Abstract
The properties of expansive soils at shallow depth are influenced by moisture variations due to seepage of water into the soils during rains. The paper presents a case study in western India along a railway freight corridor. Testing on samples collected from boreholes drilled in the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon periods indicates substantial variations in moisture content, undrained shear strength, and swell pressure to about 3–3.5 m depth. Below this depth, these properties show insignificant change. This confirms that the active zone, the geotechnically unstable zone in expansive soils that undergoes swelling shrinkage due to moisture variations extends to about 3.5 m depth.
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