Chapter 6 Mechanical Properties of Clays and Clay Minerals

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter describes mechanical and basic physico-chemical properties of clays and clay minerals that are important to the understanding of their behavior. In civil engineering, the relationship between the visual mechanical behavior of clays and the properties of clay minerals at the nano- and meso-scales (usually referred to as ‘‘microscale’’) is now well recognized. Investigating the properties at these scales would allow predictions to be made of macroscopic behavior. The most important properties of clays in the fields of soil mechanics are hydraulic conductivity, gas conductivity, ion diffusion capacity, swelling potential, compressibility, and rheological properties. All these properties depend on the type and content of clay minerals in, and the bulk density of, the soils.