Craig's Soll Mechanios 1 Chapter 1 Basic characteristics of soils 1.1 THE NATURE OF SOILS. To the civil engineer, soil is any uncemented or weakly cemented accumulation of mineral particles formed by the weathering of rocks, the void space between the particles containing water and/or air, Weak cementation can be due to carbonates of oxides precipitated between the particles or due to organic matter. TF the products of weathering remain at their original location they constitute a residual soll IE the products are transported and deposited im a different location they constiute a transported soil, the agents of transportation being gravity, wind, water and glaciers, During transportation the size and shape of particles can undergo change and the particles can be sorted into size ranges, ‘The destructive process in the formation of soil from rock may be either physical ot chemical, The physical process may be erosion by the action of wind, water of slaciers, or disintegration caused by altemate freezing and thawing in cracks in the rock. The resultant soil particles retain the same composition as that of the parent rock. Particles of this type are described as being of ‘bulky’ form and their shape can be indicated by terms such as angular, rounded, flat and elongated, The particles occur in a wide range of sizes, from boulders down to the fine rock flour formed by the action of glaciers. The structural arrangement of bulky particles (Figure 1.1) is described as_single grain, each particle being in direct contact with adjoining particles without there being any bond between them, The state of the particles can be described as dense, medium dense or loose, depending on how they are packed together. ‘The chemical process results in changes in the mineral form of the parent rock due to the action of water (especially if it contains traces of acid or alkali), oxygen and carbon dioxide. sweather results in the formation of groups of talline particles of colloidal size (<0.002 mm) known as clay mmerals. The clay SE Gene ty cea eT Oy eee SPP by ihe action SFwater tnd carbon dioxide, Most,clay mineral particles are of ‘plate-like" form having a igh specific surface (i.e. a high surface area to mass ratio) with result that their structure is influenced significantly by surface forces, Long ‘needle- shaped’ particles can also occur but are comparatively rare. ‘The basic structural units of most clay minerals are a silicon-oxygen tetrahedron and an aluminium—hydroxyl octahedron, as illustrated m Figure 1.2(a). There are valency imbalances in both units, resulting in net negative charges. The basic units, therefore, do not exist in isolation but combine to form sheet structures. The "© 1974, 1979, 1963, 1967, 1982, 1987, 2004 RF Craig, Span Press: =Bacio characteristics of sells 2 @ Stcon © Avuminium © Oxygen © Hydroxy! Sileon-orygon tetrahedron Aluminium-hydroxy octahedron @ " Silica sheet Gitbsito shoot w Figure 1.2 Clay minerals: basic units tetrahedral units combine by the sharing of oxygen ions to form a silica sheet. The octahedral units combine through shared hydroxyl ions to form a gibbsite sheet. The silica sheet retains a net negative charge but the gibbsite sheet is electrically neutral. Silicon and aluminium may be partially replaced by other elements, this being known as isomorphous substitution, resulting in further charge imbalance, The sheet structures are represented symbolically in Fizure 1.2(b), Layer structures then form by the bonding of a silica sheet with either one or two gibbsite sheets. Clay mineral particles consist of stacks of these layers, with different forms of boi between the layers, The structures of the prncipal clay minerals are represented in Figure 1.2, Kaolinite consists of a structure based on a single sheet of silica combined with a‘sngle sheet of gibbsite. There is very limited isomorphous substitution. The combined siica-gibbsite sheets are held together 1 stro bonding A Kaclinte particle may consist of over 100 stacks. Hive has a basic structure consisting of a sheet of gibbsite between and combined with two sheets of “silica, In the silica sheet (1974, 1979, 1909, 1997, 1992, 1987, 2004 R.F.Craig, Spon Press ==Tra ral of sls 2 Faure 1.3 Clay minerals (2) kaolinite, (B) illte and (©) montmorilonite there js peal wdbaticn of lic by shin. The coun shane ae kd aha ee a ages os aoe era pare a Sapooes et eoclimee hao ho tame baie sat: as tke 1s tho gbbsite sheet there is partial subshtution of aluminium by magnesium and iron, and in the silica sheet there is again partial substitution of silicon by aluminium The saccade tg see ore cr a paver gr ee cg pre ge eT Cendinabe teeing of monimedlonie cn Seer dus told wa bong Moroat cio conned heos ‘The surfaces of clay mineral particles cary residual negative charges, mainly