Abstract
Dispersive soils, as one of the main categories of problematic soils, can be found in some parts of the earth, such as the eastern-south of Iran, nearby the Gulf of Oman. One of the most important factors enhancing the dispersive potential is the existence of dissolved salts in the soil water. The main objective of this study is to explore the influence of water salinity on the instability of a railway embankment due to rainfall infiltration. In order to achieve this goal, the embankment resting on a dispersive stratum is numerically modeled and subjected to transient infiltration flow. The effect of dispersion is simplified through variations in the soil-water retention curve with salinity. The measured water retention curves revealed that by omitting the natural salinity in the soil-water, the retention capability of the soil decreases; therefore, the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of the soil stratum will significantly decline. According to the extensive decrease in the hydraulic conductivity of the desalinated materials, the rainfall cannot infiltrate in the embankment and the rainfall mostly runs off. However, in the saline embankment, the infiltration decreases the soil suction; and consequently, the factor of safety of the railway embankment decreases.
Highlights
Problematic soils, such as collapsible, dispersive, and expansive soils, have always been as one of the main concerns of geotechnical engineers, especially when they want to design infrastructures above strata that consist of these types of soils
The main objective of this study is to investigate the impact of soil salinity on the stability of the railway embankment sitting on the dispersive loess stratum
The salinity has a dramatic influence on dispersion potential and the behavior of dispersive soils
Summary
Problematic soils, such as collapsible, dispersive, and expansive soils, have always been as one of the main concerns of geotechnical engineers, especially when they want to design infrastructures above strata that consist of these types of soils. Dispersive soils are found in areas with saline soil water such as the eastern south of Iran, nearby the Gulf of Oman [1]. Contractors in this region have faced lots of problems related to projects in this region. During the construction of the Chabahar-Zahedan national railway project, excessive deformations in some parts of the embankment were observed. These deformations were categorized in general as local collapse, deep sinkholes, and subsidence. The main cause of the dispersive behavior of the soil was revealed to be the dissolved salts in soil-water [2]
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