Engineers,
The original geotechnical report of a site mentioned that there are shallow clays with swell and collapse potential (conclusions obtained based on the lab tests).
There is a second round of a geotechnical investigation for this site in which it is required to perform swell tests (ASTM D4546) on these clays.
The blowcount of the clays in general is over 20 BPF and few between 10 and 20 BPF.
In my experience, the only way to perform ASTM D4546 is by grabbing shelby tubes and preparing the "undisturbed sample". Shelby tubes are usually extracted on soft to very soft clays (SPT-N < 5 BPF), therefore in this case whenever the drilling contractor tries to push the shelby tube, the tip might bent because of the consistency of the existing clays (SPT > 20 BPF, in general).
I was wondering if there is any other way to perform the swell tests on these clays?. Do you have any suggestions?
Or maybe the question is: is there any way to perform SWELL tests on stiff clays (SPT-N> 15 BPF)?
The original geotechnical report of a site mentioned that there are shallow clays with swell and collapse potential (conclusions obtained based on the lab tests).
There is a second round of a geotechnical investigation for this site in which it is required to perform swell tests (ASTM D4546) on these clays.
The blowcount of the clays in general is over 20 BPF and few between 10 and 20 BPF.
In my experience, the only way to perform ASTM D4546 is by grabbing shelby tubes and preparing the "undisturbed sample". Shelby tubes are usually extracted on soft to very soft clays (SPT-N < 5 BPF), therefore in this case whenever the drilling contractor tries to push the shelby tube, the tip might bent because of the consistency of the existing clays (SPT > 20 BPF, in general).
I was wondering if there is any other way to perform the swell tests on these clays?. Do you have any suggestions?
Or maybe the question is: is there any way to perform SWELL tests on stiff clays (SPT-N> 15 BPF)?