Improvement of Earth Canals Constructed on Gypseous Soil by Soil Cement Mixture

Abstract

The gypseous soil may be one of the problems that face the engineers especially when it used as a foundation for hydraulic structures, roads, and other structures. Gypseous soil is strong soil and has good properties when it is dry, but the problem arises when building hydraulic installations or heavy buildings on this soil after wetting the water to the soil by raising the water table level from any source or from rainfall which leads to dissolve the gypsum content.

Cement-stabilized soil has been successfully used as a facing or lining for earth channel, highway embankments and drainage ditches to reduce the risk of erosion and collapsibility of soil. This study is deliberate the treatment of gypseous soil by using a mixture of soil-cement. Collapsibility  and settlement tests were carried out on gypseous soil brought  from Karbla Governorate with a gypsum content (42.55%) soil mixed with various amounts of cement  (2%,3%,5%,8%,10%,13%,and 15 %) by Wight and compacted to max. dry density 16.5 kN/m³  with O.M.C.( 12.8 % ) . The experimental tests were conducted on a flume with constant velocity (0.148 m/sec) during the test. The results marked that (10) % of cement decreases the collapsibility about 86.54% and the gypsum contained in the soil remain the same nearly after 28 day. Beside that the research shows that the minimum curing time is 14 days.