Effect of Heating Borehole Spacing on Plasticity of Expansive Soil

Abstract

This paper presents the effect of spacing between boreholes heating on plasticity of expansive soils. The expansive soils used were prepared artificially by mixing Kut clay with different percentages of bentonite. Nine laboratory models of expansive soils having dry unit weight of 17.8 kN/m3 with 6% initial water content were prepared inside a steel box of (300 mm × 300 mm × 400 mm height). A special heating system generates 400 Co for six hours was designed and manufactured for this purpose using 12 mm diameter electric heaters inserted through boreholes. Square pattern boreholes of 170 mm length with spacing (4.16d, 6.25d and 8.33d) were used. A representative sample were taken after heating from the center of the square pattern for measuring the plasticity of the soils. The results showed that the plasticity index remarkedly decreases compared with that before heating and increases with increasing bentonite and the spacing. It is also indicated that an expansive soil could be changed from high to low plasticity