content were compacted under 50% or 100% of

Fig. 1 Schematic drawing for the base of modified triaxial cell.

Table 1 Physical property of test materials.

Plasticity
Index
PI

Activity
Ac

4#

200#

0. 002mm

Liquid
Limit
LL

LAT -0

100

51. 1

24. 2

NP

LAT-20

100

83. 6

47. 6

37. 2

22

Accumulated percent passing sieves

Sample Group

Soil Classification
AASHTO

USCS

0. 0

A-4

ML

0. 46

A-6

CL

20 and 10 kPa, respectively. While the suction is too low to apply

the suction into specimen, it still allows water entering and saturating the specimen with a minor amount of back water pressure
larger than pore air pressure (the typical pressure difference between back water pressure and pore air pressure is 10 kPa). The
degrees of saturation of the specimens were measured after collapse tests. Fig. 4 shows the stress path diagram used in this
study.

Fig. 4 Stress path diagram in triaxial hydro-collapse test

Fig. 2 Schematic set up for triaxial hydro-collapse test.
5

TEST RESULTS

5.1 Hydro-collapse Behavior of Unsaturated Laterites

Fig. 3 Specimen loaded vertically through a rigid frame.

Before the soil is soaked, the specimen was applied with an
isotropic confining pressure of 100, 200, 300 and 400 kPa respectively, to simulate the stress condition on site. Furthermore, a
rigid loading frame was put on the top of a ram of triaxial cell,
and then the specimen was applied with static axial load as
shown in Fig. 3. Additional axial stress of 100, 200, 300 and 400
kPa was applied on the specimens mentioned above, respectively. The collapse tests for unsaturated lateritic soils were conducted with a constant air pressure applied on top of specimen,
and with stepped reduced back water pressure to decrease the
suction in specimen. The applied suctions were 200, 100, 50, 33,

Fig. 5 shows laboratory results of soil specimens saturated gradually from the dewatered condition. The collapse curve can be divided into three obvious stages: (1) stable suction segment: while
the applied suction is ranged from 200 to 10 kPa, there is almost
no volumetric strain take place. The soil structure is in a stable
condition; (2) near saturation hydro-collapse segment: while the
suction is lower than 10 kPa, it is difficult to apply a minor suction by existing pressure regulator system. Therefore, the degree
of saturation is considered as a variable in this stage. Fig. 5 also
shows as the degree of saturation increase, the collapse strain increase. However, there is no any collapse failure was observed in
this stage; (3) full saturation collapse segment: while the specimen is fully saturated, some of specimens were observed that the
collapse strain is continuously increasing until collapse failure
occurs.
During the experimental process, the specimen will reach a
transient collapse strain as degree of saturation varied. Although
the specimen was kept in a constant degree of saturation, no further strain occurred. From the laboratory result, it is evidenced
that collapse strain is independent to time variable. As the ratio
of principal stresses of specimen is kept at 2, the maximum collapse strain occurs while deviatoric stress (1 3) is 400 kPa.
5.2 Anisotropic Behavior of Lateritic Soils
This paper define anisotropic index as the ratio of radial collapse
strain Ich and vertical collapse strain Icv (i. e., Ich / Icv). Fig. 6
shows the anisotropic index varies as the degree of saturation
change. While the degree of saturation or vertical load is lower,
the anisotropic index varies violently. On the other hand, if the
degree of saturation or the vertical load is higher, the anisotropic
index varies in a gentle manner and reaches a constant value,
which is approaching a critical value of 0.4.

Fig. 7 Vertical collapse strains of one-dimensional oedometer

test and three-dimensional triaxial collapse test
5.4 Effect of Initial Water Content
Fig. 5 Collapse strains of unsaturated laterite at different
depths.

