Geotechnical evaluation of diesel contaminated clayey soil

Abstract

Soil contamination by different hydrocarbons has rapidly expanded worldwide, surpassing the self-purification capacity of soils and increasing the number of contaminated sites. Although much effort has been devoted to study the effects of diesel contamination on the geotechnical properties of soil, there is still limited available information about it. Moreover, there is no available information about the maximum diesel retention that soil can have and its effect on the geotechnical behavior of the soil. Thus, in this paper, we determined the maximum diesel retention by an unsaturated clayey soil and evaluated the impact of diesel contamination on its geotechnical properties. The results showed that the soil could only retain 12.6% of the added diesel and the excess was expulsed. At such a diesel concentration, the saturation rate of the soil was lower than 80%. Diesel contamination increased the plasticity and the internal friction angle of the soil, while its cohesion was considerably decreased. It should be noted that the matric suction of contaminated soil was lower than the one obtained for natural soil. However, its osmotic suction was considerably higher. This indicates that osmotic suction must be considered to evaluate the shear strength of contaminated soils.