Foundation Eng’g II Expansive soils

CHAPTER 4

FOUNDATIONS ON EXPANSIVE SOILS

General

The problems associated with expansive soils were not recognized for many years for the
obvious reason that most of the modern small masonry or brick houses built were located on sites
that did not cause foundation problems. It was 1939 when for the first time, U.S Bureau
Reclamation recognized the reason of damage of structure other than the settlement of the
foundation.

It was found that some soils expand or swells when water content increase and shrink when
water content decrease. This type of soil is termed as Expansive soil.

Structures crack, if their foundations are not adequately designed to withstand the stresses and
strains caused by alternate heaving and shrinkage of the foundation soil. Cracks do not only
affect the structural safety and aesthetics of the building but also bring about additional financial
burden to owners for repair if the structure is to be salvaged at all.

Origin of expansive

The formation of expansive soils took place under a complex combination of conditions and
process. In such complex situation some clay minerals were developed which in contact of water
expand. It is considered that the parent rocks for such minerals are,

1. Igneous rocks
2. Sedimentary rocks

Mineral which formed from mainly igneous rock is montmorillonite and those formed from
sedimentary rocks are kaolonite and illite. Among these three minerals montmorillonite is highly
expansive, kaolonite and illite are very lightly expansive.

The cause of expansion of montmorillonite mineral is its structure. Its structure is just like a book
which contains leaves one above the other. If water enters among the leaves of a book, all will be
separated resulting expansion of the book. Similar type of phenomenon is observed in
montmorillonite and this is the mineral (montmorillonite) which is responsible of expansion
(swelling) and shrinkage of soils containing it. Experience shows that swelling problems arise
when soils contain more than 20% montmorillonite mineral.

Expansive soils in Ethiopia

In fact, expansive soils have been traced almost all the countries of the world, including Ethiopia.
In 1971, Mohin and Parry reported the existence of Ethiopian Black soils in Gedarif area, in the
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east of Sudan. Ethiopian Black soils are residual soils. These are derived from weathering of
basic volcanic rocks and are invariably clays and silty clays.

Almost all expansive soils are either clays or silty calys, Ethiopian expansive soils are black or
dark gray colored. It is also leant that expansive soils exists in and around Addis Ababa.

In general, the natural deposits of these soils are characterized by a general pattern of cracks
during the dry season of the year. Cracks in some soils may be 65mm wide and over 1m deep. In
deep deposits of the soils, the cracks may extend up to 6m and more. During wet season, the soil
first expands horizontally, filling up the shrinkage cracks and utilizing about 2/3rd of the
volumetric expansion. The remaining volumetric expansion cause vertical heaving of the soil
which may damage to an overlying structure.

Alternative lifting and dropping of foundation due to heaving and shrinking of expansion soil
may result cracks in super structure.

Any foundation, if placed within the active zone, will be subjected to swelling pressure and
shrinkage. To avoid this situation, the foundation should be placed below the active zone.

If there is no variation in water content in expansive soil, there is no problem. But even a small
variation in water content may result heavy damage. The location of active zone can be obtained
from local building codes.

Identification of Expansive soils

In addition to visual identification, laboratory tests are necessary to assess the swelling potential
of the clay. The direct tests which provide information on the amount of heaving that is to be
anticipated are free swell and swelling pressure tests. Apart from these direct tests, soil
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mechanics practice for determining the engineering characteristics of expansive soils is usually
based on the Atterberg’s limits, sometimes in conjunction with grain size analysis. One way of
using these test results was developed by Casagrande, who plotted the liquid limit against the
plasticity index.

Measurement of swell and swelling potential

In laboratory, it can be measured in Oedometer test

Where H= Thickness of sample

∆H= Swell in H thickness

Sw(free) = (∆H/H)x100

Table.4.1. Relationship between Free swell and Swelling potential

Swelling potential Free swell

High >100

Medium 50-100

Low <50

While it may be true that high swelling soil will manifest high index property, the converse is not
true.

Table.4.2. Relation between Swelling potential and Plasticity index of clays according to
Chen.

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Swelling potential Plasticity index (IP)

Low 0-15

Medium 10-35

High 20-55

Very high > 55

Expansive soils, IP>40

Anderson et al suggested empirical relation from which they were able to relate the degree of
expansion with the plasticity index. Following their investigation they came up with the
following empirical equation:

S = 0.23IP – 3.12

Where S=swelling potential

IP= plasticity index.

Based on the above equation, they presented the relationship as shown on the following table.