In this paper, the initial water content of the specimen was controlled at OMC-6%, OMC-4%, OMC-2% and OMC, respectively. These two types of laterite show the collapse strain decreasing as initial water content increasing as shown in Fig. 7.
While the initial water content is near OMC, the collapse strain
will be the minimum value; this phenomenon can be explained as
cementation between fine and coarse particles of laterite caused
by effective stress and capillary.
5.5 Effect of Principal Stress Ratio K
Fig. 8 shows the effect of principal stress ratios of K=1 and K=2
on collapse strain. The result indicates collapse strain Icv at K=2
is larger than that at K=1. While the laterite with PI =22, initial
water content Wi = OMC-6%, and specimen prepared by Standard Proctor Compaction effort, the axial collapse strain Icv at
K=2 is approximate 1.2 time of that at K=1.
5.6 Effect of Plastic Index
Table 2 & 3 show the collapse strains of laterite soils with

plastic index of PI=0 and PI=22 under 50% and 100% of StanFig. 6 An-isotropic collapse behavior of unsaturated laterites at
different depth and degree of saturation
5.3 Comparison of Oedometer and Triaxial Collapse Tests
Fig. 7 shows the vertical collapse strain of triaxial collapse test is
always higher than that of oedometer tests conducted by Yen
(2003). When the initial water content of the specimen is lower,
the difference of volumetric strain becomes higher. The collapse
strain in triaxial collapse test is even 2.3 times higher than that of
oedometer test. The result shows oedometer test may underestimate the collapse strain.

dard Proctor Compaction effort. The result indicates collapse

strain Icv at PI=22 is always larger than that at PI=0. Therefore,
plastic lateritic soil possesses higher hydro-collapse potential than that of non-plastic one.
Table 2 Collapse strain Icv (%) under Standard Proctor Compaction effort

LAT-0
LAT-20

OMC
0.69
1.53

OMC-2% OMC-4% OMC-6%

5.79
7.55
9.99
6.05
7.81
10.91

Table 3 Collapse strain Icv (%) under 50% of Standard Proctor

Compaction effort

LAT-0
LAT-20

OMC-2%
4.15
8.61

OMC-4%
7.10
9.50

OMC-6%
9.82
13.34

exhibit more potential to absorb water. Consequently, the

water intruding into the laterite may cause more collapse
strain.
6) Comparing the laboratory results between oedometer and triaxial collapse tests, the conclusions can be drawn below.
(i) The vertical collapse strain Icv is decreasing as initial water content increasing in triaxial collapse test, which is the
same as the oedometer collapse test results conducted by Yen
(2003).
(ii) The collapse strain of oedometer test is always lower than
that of the triaxial collapse test. Therefore, oedometer collapse test may underestimate the collapse potential of soil.

7) Higher principal stress ratio K may cause higher collapse

Fig. 8 Collapse strains at principal stresses ratio of K=2 and K=1.
6

strain. The collapse strain of soil at K=2 is 1. 2 times higher

than that at K=1.

CONCLUSIONS
REFERENCES

Preliminary conclusions drawn from the laboratory results are:

1) Saturation process of lateritic soils can be modeled using a
three-stage curve, namely stable suction segment, near saturation collapse segment, and full saturation collapse segment.
The collapse failure may or may not occur, and can only appear on full saturation collapse segment.
2) Despite of the soil plasticity, no collapse strain is observed,
as suction applied on lateritic soil decrease from 200 kPa to
10 kPa.
3) Wetting induced collapse of the lateritic soils is first increasing with vertical load then decreasing. The critical overburden pressure is found to be around 400 kPa.
4) Collapse of lateritic soil is found to having an anisotropic behavior through triaxial hydro-collapse test. The anisotropic
index varies as overburden stress and degree of saturation
changes. Low degree of saturation and shallow soil deposit
exhibits big variation of anisotropic index. While degree of
saturation is over 66% or soil deposit is located deeply, the
anisotropic index is approaching a critical value of 0.4.
5) The collapse strain of lateritic soil is decreasing as initial water content increasing. While initial water content is near optimal moisture content, the collapse strain tends to become
smaller. The main reason for this phenomenon is while initial water content lies on the dry side of OMC, the laterite

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