An Experimental Study for Swelling Effect on Repairing of Cracks in Fine-Grained Clayey Soils

Abstract

Earth-dam failure starts with cracking in the clay core, and this cracking is not easy to detect and prevent. Therefore, swellable clay is a feasible solution, which helps to close the cracks automatically based on the self-healing process. The presented study utilizes experimental procedures to analyze the swelling behavior of fine-grained clayey soils to prevent structural failure regarding crack generations. In this regard, the clayey materials were modified using Kaolin and Bentonite mixed with various weight percentages (2.5, 5.0, 7.5, 10.0, and 12.5%) and extracted the geotechnical characteristics of the studied soils, which included 90 specimens and 85 tests, such as physical properties, consolidation, particle-size analysis, hydrometry, Atterberg limits, compaction, odometer, and pinhole. The experimental results revealed that the swelling of the Bentonite is more than Kaolin satisfied for self-healing features in clayey soils. Regarding the numerous swelling tests, Bentonite provides optimum results (attained 10%) compared to Kaolin. As a verification procedure, the pinhole test was performed on samples, which revealed that Bentonite was dominant in controlling the water flow through the samples.