Collapsible Soil - Part I

25/05/1438
Dr. Asmaa Moddather
Soil Mechanics and Foundations

Faculty of Engineering – Cairo University
Spring 2017
Dr. Asmaa Moddather – Soil Improvement – Spring 2017
Introduction
Soil collapse forms a major hazard in many parts of the
world. Human activities continue to increase in regions
underlain by collapsible soils, so that the hazards posed,
and the economic impacts are increasing.
In Egypt, recent extensions of urban communities towards

the desert have exposed the Egyptian engineer to relatively
new geotechnical challenges, among which is the
collapsible soils.
Dr. Asmaa Moddather
Dr. Asmaa – Soil –Improvement
Moddather – Spring
Problematic Soil 2017 2017
– Spring
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Introduction
Many collapsible soils are mudflows or windblown deposits
often found in arid or semiarid climates such as deserts.
A collapsible soil at natural water content may support a

given foundation load with negligible settlement, but when
water is added to this soil the volume can decrease
significantly and cause substantial settlement of the
foundation, even at relatively low applied stress or at the
overburden pressure.
Dr. Asmaa Moddather

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Introduction
The amount of settlement depends on the initial void ratio,
stress history of the soil, thickness of the collapsible soil
layer, and magnitude of the applied foundation pressure.
Collapsible soils exposed to perimeter watering of

vegetation around structures or leaking utility lines are
most likely to settle. Collapse may be initiated beneath the
ground surface and propagate toward the surface leading to
sudden and nonuniform settlement of overlying facilities.
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Types and Formations

Collapsible soils: are metastable material, traditionally
defined as an unsaturated soil that experiences a radical
rearrangement of particles and significant reduction of
volume upon wetting with or without additional loading.
A wide range of soils fall into this category of material
including:
Windblown deposits
Water-laid deposits
Residual soils
Highly Saline Soils (Sabkha)
Man-placed fills made of sands.
Dr. Asmaa Moddather
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Collapsible soils
Compacted Soil Natural
Residual Sediments Highly saline

(sabkha)
Water
Air Fall
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1. Windblown deposits
Consist of materials transported by wind which form dunes
and loess.
The sweep of wind across large sand covered areas, whether

outwash plains, beaches, flood plains of broad rivers, or even
desert plains, moves the sand and silt sized particles but
leaves the gravel behind.
The sand grains are rolled over each other or bounced short
distances into the air and piled up to form dunes, whereas the
silt-sized grains are blown away.
Dr. Asmaa Moddather
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1. Windblown deposits
The process of selection by wind sorts the sand into
assemblages of very uniform grain size.
Sand becomes finer with increasing distance from the source.
High porosity is encountered 50% – 60%.
Low unit weight.
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2. Water-laid deposits
Alluvial depositions produce high void ratio and low density
deposits, which are relatively strong in their natural state.
Cementation consists of dried clay binding the coarser
particles together and chemical precipitates, which may have
been added during deposition.
These deposits consist primarily of loose water deposited
sediments which form braided streams, alluvial fans, and
flood plain deposits.
The particle size of these deposits depends on the velocity
and rate of flow, and the distance from the source.
Dr. Asmaa Moddather

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3. Residual Soils
Residual soils are the product of weathering, i.e., the
disintegration and mechanical alteration of the components
of parent rocks.
The particles of residual materials may vary in size from large
fragments to gravel, sand, silt, and in some cases, organic
matter.
The collapsible grain structure has developed as a result of
leaching out of soluble material. This leaching out of the
soluble and fine material results in a high void ratio and
unstable structure.
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4. Saline Soils (Sabkha)
Found in salt encrusted flat areas that are the result of
evaporation and sedimentary environment that dominated
the Arabian Peninsula and parts of the Middle East.
They are highly cemented by excessive salts present in both

the sediments and their shallow groundwater. Sabkha
sediments are common in the coastal and inland areas.
In general terms, Sabkha is loose to moderately dense

silt/sand material of varying size, composition, texture, and
origin.
Dr. Asmaa Moddather
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4. Saline Soils (Sabkha)
Mud and clays are often interbedded with the sands and silts,
as seams or pockets, or may be found down below towards the
bottom.
At most times, and in open terrain, the hard surface of

