An investigation into the unique behavior of tropical residual soils.

摘要

Tropical residual soils commonly have different engineering characteristics compared to soils that have been deposited by classical sedimentary processes. Many of the empirical relationships used in geotechnical engineering are based on data from classically sorted soils and may not apply to tropical residual soils due to their unique characteristics thus making engineering in tropical residual soil environments difficult due to the lack of experience and useful test data. The unique engineering behavior of tropical residual soils can be attributed to how they are formed and their climatic location. Tropical residual soils are the in-situ weathered remnants of various types of parent rocks which lends to the soils having common unique characteristics such as inter-particle bonding. The soils generally have heterogeneous profiles and are predominantly in a naturally unsaturated state. Tropical residual soils are very sensitive to sample disturbance, and successfully determining an undisturbed tropical residual soil's water retention curve will help in understanding their mechanical behavior. Inter-particle bonding within tropical residual soils affect yielding at low net normal stresses and axial strains, so yield and failure envelopes should consider this effect.