as a rent athe onorpioar Riaauaen of dias or aeeiea ore of ower TSieey lu slo sto amnion sf pron om Usain clase ax pr Mier aeineng some opaetae fpsier eh ema ieee joes Sia ae aie aaa Gee repl other cations, a phenomenon referred to as base exchange. ‘attracted to a clay mineral particle because of the negatively charged. Se cose tes ea eos en ek ther thermal comgy "The ant Os is tt tae go fra a persed ire EsGheTTN aT oe 2a) tal eseN cance ear eect ete asec ar rai ia ceases Scoot eal Wa Sarl an (ta ta ad aes of oo cela vs ay Be eee ee re ee ey eS ene en Paved a Fei al aes Veaseae es na el lee (al ean ase rte ree oa eT Goee eet thickness, Temperature also affects cation layer thickness, an increase in icigciard ang ¥ deve liye Mista sey ou ord ih aed eis bonding and (because water molecules are dipolar) by attraction to the negatively xed surfaces. In addition the exchangeable cations attract water (ie. they ‘become hydrated), le is thus surrounded by a laver of adsorbed water_ res acta a sass eat hl dpc eee Sasori bd Ue soy entnre wih carn dvtoes on te perite sie tal of Gar wie ua boainy of le stewed ue: Boer ‘water molecules can move (©1974, 4976, 1699, 1907, 1902, 1957, 2004 RF crag, Span Press Ze ifrelatively Geely parallel tothe parce surface but moverent perpendicular tothe surface i restricted Forces of repusion and araction act between adjacent clay mineral particles Répulon occas between the Eke chataes of the double avers, the force of repulsion depending on the characienstics of the lagers. An merease in cation valency of concertration wil result m a decrease in repulsive force and vice versa “Atraction between particles is due to short-range van der Waals forces (electrical forces of atracton between neviral molecules), which are independent of the double-layer characteristics, that decrease rapicly with increasing distance between particles. The net interparticle forces uence the srutual form of clay mineral particles on deposition. were 4s net repulsion the particles tend to assume a face to-face onentation, this being referred to_as 222 Jf, on the other here is net altrachon the onentaton of the parcles tends tobe edge-to-Face _oredge-o-edge this beng refered io as aflacculated ste These succes, involving interaction between single clay mineral particles, are illustrated in Figures 4G) and) Tn natural clays, which normally contain a sigficant proportion of larger, bulky particles, the structural arrangement can_be extremely complex Interaction (coat gn ay tal parler is rare a banency beg Tor i ema elementary aggregations of particles (also refered to at domains) wth a face-to- face onenaton. In bum these elementary aggregations combine to form larger assemblages, te structure of whch is iienced by the depositional environment Two porsble forms of particle assemblage, known at the bookhouse and turbostratic structures, are illustrated in Figures 1.4(c) and (d). Assemblages can alco occur inthe form of connectors or a matt between larger particles. An fxample of the stmchire of a natural cay, im dagrammatcal form, ig shovm in Figure 14) A secondary electron mage of Errol Cay is shown n Figure 1.5, the soli bar atthe botiom ight ofthe image representing a length of 10 um. Particle sues in sols-can vary fom over 100m to less than 0.001 mm Tn Biiich Standards the sie ranges detaled in Fina 1.6 are speeded In Fgwe 16 the tenns ‘clay’ ‘si’ fc. are used to desenbe only the gz of particles between speciiedlmts, However, the same tems are also veed to desenbe particular Opes ‘of soil, Most soils consist of a graded mixture of particles from two or more size ranges. For examplg, clay is atype of sol possessing cohesion and plasty which Figure 1.4 Clay structures: (2) dispersed, (b) Aloceulated, (c) bookhouse and (a) turbostratic, (¢) example of a natural clay. “21874, 187, 1899, 1997, 1682, 197, 2004 RF Crng, Spon Pre=e =e =‘Te nature of site 6 Figure 1.5 Structure of Errol Clay 5 mane Sand, Gavel zh oe a eee ee jutcrs 2 oe] $8] eo] 20 Paruele ste en Figure 1.6 Particle size ranges. the water filing the void space, of very small size, between particles. This strength would be lost if the clay were immersed in a body of water. It should be appreciated that all clay-size particles are not necessarily clay mineral particles: the_ il fest rock four pateer may be of Cay be Teay maneral parle ae pes pe epee they usually exert a considerable influence on the properties of a soil, an mfluence out of all proportion to their percentage by weight in the soil. Soils ‘whose. ‘properties are influenced mainly by clay and silt swze particles are referred to ag fine soils, Those whose properties are influenced mainly by sand and gravel size Particles are referred to as coarse soils, (© 1974, 1978, 1983, 1967, 1982, 1987, 2008 R-F.Craig, Spon Press =s