Sabkha flats is sufficiently strong to take heavy traffic loads.
However, if the surface becomes wet due to occasional

rainfall, flash floods, or storm tides, the soluble salts which
provide the cementation in the crust, dissolve.
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5. Man-Placed Fill of Sand
Most of the literature on collapsing soils is concerned with
naturally occurring collapsing soils that are essentially found
in arid or semi-arid climates, and cover a significant area of
the earth’s surface.
However, there is a wide range of artificially placed soils, such
as compacted soils that may also exhibit collapse behavior
upon wetting.
Evidences exist on cases where sand layers compacted dry of
optimum moisture content experienced collapse upon
wetting.
Dr. Asmaa Moddather

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Collapsible Soils in Egypt

Geological references on Egypt do not seem to point out
clearly to the presence of classical collapsible deposits such
as loess.
However, there are geological information on some types of

deposits which, under certain situations, exhibit collapse
behavior. Among these are Aeolian deposits such as sand
dunes, fluvial deposits such as sand sheets, and high
salinity deposits such as sabkha.
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1. Sand Dunes
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Sand Dunes
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Sand Dunes
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Qena and Aswan Asyout and Suhag
Dr. Asmaa Moddather

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Giza Menya and Beni-Suef

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Delta
Dr. Asmaa Moddather
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Backfilled Quarries
Deep pits resulting from previous mining activities are some

times backfilled with random construction debris.
Buildings constructed in these areas can suffer from severe

structural damages when foundation material is wetted by
waters from irrigation systems and leakages from water
supply and wastewater networks.
Al-Darrassah, and Nasr City.
The thickness of fill layers in these areas exceeds 20 m.

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Compacted earth fills
Earth fills that are formed by mere dumping of random or

selected material can experience collapse under load when
wetted. Backfilling between cast footings is sometimes not
given adequate attention in compaction.
Dr. Asmaa Moddather

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A large factory in Sadat City
The design depth of footings ranged between 4 and 10 m

below finished floor level.
Although clean sand was used as backfilling material, the

process was not accompanied with nearly any compaction.
Layers 2 to 3 m thick had been placed in one go, hoping
that the movement of trucks on the top surface of dumped
layers was sufficient to compact them.
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The factory was completed and the production process

went on for a few weeks with the normal use of water for
cooling.
The slab-on grade experienced severe deformations, and

large cavities were observed under the slab at many
locations due to collapse of un-compacted fill under its
own weight.
Dr. Asmaa Moddather

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Assessment of Collapsible Soils

There are four steps that must be followed prior to arriving
at a final foundation design on a collapsing soil:
1. Identification - determine whether potentially collapsing
soils exist.
2. Classification- if collapsing soils exist, what degree of
attention needs to be paid to them.
3. Quantification - if soils are sufficiently prone to volume
change, a rational assessment of numerical values of
probable vertical movement should be made.
4. Evaluation of design alternatives.
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Why Soil Collapse?

Soils subject to collapse have a honeycombed structure of
bulky shaped particles or grains held in place by a bonding
material or force.
Common bonding agents include soluble compounds such

as calcareous or ferrous cementation that can be
weakened or partly dissolved by water.
Removal of the supporting material or force occurs when

water is added enabling the soil grains to slide or shear and
move into voids.
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Why Soil Collapse?
Different Inter-Particle Bonds in Collapsible Soils

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Why Soil Collapse?
A basic Unit of Loess Structure

Dr. Asmaa Moddather
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Why Soil Collapse?
A basic Unit of Loess Structure

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Why Soil Collapse?

