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Minerals
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Clay Minerals in Geoengineering Applications: Behaviour, Hazards and Solutions
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Clay Minerals in Geoengineering Applications: Behaviour, Hazards and Solutions

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Clays and Engineered Mineral Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 September 2020) | Viewed by 9807

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Abbas Taheri

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Chair in Mine Design, The Robert M. Buchan Department of Mining, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada
Interests: drilling performance; rock burst investigation; behaviour of cement paste backfill material; slope and underground opening stability; advanced laboratory and field testing methods; soil improvement methods
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Clay minerals are hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, sometimes with variable amounts of iron, magnesium, alkali metals, alkaline earths, and other cations found on or near some planetary surfaces. They are important constituents of soil, and are among the most common and readily accessible of all of the materials encountered in construction operations. Most clay soils, particularly those containing active smectite minerals such as montmorillonite, are characterized as problematic, as their intrinsic mechanical features, for example, strength, bearing capacity and volume change, are often less than ideal for common geotechnical engineering applications. Clay soils are generally reactive to moisture variations, and their behaviour under loads consists of immediate and time-dependent deformations, that is, consolidation and creep, which present significant challenges for geotechnical engineering systems. Where exposed to seasonal environments, active clay minerals exhibit significant swell–shrink volume changes and desiccation-induced cracking, thereby bringing forth instability concerns to the overlying structures, and hence incurring large amounts of maintenance costs. Consequently, clay soils demand engineering solutions to alleviate the associated socio-economic impacts on human life. A leading solution to counteract such adversities is soil stabilisation, which includes any chemical, mechanical, biological, or combined practice of altering the soil fabric so as to meet the intended engineering criteria. This Special Issue aims to bring together corresponding original studies related to the identification, classification, characterisation, and stabilisation of clays and clay minerals for their effective use in geotechnical engineering projects. Fundamental constitutive modelling studies, analytical and numerical analyses, and experimental and field investigations will be considered.

Dr. Abbas Taheri
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Minerals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Clay
  • Expansive soil
  • Soil stabilisation
  • Soil characterisation
  • Experimental studies
  • Constituative and numerical modelling

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 4230 KiB  
Article
Strength and Volume Change Characteristics of Clayey Soils: Performance Evaluation of Enzymes
by Tanveer Ahmed Khan, Mohd Raihan Taha, Mudasser Muneer Khan, Syyed Adnan Raheel Shah, Muhammad Asif Aslam, Ahsan Waqar, Ahsan Rehman Khan and Muhammad Waseem
Minerals 2020, 10(1), 52; https://doi.org/10.3390/min10010052 - 06 Jan 2020
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3224
Abstract
This study was conducted to evaluate the strength and volume change characteristics of a sedimentary residual soil mixed with bentonite (S1) when treated with three different enzymes. In addition, three reference clays including bentonite, illite, and kaolinite were also treated with enzymes to [...] Read more.
This study was conducted to evaluate the strength and volume change characteristics of a sedimentary residual soil mixed with bentonite (S1) when treated with three different enzymes. In addition, three reference clays including bentonite, illite, and kaolinite were also treated with enzymes to study the effect on their strength characteristics. Soil samples prepared at the optimum moisture content (OMC) were sealed and cured for four months. After curing, reference clays were tested for unconfined compressive strength (UCS). For swell tests, the S1 soil samples were placed on porous stones, which were immersed in water to allow capillary soaking of the samples. S1 samples were allowed to dry at ambient temperature for shrinkage test until the rate of reduction in volume became negligible. On completion of swell tests, the samples were tested for UCS to determine the decrease in strength due to saturation. No increase in strength and decrease in volume change were observed for any of the enzymes and dosages. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) showed some dense packing of particles for treated samples, whereas X-ray diffraction (XRD) did not reveal any change; in fact, the pattern for untreated and treated soil samples were indistinguishable. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Clay Minerals in Geoengineering Applications: Behaviour, Hazards and Solutions)
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18 pages, 7674 KiB  
Article
Swell–Shrink Behavior of Rubberized Expansive Clays during Alternate Wetting and Drying
by Amin Soltani, An Deng, Abbas Taheri, Mehdi Mirzababaei and Sai K. Vanapalli
Minerals 2019, 9(4), 224; https://doi.org/10.3390/min9040224 - 09 Apr 2019
Cited by 38 | Viewed by 5044
Abstract
The present study examines rubber’s capacity of improving the swell–shrink potential of expansive clays. Two rubber types of fine and coarse categories with different geometrical features were considered. The test program consisted of standard Proctor compaction and cyclic wetting–drying tests. Scanning electron microscopy [...] Read more.
The present study examines rubber’s capacity of improving the swell–shrink potential of expansive clays. Two rubber types of fine and coarse categories with different geometrical features were considered. The test program consisted of standard Proctor compaction and cyclic wetting–drying tests. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis was also performed to identify the soil–rubber amending mechanisms, and to observe the evolution of fabric in response to alternate wetting and drying. Cyclic wetting–drying led to the reconstruction of the soil/soil–rubber microstructure by way of inducing aggregation and cementation of the soil grains. The greater the number of applied cycles, the lower the swell–shrink features, following a monotonically decreasing trend, with the rubberized blends holding a notable advantage over the virgin soil. The tendency for reduction, however, was in favor of a larger rubber size, and more importantly the rubber’s elongated form factor; thus, predicating a rubber size/shape-dependent amending mechanism. The soil–rubber amending mechanisms were discussed in three aspects—increase in non-expansive content, frictional resistance generated as a result of soil–rubber contact, and mechanical interlocking of rubber particles and soil grains. The swell–shrink patterns/paths indicated an expansive accumulated deformation for the virgin soil, whereas the rubberized blends manifested a relatively neutral deformational state, thereby corroborating the rubber’s capacity to counteract the heave and/or settlement incurred by alternate wetting and drying. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Clay Minerals in Geoengineering Applications: Behaviour, Hazards and Solutions)
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