Assessment of Engineering Characteristics of Pesticides-Contaminated Soil Based on RCPTU Data

Abstract

RCPTU (Resistivity Piezocone Penetration Test) is a fast, repeatable and cost efficient in situ method to detect soil engineering properties. In geo-environmental site detection, soil properties such as soil resistivity (ρ), effective angle of internal friction (φ'), constrained modulus (M) and relative density (Dr) can be obtained. This paper analyzed engineering properties of soils contaminated by different pesticides, which were obtained by RCPTU in one pesticides factory in Eastern China. The results shown that soils contaminated by nitidine chloride and organophosphorus had lower resistivity (ρ), effective angle of internal friction (φ'), constrained modulus (M) and relative density (Dr) than uncontaminated soil. And nitidine chloride contaminated soil had higher properties than organophosphorus contaminated soil. Both contaminated soils and uncontaminated soil were identified in Robertson (1990) soil classification chart (Fr-Qt). It is noted that different pesticides have similar influence on soil classify, they all locate in lower areas than uncontaminated one in soil classification chart.