CASE STUDY

The field investigation was carried out on two major roads in Khartoum state in
order to identify the key geotechnical information in the field investigation of roads
on expansive soils. Algabra road in southern part of Khartoum and Shambat road in
western part of Khartoum North were selected which are distincly different in their
geotechnical characteristics. Exploration and laboratory investigation was carried out.

Project Description

Algaba road is a major transport facility for trucks and buses that transport goods
and passengers from Omdurman to Khartoum south. The length connects the southern
part of Khartoum with Omdurman by Al Ingaz Bridge is 3km but in 900m length,
there had been plagued by cracking, rutting and potholes. These conditions of
pavement need for a geotechnical investigation because its overlay was badly cracked
and rutted.

Shambat road is a major road located at the western part of Khartoum North of
2.5km length. The distresses of cracks, potholes and heave were likely associated with
problems in the subgrade along the alignment but significant damages concentrations
located in certain sections of about 1.2 km length. The factors that may lead to
problems are expansive soil, compressible soil, poor drainage, weak subgrade and
lack of adequate surface drainage. The ground water table in Khartoum is much
deeper even during rainy season so there is no water table encountered.

Field Exploration

Three trial pits were excavated at each road site and distributed soil samples were
collected in the field exploration with depth 2m below ground level. After the samples
have been packed in a plastic bags and transported to the soil mechanics laboratory at
University Khartoum for testing. Disturbed samples were also taken from the trial pits.
Scaled, packaged, logged and transported to the laboratory.

Laboratory Investigation
 Based on the laboratory investigation, the expansive soil is identified by their
mineralogical composition and index properties. The purpose of this test is to measure
the soil physical properties, strength and swelling characteristics. Sieve analysis,
hydrometer, Atterberg limits tests were carried out for soil classification in
accordance with BS1377 and Unified Soil Classification System. In order to measure
swell potential and swelling pressure of compacted soil in a graduated cylindrical jar
of 100ml capacity, oedometer tests was performed.
Result and Discussion

Table 1 and 2 shows the tests results for the sample obtained from the subgrade
soil of Algaba road (G1 to G3) and Shambat road (Sh1 to Sh3). Wet sieving and
hydrometer tests were performed to obtain the particle size distribution of fine
samples.

Table 1: Index properties of soils samples

Table 2: Strength and swelling characteristics of soils

The results of the samples are plotted in Figure 1 and 2. Based on the graph
plotted, the soils have high clay content in the range of 57% to 70% and small amount
of sand and silt. The Liquid limit and plasticity index values are very high and varied
from 59% to 74% and from 30% to 40% respectively.

Casagrande’s plasticity chart of Figure 1 was used to identify the clay mineral
type based on liquid limit and plasticity index values. The soils are plotted in the zone
typical for montmorillonite. The activity of clay varied from 0.59 to 0.71 as given in
Table 1. The soils are cohesive of high plasticity with high to very high expansive
potential and very active due to the presence of montmorillonite clay minerals.

Figure 1: Particle size analysis for samples of Algaba road

 Figure 2: Particle size analysis for samples of Shambat road

According to Holtz and Gibbs, the free swell tests on samples from two sites were
performed. As observed in Table 2 high values of free swell index (FSI) in the range
from 160% to 250%. Based on the results, the soils are associated with clay which
could swell considerably when wetted and proved to have the ability to absorb and
retain a great deal of water and undergo significant volumetric changes with moisture
fluctuations.

After conduct an oedometer test on compacted clay smaples, tested at seated

pressure of 7 kPa it yelled swell potential (S) varied 7% to 15% and swelling pressure
(SP) values between 90kPa and 130kPa. It shows that expansive clay can exert high
upward swelling pressure. Results of oedometer are presented in Table 2.