Tabl.4.3. Relationship between Plasticity Index and Swelling Potential

Degree of expansion Plasticity Index IP Swelling potential S

Low 20 1.5

Medium 20 – 31 1.5 – 4.0

High 31 – 39 4.0 – 6.0

Very High 39 6

Crack pattern

Foundation movements are reflected as cracks caused by swelling. Soils have the same general
pattern as settlement cracks, although swelling cracks are generally wide at the top and narrow at
the bottom. The same crack patterns can develop from settlement. However, in the most severe
settlement cases, diagonal cracks are usually associated with a series of horizontal cracks.

1. Diagonal cracks below exterior windows, or above exterior doors generally indicate
footing or drilled pier foundation movement.
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2. If such cracks appear only in the exterior brick course but not on the interior dry wall the
cracks can be caused by exterior slab heaving.

3. Hali cracks appearing above interior doors and/or windows can be of shrinkage cracks
and not necessarily foundation movement.

4. Vertical cracks below the I- beam in the basement concrete wall can be caused by the
lifting of the I-beam, resulting in tension cracks.

Methods of Preventing Damage

In order to minimize or to eliminate the damage to buildings because of heave and

shrinkage, the following methods have been used;

a. Moisture control;

b. Soil stabilization and

c. Structural measures.

Moisture control

The main cause of heaving and shrinkage is the fluctuation of moisture under and around the
structure in question. In any site, depending upon the topographical, geological and weather
conditions, the natural ground water fluctuates. This seasonal fluctuation of the moisture content
along the depth becomes minimal from approximately three to four meters down-wards. In
addition to the fluctuation of the ground water one should also consider free water which may
seep under foundations, or the effect of evaporation which would cause moisture migration.

Hence a satisfactory solution to the problem would be to devise an economical way of stabilizing
the soil moisture under and around buildings. It doesn’t matter whether the moisture content is
high or low, as long as it can be maintained constant throughout the year.

Depending upon the existing conditions, some prefer to keep the soils as wet as possible
throughout the year. Based on this approach, two methods have been presented by Deb and
Chandra, India. These methods consist of providing,

- Sand drains

- A flexible water-proof apron with sand drains.

The second method was found to be more effective and applied with reasonable success. Here
auger-bored holes of 20cm in diameter and 2m depth are drilled at 2 meters center to center and
about 1m away all around the building. The holes are filled with coarse sand and are connected
by surface drains. A watertight apron of 1m width is built around the building.
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The other approach is to prevent the migration or flow of water to the vicinity of the building by
providing horizontal and vertical moisture barriers, and also subsurface and surface drainage.

Horizontal moisture barriers - are installed around a building in the form of membranes. The
purpose is to prevent excessive intake of surface moisture. Widely used horizontal membranes
are polyethylene membrane, concrete aprons and asphalt membrane, extending beyond the limits
of backfill.

Vertical moisture barriers – are used around the perimeter of the building to cut off the source
of water that may enter the under slab soil. To serve as barriers in this category, one may use
polyethylene membrane, concrete, or other durable impervious material. The depth of the
barriers should be equal to or greater than the depth of moisture fluctuation. Backfill materials
may be used as vertical moisture barriers provided they are well compacted.

The subsurface drainage system – is used to intercept the gravity flow of free water, to lower
the ground water or perched water, and to arrest the capillary moisture movement. For this
purpose intercepting and peripheral drains are installed. It should be borne in mind that positive
outlets should be provided for subsurface drainage.

For proper surface drainage – the ground surface around the building should be graded so that
surface water will drain away from the structure so that water does not seep into the foundation
soil. They should extend well beyond the perimeter of the foundation and should be properly
drained away.

Soil stabilization

Soil stabilization consists of one of the following operations:

a. Pre-wetting or flooding the in situ soil to achieve swelling prior to construction;

b. Compaction control, i.e., decreasing the density of the foundation soil;

c. Soil replacement, i.e., replacing the swelling soil by non-heaving soil;

d. Chemical stabilization, i.e., changing the swelling characteristic of the soil by addition of
chemicals.

Pre-wetting or flooding

This is an old established procedure. The reasoning behind this operation is that, by completely
flooding the site under consideration prior to construction, the soil will heave and a potential
danger of cracking after the structure is erected will be eliminated.

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Pre-wetting may produce successful results if the depth of the active zone is not too large and if
the moisture migration is controlled. Experience has shown that it is extremely difficult to
saturate high plasticity clays within a reasonable period of time. Expansion of partially saturated
clays may continue after completion of the structure for many years. One should also bear in
mind that pre-wetting may reduce the bearing capacity of the soil and may also be responsible
for causing settlement. Pre-wetting has been effectively used for stabilizing soil beneath floor
slabs, pavement or canal linings. However, its application for building foundations is still
questionable and risky.

