The influence of organic contaminants on the shear strength of clay

Autor(en)
Thilo Hofmann
Abstrakt

The influence of five organic contaminants, i.e. methanol, p-xylene, tetrachlorethene, acetic acid and ethanolamine, on the shear strength of two different clay types was investigated in this project at the Technical University Berlin. Test materials were Sarstedt clay containing principally illite and kaolinite and Friedland clay dominated by smektite and illite. Clay material from batch-test equilibrium experiments was used for shear box tests. As reference, a sample from a batch-test with double distilled water was used. Samplees treated with p-xylene and tetrachlorethene showed no variation in their shear strength. Shear strength increased significantly as samples were treated with methanol, ethanolamine and acetic acid. This is due to very strong contaminant-clay interaction and coalulation of clay minerals. The two clay types reacted differently; inter-particle forces in Sarstedt clay were very intensive after treatment with acetic acid and ethanolamine, and no decrease between peak shear strength and residual shear strength could be observed. In contrast, Friedland clay showed a significant drop in peak to residual shear strength ratio even after treatment with these contaminants.

Organisation(en)
Journal
Geotechnik : Organ d. Deutschen Gesellschaft für Erd- und Grundbau
Band
20
ISSN
0172-6145
Publikationsdatum
1997
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
105904 Umweltforschung
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/8dbd5469-18ff-4719-be09-0cf370e6c14c