Effect of Contamination on the Shear Strength Parameter of Sand

Abstract

The problem for construction on sand has gained considerable attention and focus of academic research with rapid development of highway, railway, and city track traffic engineering. These rapid development indirectly caused an occurrence of contamination on the sand when experienced shear loading. Oil spills is one type of contaminant that percolates steadily into subsurface environments and contaminates the soil. It is affecting the quality and geotechnical properties of the soil and altering the physical properties of oil-contaminated soil. Thus, laboratory testing program was carried out to determine the effect of contamination on the shear strength parameter of sandy soils such as SP and SW sample. The testing included sieve analysis and direct shear test on clean and contaminated soil samples. The contaminated samples were prepared by mixing the soils with oil in the amount of 5%, 10% and 20% by mass. The result indicated a decrease in shear stress, friction angle and cohesion with increasing percentage of oil.