Compaction control

Investigations have revealed that expansive clays expand very little when compacted at low
densities and high moisture, but expand more when compacted at high densities and low
moisture. Hence the approach to compact swelling clays at moisture content slightly above their
natural moisture content and at low density should give good results. The main advantage of
using this approach is that swelling potential can be reduced without the negative effects caused
by introducing excessive moisture into the soil, in which moisture migration to the underlying
moisture deficient soil takes place. Even though the required depth of compaction depends on the
potential expansiveness of the soil and on the soil and on the magnitude of the structural loads, it
may in general be adequate to compact to a depth of 1.5 to 2 meters.

Soil replacement

This is the simplest and easiest solution for slabs and footings founded on expansive soils. The
expansive foundation soils are replaced by non-heaving materials. The strength of the method
lies in the selection of the replacement material and the depth of replacement.

If the active zone is very deep, it is not desirable that moisture migrate to the underlying
expansive soil. For such condition material selected for replacement should be impervious non-
expansive soil. Engineering judgment should be used in deciding on the thickness of the
replacement. It should always be remembered that the replaced soil serves as a cushion, and even
if the deep-seated soil swells, the movement due to heave will be regulated.

A combination of soil compaction and soil replacement may be economical if the depth of
replacement is large. The area of replacement should extend beyond the perimeter of the
envisaged structure.

Soil replacement provides the safest method for slab-on-ground construction. The slab should be
separated by slip joints from the rest of the structure. Surface drainage should be properly
provided.

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Chemical stabilization

By chemical stabilization is meant the process of mixing like lime, cement, organic and
inorganic chemicals to expansive soils, so as to retard their potential expansiveness.

The addition of lime reduces the plasticity of the soil and hence its swelling potential. Lime (3-
8%) has been used as a stabilizing agent for centuries. It is often used successfully in the
construction of highways and airports.

The action of cement on clay minerals is to reduce the liquid limit, plasticity index and the
potential volume change. Tests indicated that the effect of cement and of lime was about the
same in reducing soil expansion, but the shrinkage of air-dried specimens was reduced from 25%
to 50% with cement stabilization. Even though cement stabilization has been mainly used in
highway construction, it appears to have also a great potential for use to stabilize the under slab
soil in structures.

Some organic and inorganic chemicals have also been tested for their effectiveness in stabilizing
expansive soils. Most of the chemicals were tested in laboratories. Their economical use in the
field has not yet been reported.

Structural measures

The structural measures that should be undertaken in order to minimize or if possible, to

eliminate damages of structures due to heaving are dependent on the design of the structure. One
may opt for one of the following methods, depending upon the site architectural conditions.

-Floating foundation

The term floating foundation is used in a broad sense. In this category are included
stiffened slabs, rigid and flexible rafts.

Stiffened slab foundations are essentially slab-on-ground construction with main beams
supporting the wall loadings. The slabs are designed assuming that they are anchored (fixed) in
the beams and that a pressure of 20KN/m2 acts from the soil. This magnitude is indeed small
when considering that the swell pressures varying from 300 to 500KN/m 2 are commonly found.
The beams are designed as beams on an elastic foundation, using the appropriate modulus of sub
grade reaction.

The other type of floating foundation that has been used in the design of dwellings on expansive
soils is a rigid mat. A heavily reinforced rigid mat is placed on leveled soil. The walls and
columns are then built on the foundation. The rationale in this design is that the rigid mat will
eliminate any differential heave, and the structure will “ride on” without suffering any internal

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distress. Cost-benefit analysis should be made before deciding on such a design. Flexible rafts
have not yet been used and will not be discussed here.

-Foundation on piles

Pile foundations provide a suitable solution for a variety of structures located on heaving
soils. They may prove economical in areas where considerable heave is to be expected, and the
additional cost can be balanced against the saving in future maintenance. In the category of pile
foundations, one of the following may be used:

 Straight bored piles for foundations in shallow expansive soils

 Belled or single under-reamed piles for foundations of light structures in deep layers
of expansive soils

 Double under-reamed piles for foundations of heavier structures in deep layers of

expansive soils.

The piles should be placed well below the active zone where the seasonal fluctuation of the
moisture content is minimum. Depending upon the depth at which the moisture content is
constant, one opts for one of the above three methods.

In the design of the pile foundation in expansive soils, two factors should be considered. These
are;

 The ultimate bearing capacity

 The tensile stress developed along the shaft as a result of heaving.

In calculating the skin friction component, the friction over the first two meters’ length of piles at
the top should be neglected since over this length, generally, major shrinkage cracks exist.

For the straight bored piles, if the combined effect of the weight of the dead load and the skin
friction does not balance the uplift force due to swelling, the whole pile may be lifted and cause
structural damage to the building.