Simulation of behaviour of swelling soil supported by a retaining wall

Abstract

The lateral swelling pressure (LSP) and vertical swelling of a highly expansive soil supported by a retaining wall was studied. Experimental work was conducted by designing a physical laboratory model with dimensions of 900 × 600 mm in plan and 950 mm in height. The finite element method was used to simulate the retaining wall supporting highly expansive soil in saturated and unsaturated conditions using GeoStudio 2007. Verification of the physical model showed that the LSP increased linearly with the depth of the wall up to the maximum value of about 165 kPa at a depth of 0.6 m. Predictions during saturation and loading stages showed that the quantitative predictions were within the measurement accuracy. Numerical predictions of the LSP and vertical swelling were compatible with the experimental results. The vertical swelling and percentage decrease in swelling decreased with the depth of the soil. The percentage decrease in vertical swelling was 95.0% at 34 days and a depth of 0.6 m. The rate of swelling decreased with an increase in soil depth and the time required to reach an equilibrium state of swelling decreased linearly with soil depth.