Compressibility and creep of a diatomaceous soil

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorArenaldi Perisic, Ghio
dc.contributor.authorOvalle, Carlos
dc.contributor.authorBarrios, Antonio
dc.date.accessioned2025-01-23T21:11:10Z
dc.date.available2025-01-23T21:11:10Z
dc.date.issued2019
dc.description.abstractDiatomaceous soils are composed by a mix of sand, fines and fossilized diatoms, which are unicellular micro algae composed by a strong silica frustule of 10 to 100 mu m in size, with rough surface and enclosing a void that could give the soil a very low dry density. Due to high water storage capacity within frustules, diatomaceous soils present high Liquid Limit and classifies as high plastic silt (MH). In classical soil mechanics, low density and high plasticity are properties associated to very soft soils, however, previous studies have reported that diatomaceous soils could mobilize high shear strength and present relatively high yield stress.
dc.description.abstractDue to large diversity of natural diatomaceous soils in nature, their geotechnical singularities are still not fully understood and reported data on undisturbed samples remain scarce. In this paper, a laboratory experimental study is presented on a diatomaceous soil from Mejillones Bay in northern Chile, focused on compressibility and creep. Microscopic observations and mineralogical analyses indicate that the soil contains siliceous diatom frustules of 10 to 60 mu m in size, which gives the soil a very low dry density and high natural water content. Compression tests on undisturbed samples results in yield stress much higher than the overburden pressure, high contrast between compressibility before and after yielding, and significant creep strains. The diatomaceous soil does not follow empirical correlations typically used in Soil Mechanics, and is significantly more compressible than fine soils with similar geotechnical classification. Qualitative microscopic observations after compression show that a large amount of frustules have crushed, which probably explains the high compressibility of the soil.
dc.description.funderCONICYT Chile through project FONDECYT
dc.fuente.origenWOS
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.enggeo.2019.105145
dc.identifier.eissn1872-6917
dc.identifier.issn0013-7952
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2019.105145
dc.identifier.urihttps://repositorio.uc.cl/handle/11534/100890
dc.identifier.wosidWOS:000483909000009
dc.language.isoen
dc.revistaEngineering geology
dc.rightsacceso restringido
dc.subjectDiatoms
dc.subjectCompressibility
dc.subjectCreep
dc.subject.ods11 Sustainable Cities and Communities
dc.subject.odspa11 Ciudades y comunidades sostenibles
dc.titleCompressibility and creep of a diatomaceous soil
dc.typeartículo
dc.volumen258
sipa.indexWOS
sipa.trazabilidadWOS;2025-01-12
Files
Collections
Artículos de revistas