Evaluation of the geomechanical properties of lime-treated silt samples extracted from an experimental levee 6 years after construction
Evaluation of the geomechanical properties of lime-treated silt samples extracted from an experimental levee 6 years after construction
In recent decades, multiple research projects have shown the positive impact of lime treatment on the construction or improvement of hydraulic structures. Both the hydraulic and the mechanical properties of lime-treated soils can be improved allowing for new design techniques and potential resource saving. In July 2015, as part of the DigueELITE project, a full-size experimental levee was built in a meander of the Vidourle River (Gard, France). The structure comprises a first section with a platform and a settling basin at the toe of the slope constructed with silty soil treated with 2% lime, and a second section built with the same soil untreated. As a primary objective, the resistance to external erosion of the lime- treated soil was quantified by performing overflow tests in 2016 and 2017. Then, the monitoring of the durability of the structure treated with lime was carried out. For this latter purpose, a test campaign took place in June 2021; samples were extracted from the core of the structure on the platform in lime-treated soil and characterized. This paper provides a brief description of the experimental levee, the experiments previously carried out, and the procedure implemented to study the geomechanical behavior of the samples extracted. Finally, the results of permeability, UCS, shearing strength, and oedometric compressibility tests, performed 6 years after the construction, are presented, and compared with those acquired just after the construction of the levee on samples prepared in the laboratory and cured for 7 to 28 days.
F. Bertola; F. Klotz; P. Gerard; B. Francois
18th European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ECSMGE2024)
E - Environment, water and energy
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