Collapse Potential (CP): the relative magnitude of soil
collapse when water is added at stress level of 200 kN/m2.
This term is used as a relative indicator of collapse
potential, beneficial for identification but not for
estimating potential settlements for specific in situ
conditions unless the point of interest in the field happens
to be stressed at about 200.0 kPa. CP (%) Severity of Collapse
0–1 Negligible
1–5 Moderate trouble
CP = ∆ec/(1+eo) (%)
5 – 10 Trouble
eo = void ratio at natural water content 10 – 20 Severe trouble
∆ec = change in void ratio due to wetting > 20 Very severe trouble
Dr. Asmaa Moddather

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Identification
Field Identification.
Collapsible criteria based on Simple Soil Properties.
Collapsible criteria based on Laboratory Tests.
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Field Identification
Dry or slightly moist soil
Loose or open fabric
Coatings and clay bridges
Identification of the origin of the soil
Several simple field tests have been proposed to identify

the collapse phenomenon.
Dr. Asmaa Moddather

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The sausage test (Jennings and Knight ,1975)
Carve two cylindrical samples of undisturbed soil as nearly
as possible to the same diameter and length.
Wet and knead one sample and remold it into a cylinder of
the original diameter.
An obvious decrease in length when compared with the
undisturbed twin sample will confirm a collapsible grain
structure.
A similar reduction in volume may be observed by backfilling
in a pit or trial hole. If the soil a collapsible grain structure, it
will fail to fill the pit completely.
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Dispersion test (Bnites, 1968)
Few grams of soil is dropped at its natural water content into
a glass of water.
Time required for the soil to disperse completely is
recorded.
Collapsible soils typically have a dispersion time of 20 sec to
30 sec.
Dr. Asmaa Moddather

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Collapsible Criteria based on Simple

Soil Properties
In order to classify the collapsibility of soils, a variety of
criteria for collapse potential.
Most of these criteria determine the critical condition of

collapse based on void ratio, dry unit weight, degree of
saturation, Atterberg limits, natural water content,
and percentage of fine grained soil.
These correlations are not universal. Each

equation/chart applies for the soil under study. (Particle
pattern, contact relation, pore form, bonding
material). Dr. Asmaa Moddather
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Collapsible Criteria based on

Simple Soil Properties
Typical collapsible soils are:
Lightly colored.
Low in plasticity with liquid limits below 45%, plasticity
indices below 25%.
Relatively low dry densities between 10.0 and 16.5 kN/m3.
Porosity of 40% to 60%.
Dr. Asmaa Moddather

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Clevengar (1958):
γd ≤ 12.6 kN/m3 : soil is likely to be highly collapsible
12.6 ≤ γd ≤ 14.0 kN/m3 : soil may be collapsible
γd ≥ 14.0 kN/m3 : soil is not likely to be collapsible
Elmamlouk (1985)
γd < 90% γd max (Standard Proctor Test)
: soil is likely to be highly collapsible

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Jenning and Knight (1975):
Introduced the concept of critical degree of saturation (Sc)
above which collapse would not occur, suggested values:
Fine gravel : 6 – 10%
Fine silty sand : 50 – 60%
Clayey silt : 90 – 95%
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Handy (1973): for Iowa loess by Clay content
: < 16% : high probability of collapse
: 16 – 24% : probability of collapse
: 24 – 32% : less than 50% probability of collapse
: > 32% : usually safe from collapse
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Czechslovak Standard
Collapse may occur when:
Silt > 60%
Clay < 15%
S < 60% and LL < 32%
N > 40%
W < 13%
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Denisov (1953)
Coefficient of subsidence (K)
K = eL/eo
eL = void ratio at liquid limit
eo = natural void ratio
K = 0.50 – 0.75 : Highly collapsible soil
K = 0.75 – 1.00 : Collapsible is likely
K > 1.0 : Non-collapsible loam
K = 1.5 – 2.0 : Non-collapsible soil
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Gibbs and Bara (1962)
A soil is susceptible to collapse if:
γd (kN/m3) ≤ 25.5/(1 + 0.026 wL)
Priklonski (1952)
KD = (w – PL)/ PI
KD < 0 : Highly collapsible soil
KD > 0.5 : Non-collapsible
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Feda (1966)
Proposed a critical void ratio (ec) as follows:
ec = 0.85 eL + 0.15 eP
A soil is susceptible to collapse if eo > ec
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Gibbs (1961)
Case I: w at S = 100% > wL
Case II: w at S = 100% = wL
Case III: w at S = 100% < wL
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Definition
“A metastable material, traditionally defined as an
unsaturated soil that experiences a radical
rearrangement of particles and significant reduction
of volume upon wetting with or without additional
loading.”
“A soil that undergoes an appreciable amount of

