Physical and Mechanical Behavior of Dredged Soil Acquired from Dal Lake—A Laboratory Study

Abstract

This study deals with the characterization of dredged material obtained by dredging the world famous Dal Lake in Shrinagar, UT of J&K. Due to the non-availability of suitable dumping sites for the wastes generated around Dal Lake and owing to the concern of environmental and health issues of these waste materials, geotechnical engineers have been under tremendous pressure from geoenvironmentalists for the characterization of the same. Therefore, in this study, an attempt has been made to characterize the waste material generated from Dal Lake by studying its various physical and mechanical properties. Dredged material has been collected from three different sites viz Nishat, Shalimar, Telbal located on catchment of Dal Lake to conduct various field and laboratory tests for the determination of field density, soil classification, compaction characteristics, strength parameters like unconfined compressive strength, direct shear test and California bearing ratio. On the basis of results, it was found that the dredged material mostly comprised of silt, clay, and sand and the strength parameters revealed that dredged material cannot be used as construction and foundation material in its in situ state. Therefore, suitable and feasible treatments should be provided to dredged materials before being used for geotechnical applications.