Variation of the consistency limits and compaction parameters with heat treatment for clayey soils

ABSTRACT Master Thesis VARIATION OF THE CONSISTENCY LIMITS AND COMPACTION PARAMETERS WITH HEAT TREATMENT FOR CLAYEY SOILS Lale YILMAZ Atatürk University Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences Department Of Civil Engineer Supervisor : Asst. Prof. Dr. Özcan TAN From the point of view of both the grain size and mineralogical structure, clays are a type of soil. Studying the engineering characteristics of clay under different conditions has been very interesting subject for scientists the change of the water content and the degree of heating results in the change of some characteristics of the clayey soils. At the end of the heat treatment at different temperatures, mineralogical structure of the clayey soil is changed and depending on this process, different behaviors have been observed in geotechnical characteristics as well. In this study, the variation of some soil properties such as unit volume weight, liquid limit, plastic limit, optimum water content and maximum dry unit volume weight was investigated experimentally for two different clays which are brought from Oltu. Test temperatures were chosen as 100, 200, 250, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800 and 1000 °C and tests were performed according to standards. The graghs related to the variation of the parameters studied with heat treatment were then drawn, and the behaviors under the heating process were examined for two different clays, changes were compared with each other and the general information concerned with the results of experiments was given.From the experimental results, liquid limits, plastic limits, optimum water contents and specific gravity decreased with increasing temperature. However, maximum dry densities increased with increasing temperature. Plastic limits were completely eliminated at 400° C. Heating the clays decreased at 400°C the liquid limit and optimum water content by 49,9-66,0% 36,1-51,1%, and at 400° C specific gravity by 10,1-8,0 %, respectively, for two soils. Maximum dry density increased by 5,0-41,5% at 400°C for two soils. 2002, 77 pages Key Words: Clayey soils, Compaction, Atterberg limits, Specific gravity, Heat treatment ii