volume changes upon wetting, load application, or
combination of both.”
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Definition
‘‘…..additional settlement…. due to the wetting of a
partially saturated soil, normally without any
increase in applied pressure.’’
‘‘…..a state of underconsolidation related to apparent

cohesive strength of unsaturated soils.’’
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Definition
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Laboratory Tests
Laboratory tests are commonly used to identify collapsible
soils and to obtain a quantitative estimate of collapse
potential for use in assessing potential settlements of
structure.
A one dimensional response-to-wetting test performed

using conventional consolidation test equipment,
represents the most common laboratory collapse test.
Dr. Asmaa Moddather

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Laboratory Tests
A specimen at its natural moisture content is first
subjected to a total stress corresponding to that in the
field. Then, with this total load, the specimen is inundated
with water, and the collapse settlement is observed.
The advantage of this simple laboratory test is that the test

interpretation is simplified due to the relatively uniform
stress state within the specimen. Thus, a reasonable stress-
strain relationship can be developed to estimate collapse
settlements.
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Laboratory Tests
Collapse Potential Test
This test method is in accordance with ASTM D 5333-92
(2000). It covers the determination of the magnitude of
one dimensional collapse that occurs when unsaturated
soil is inundated.
Sample Preparation
Soil specimen is fitted inside the oedometer ring by trimming. Any
gaps between the specimen and the oedometer ring are filled with
loose soil to the extent possible.
Dr. Asmaa Moddather

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Laboratory Tests
Test Procedure
1. Specimen shall be placed in the loading device immediately
after determining the initial wet mass and height of the
specimen following trimming.
2. Specimen ring, filter paper, if any, and porous stones shall be

enclosed as soon as possible with a loose fitting plastic
membrane, moist paper towel, or aluminum foil to minimize
change in specimen water content and volume due to
evaporation.
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Laboratory Tests
Test Procedure
3. A seating stress of 5 kPa is applied. Then, within 5 min, stress
increments (12, 25, 50, 100, 200) are applied each hour at
natural water content until the specified vertical stress of
inundation is applied to the soil. The deformation is recorded
before applying each stress increment. It should be noted that
the duration between stress increments prior to wetting is
limited to 1 h to prevent excessive evaporation of moisture
from the specimen that would lead to erratic results.
Dr. Asmaa Moddather

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Laboratory Tests
Test Procedure
4. At the specified vertical stress (200 kPa), specimen is
loaded for 1 h. After deformation is recorded, specimen is
inundated with fluid from the bottom only so that air
would not be trapped in the specimen. Then, deformation
is recorded versus time at approximately 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2,
4, 8, 15, 30 min and 1, 2, 4, 8, and 24 h. The duration of the
stress increment following inundation shall be overnight or
until primary consolidation has been completed.
5. Additional vertical stress may be placed on the specimens

