Geotechnical profiles of expansive soil hazard for road infrastructure: Case study of Takalar-Jeneponto provincial road corridor

Abstract

This paper presents a developed geotechnical profiles which can be utlized to map expansive soil hazard for road infrastructure. The geotechnical profiles are a fundamental part of newly framework of establishing expansive soil hazard mapping which comprise of digital elevation model of area along road corridor, geological maps and geotechnical database consisting of measured in-situ and laboratory tests data, and predicted active zone by using rainfall and potential evapotranspiration data. The geotechnical profiles in the study area suggested that clay layer dominates soil formation in the area which is found to be very expansive. The thickenss of the clay layer varies due to geological structure where it is shallow in the anticline structure and deep in the sycline structure. Active zone is difficult to predict since the measurement of groundwater table is not time lapse measurement. Therefore, future study would investigate the use of SMOS and SMAP satellite platforms, and differential SAR inferometry would enhance prediction of spatial distribution of active zone of expansive soil.