Predicting heave on the expansive soil

Abstract

The heave of expansive soil information is a fundamental part of the preparation of a foundation design to accommodate the anticipated volume change and consequences associated with the foundation movement over the design life of the structure. The one-dimensional oedometer is the most widely accepted method to identify and evaluate the amount of swell that may occur. Although the oedometer is used extensively for evaluating the amount of heave, the procedures used are quite varied, and few of the methods have been validated experimentally. An objective of this research study is to briefly explain common practices and existing heave prediction by oedometer methods and then, to validate by experimental laboratory heave tests using soil sample from Ngawi. The two prediction methods provided results that represent low and upper bound predictions of the actual soil heave movement in the laboratory. The difference between the prediction with heave measurement is about 29,50% and 45,02%, respectively.