in increments as needed or until the slope of the
deformation versus stress level curve is obtained.
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Laboratory Tests
Test Procedure
6. Plot e-log P curve.
7. Calculate the Collapse Potential (CP)
Applied
Vertical
200 kPa Stress, P
CP = ∆ec/(1+eo) (%)
eo
eo = void ratio at natural water content
∆ec = change in void ratio due to wetting
∆ec
CP (%) Severity of Collapse
0–1 Negligible
1–5 Moderate trouble
5 – 10 Trouble Void ratio, e
10 – 20 Severe trouble
> 20 Very severe trouble Dr. Asmaa Moddather
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Laboratory Tests
Double Oedometer Test
Jennings and Knight (1975) proposed the following laboratory
procedure to estimate the collapse settlement of structures
upon saturation of soil:
1. Obtain two undisturbed soil specimens for tests in a
standard consolidation test apparatus (oedometer).
2. Place the two specimens under 1 kPa pressure for 24 hours.
3. After 24 hours, saturate one specimen by flooding. Keep the
other specimen at natural water content.
4. After 24 hours of flooding, resume the consolidation test for
both specimens by doubling the load (same procedure as
the standard consolidation test) to the desired pressure
level. Dr. Asmaa Moddather
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Laboratory Tests
Applied
Vertical
po pc Po + ∆p Stress, P
e'o
∆e1 Sample at natural
moisture content
∆e2
Void ratio, e
Soaked specimen
Dr. Asmaa Moddather

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Laboratory Tests
5. Plot the e-log p graphs for both specimens.
6. Calculate the in situ effective pressure po. Draw a vertical
line corresponding to the pressure po.
7. From the e-log p curve of the soaked specimen, determine
the preconsolidation pressure pc.
8. Determine e’o, corresponding to po from the e-log p curve of
the soaked specimen.
9. Through point (po, e’o ) draw a curve that is similar to the e-
log p curve obtained from the specimen tested at natural
water content.
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Laboratory Tests
10. Determine the incremental pressure ∆p on the soil caused
by the construction of the foundation. Draw a vertical line
corresponding to the pressure po + ∆p in the e-log p curve.
11. Determine ∆e1 and ∆e2. The settlement of soil without
change in the natural water content is:
Also, the settlement caused by collapse in the soil structure due

to wetting is:
H = thickness of soil susceptible to collapse

Dr. Asmaa Moddather
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Collapsible Soil - Part I

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25/05/1438

Dr. Asmaa Moddather

Soil Mechanics and Foundations

Dr. Asmaa Moddather – Soil Improvement – Spring 2017

In Egypt, recent extensions of urban communities towards

A collapsible soil at natural water content may support a

Dr. Asmaa Moddather

Collapsible soils exposed to perimeter watering of

Dr. Asmaa Moddather

Types and Formations

Types and Formations

Compacted Soil Natural

Residual Sediments Highly saline

Types and Formations

The sweep of wind across large sand covered areas, whether

Types and Formations

Sand becomes finer with increasing distance from the source.

High porosity is encountered 50% – 60%.

Low unit weight.

Dr. Asmaa Moddather

Types and Formations

Dr. Asmaa Moddather

Types and Formations

Dr. Asmaa Moddather

Types and Formations

They are highly cemented by excessive salts present in both

In general terms, Sabkha is loose to moderately dense

Types and Formations

At most times, and in open terrain, the hard surface of

However, if the surface becomes wet due to occasional

Dr. Asmaa Moddather

Types and Formations

Dr. Asmaa Moddather

Collapsible Soils in Egypt

However, there are geological information on some types of

Collapsible Soils in Egypt

Dr. Asmaa Moddather

Collapsible Soils in Egypt

Dr. Asmaa Moddather

Collapsible Soils in Egypt

Dr. Asmaa Moddather

Collapsible Soils in Egypt

Dr. Asmaa Moddather

Collapsible Soils in Egypt

Qena and Aswan Asyout and Suhag

Dr. Asmaa Moddather

Collapsible Soils in Egypt

Giza Menya and Beni-Suef

Collapsible Soils in Egypt

Collapsible Soils in Egypt

Deep pits resulting from previous mining activities are some

Buildings constructed in these areas can suffer from severe

Al-Darrassah, and Nasr City.

The thickness of fill layers in these areas exceeds 20 m.

Collapsible Soils in Egypt

Earth fills that are formed by mere dumping of random or

Dr. Asmaa Moddather

Collapsible Soils in Egypt

A large factory in Sadat City

The design depth of footings ranged between 4 and 10 m

Although clean sand was used as backfilling material, the

Collapsible Soils in Egypt

The factory was completed and the production process

The slab-on grade experienced severe deformations, and