Compressibility of Some Trinidadian Soils as Affected by the Incorporation of Peat

Abstract

The effect on compressibility of incorporating peat into four remoulded Trinidadian agricultural soils was investigated over a range of stresses from 0 to 1000 kPa using a compression machine. Air-dry peat was applied at four levels (0, 4, 8 and 12% by mass) to the soils (two sandy loams, clay loam and clay) and tested at three moisture contents close to the Proctor optimum moisture content of the soils. Compression curves (bulk density versus log applied stress) for each soil at the moisture levels tested were almost linear and parallel over the range of stresses from about 100 to 1000 kPa. Mean values of dry bulk density declined significantly at 0.001 level with increasing peat content from 1·23 to 0·87 Mg m -3. Mean bulk density values increased significantly at 0·001 level with increasing applied stress and moisture content and declined with increasing clay content. Significant interaction effects were observed between soil type and peat content and between peat content and moisture content. Peat incorporation resulted in greater soil compression, but the increases were less evident in clay than in sandy loam soils. Soil compression refers to the decrease in soil volume with the application of external load. The compression index, C (slope of the dry bulk density versus log applied stress relationship), increased significantly at 0·05 level from 0·21 Mg/m 3 in one sandy loam soil to 0·38 Mg/m 3 in the clay soil. While the C value did not differ significantly with increasing peat content in the sandy loams and the clay loam, it decreased significantly at 0·01 level in the clay soil. An equation expressing C as a function of initial soil bulk density before compression and a strain parameter was developed in order to explain the variation of C in the soils tested. A method is described that can be adopted to quantify the effect of peat on soil compressibility.