Problems with collapsible soils: Particle types and inter-particle bonding

A collapsible soil is composed essentially of a packing of mineral particles and a set of interparticle bonds holding the system together. Failure requires the bond system to fail and the soil structure to collapse. A natural hazard is presented. The soil structure may collapse inwards (consolidate)...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Smalley Ian, Ng’ambi Samson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: De Gruyter 2019-11-01
Series:Open Geosciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1515/geo-2019-0064
_version_ 1818718872266604544
author Smalley Ian
Ng’ambi Samson
author_facet Smalley Ian
Ng’ambi Samson
author_sort Smalley Ian
collection DOAJ
description A collapsible soil is composed essentially of a packing of mineral particles and a set of interparticle bonds holding the system together. Failure requires the bond system to fail and the soil structure to collapse. A natural hazard is presented. The soil structure may collapse inwards (consolidate), as in loess failure, or it may collapse outwards (disperse, disintegrate), as in the failure of quick-clays, some collapsing sands, some silty estuarine deposits, and in wind erosion of silty soils by saltating sand grains. Generalising about bonding systems allows two types of interparticle bond to be recognized: long range bonds and short range bonds. Long range bonds are found in clay mineral systems and allow the occurrence of plasticity. They are represented by c in the standard Coulomb equation. Short range bonds are found in inactive particle systems. These are soil systems where the constituent particles do not have a significant electrical charge. A slight deformation of a short-range bonded system causes much loss of strength. It is short range bonds which tend to dominate in collapsing soil systems, although in the complex case of loess the bond failure is initially mediated by long range bonds at the interparticle contact regions. A collapse failure involves a large scale remaking of the soil structure, and thus total failure of the bonding system.
first_indexed 2024-12-17T19:57:57Z
format Article
id doaj.art-b4b7c267300f402c8b9fe124ff26ebd1
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2391-5447
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-17T19:57:57Z
publishDate 2019-11-01
publisher De Gruyter
record_format Article
series Open Geosciences
spelling doaj.art-b4b7c267300f402c8b9fe124ff26ebd12022-12-21T21:34:33ZengDe GruyterOpen Geosciences2391-54472019-11-0111182983610.1515/geo-2019-0064geo-2019-0064Problems with collapsible soils: Particle types and inter-particle bondingSmalley Ian0Ng’ambi Samson1School of Geography, Geology & the Environment, University of Leicester, LeicesterLE1 7RH, United KingdomSchool of Environment Construction & Energy, Coventry University, CoventryCV1 5FB, United KingdomA collapsible soil is composed essentially of a packing of mineral particles and a set of interparticle bonds holding the system together. Failure requires the bond system to fail and the soil structure to collapse. A natural hazard is presented. The soil structure may collapse inwards (consolidate), as in loess failure, or it may collapse outwards (disperse, disintegrate), as in the failure of quick-clays, some collapsing sands, some silty estuarine deposits, and in wind erosion of silty soils by saltating sand grains. Generalising about bonding systems allows two types of interparticle bond to be recognized: long range bonds and short range bonds. Long range bonds are found in clay mineral systems and allow the occurrence of plasticity. They are represented by c in the standard Coulomb equation. Short range bonds are found in inactive particle systems. These are soil systems where the constituent particles do not have a significant electrical charge. A slight deformation of a short-range bonded system causes much loss of strength. It is short range bonds which tend to dominate in collapsing soil systems, although in the complex case of loess the bond failure is initially mediated by long range bonds at the interparticle contact regions. A collapse failure involves a large scale remaking of the soil structure, and thus total failure of the bonding system.https://doi.org/10.1515/geo-2019-0064collapsible soilssandsilt and clay-sizelong and short range bondssoil erosiontwo basic types of soil collapseloess
spellingShingle Smalley Ian
Ng’ambi Samson
Problems with collapsible soils: Particle types and inter-particle bonding
Open Geosciences
collapsible soils
sand
silt and clay-size
long and short range bonds
soil erosion
two basic types of soil collapse
loess
title Problems with collapsible soils: Particle types and inter-particle bonding
title_full Problems with collapsible soils: Particle types and inter-particle bonding
title_fullStr Problems with collapsible soils: Particle types and inter-particle bonding
title_full_unstemmed Problems with collapsible soils: Particle types and inter-particle bonding
title_short Problems with collapsible soils: Particle types and inter-particle bonding
title_sort problems with collapsible soils particle types and inter particle bonding
topic collapsible soils
sand
silt and clay-size
long and short range bonds
soil erosion
two basic types of soil collapse
loess
url https://doi.org/10.1515/geo-2019-0064
work_keys_str_mv AT smalleyian problemswithcollapsiblesoilsparticletypesandinterparticlebonding
AT ngambisamson problemswithcollapsiblesoilsparticletypesandinterparticlebonding