PREDICTION OF COLLAPSIBLE SOILS BY THE CONE PENETROMETER AND ULTRASONIC TESTS

摘要

Collapsible soils type are in nature unsaturated soils, which are particularized by a metastable structure, and undergo an abrupt collapse when they are flooded (with or without loading), which causes important damage. Based on the structural composition of these soils, we reconstituted samples made up of various proportions of sand and fine particles. The first phase of work consists in the experimental determination of the geotechnical characteristics of these samples. It is thereafter proposed a test program based primarily on the use of the cone penetrometer and the ultrasonic apparatus as the approaches for the prediction of the factors which influence collapse. The results obtained clearly show the influence of certain parameters such as; water content and the energy of compaction on the collapse potential and ultrasonic speed.