Implementation of the UV-VIS method to measure organic content in clay soils : technical report.

Details

• Creators:
  Harris, Pat ; Harvey, Omar ; Sebesta, Stephen
• Corporate Creators:
  Texas Transportation Institute
• Corporate Contributors:
  Texas. Dept. of Transportation. Research and Technology Implementation Office ; United States. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Clay soils
  • Organic soils
  • Organic materials
  • Soil tests
  • Soil organic matter, Soil stabilization, Lime treatment, Expansive soils
• Publication/ Report Number:
  FHWA/TX-11/5-5540-01-1
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Texas
• Corporate Publisher:
  United States. Federal Highway Administration
• Abstract:
  The Texas Department of Transportation has been having problems with organic matter in soils that they ; stabilize for use as subgrade layers in road construction. The organic matter reduces the effectiveness of ; common soil additives (lime/cement) in stabilization projects. The researchers developed a technique using ; UV-Vis spectroscopy to measure the harmful organic matter in another project (0-5540). This project ; consisted of purchasing three UV-Vis instruments, equipping them with software to measure the organic ; matter and doing two trainings with the Texas Department of Transportation. Following the trainings, four ; laboratories analyzed 20 natural soil samples and three laboratory standards to determine repeatability and ; reproducibility between the laboratories. Researchers also continued testing real project soils to see what ; mitigation techniques researchers could use. Researchers determined that three replicates need to be run to ; achieve 95 percent confidence that the measured value is the true value. Researchers determined that soils ; with organic matter below 1.5 percent can be safely treated, and soils with an organic matter to Eades and ; Grim optimum lime (OM: EG) ratio less than 0.5 have the greatest potential for mitigation with additional ; lime application. Additionally, calcium chloride added to the soil with the lime improved the formation of ; pozzolanic reaction products and strengths of some soils. This work illustrates the complex nature of organic ; interactions with soil stabilizers and the many questions left unresolved.
  More +
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  Project 5-5540-01
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/20407/dot_20407_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.49 MB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:630a4960476a2f74ff8f22e5925428675821a96d791119badf58952ab16aee45fee17b55272625d21aa12cc3a15dee455886f1a0c998cba18244643c8112a841