Engineering Geology 93 (2007) 31 44 www.elsevier.

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The causes of the high friction angle of Dutch organic soils

X.H. Cheng a,, D.J.M. Ngan-Tillard a , E.J. Den Haan b
a

Department of Geotechnology, TU Delft The Netherlands b GeoDelft Delft The Netherlands

Received 24 May 2006; received in revised form 28 February 2007; accepted 7 March 2007 Available online 12 April 2007

Abstract Dutch organic soils have been found in past experiments to possess extremely high effective strength parameters. Since this finding is not expected and the phenomenon has yet to be explained, the high yield strength value is not used in practice. Understanding the abnormal properties of Dutch organic soils would thus be beneficial from the practical point of view. A programme aimed at understanding the unusual properties of Dutch organic soils, non-peat soils in particular, was performed on the representative organic soils in Dutch nature reserve park, Oostvaardersplasen (OVP) near Almere. Highly variable fabric of these organic soils was characterized by Computed Tomography X-ray scanner and environmental electronic microscope. Recognized fabric is in line with the geology of the OVP site. The multi-scale investigation as presented eventually identified the major role played by subhorizontal laminae and other non-organic microstructural elements (microfossil skeleton) in the high values of OVP organic soils. Deformation mechanisms of the microstructural elements are proposed and these make the unusual geotechnical properties explainable. Organics as involved were believed to have a primary contribution in increasing Atterberg limits and compressibility, and to allow the generation of high pore water pressures and low effective confining pressures during shearing. It has been also observed that high value is always correlated to the low effective confining pressure. 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Organic soils; Microfabric; Laminated soils; High friction angle

1. Introduction Past experiments involving a large number of undrained triaxial tests conducted on Dutch organic soils have led to the conclusion that the soils possess extremely high effective strength parameters which increase while the bulk density of the soil decreases (Den Haan, 1995). Since this finding is not in line with expectations and the phenomenon has yet to be

Corresponding author. E-mail address: xiaohuicheng@hotmail.com (X.H. Cheng). 0013-7952/$ - see front matter 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.enggeo.2007.03.009

explained, the high yield strength value is not used in practice. Organic soils cover a large part of the Netherlands. Infrastructure lines are founded on top of organic deposits and dikes are made of organic soils. Understanding the abnormal properties of Dutch organic soils would thus be beneficial from the practical point of view. Depending on the mechanisms responsible for the high effective strength of organic soils, less conservative values could be used in the design of embankments, and more realistic estimations of the strength of dikes could be made. One might also think of mimicking nature to strengthen soils.

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An international literature review reveals that organic soils with a high effective friction angle, are not unique to the Netherlands: a) An apparent of 34 was considered as particularly high for a slightly organic clay known as the Bothkennar clay in Britain (Hight et al., 1992). The dominant angular silt fraction was thought to be responsible for the high-, and the 2 to 4% organic content was found to increase Atterberg limits. During testing, the effective mean stress ranged between 25 and 150 kPa. b) Relatively high between 25 and 40 are reported for the reconstituted Osaka bay clay (Tanaka and Locat, 1999). A microfossil identified as diatom was accounted for both the high- and high Atterberg limits. The role of 2 to 4% organic content was not emphasized. An effective friction angle of 44 was also found for the diatomaceous fill that has a low dry density and high moisture (Day, 1995). The reasons for this high effective friction angle were given by the interlocking and rough surface features of diatoms at low stress level. Effective mean stresses between 100 and 300 kPa were recorded during testing. This is higher than the stress levels reported by others for clays with a higher organic content. c) The 10% to 60% organic content of Juturnaiba organic clays in Brazil was found to increase the of natural samples according to the following empirical relationship: = 23 + 0.5766 OC with

OC, the organic content expressed in percentage (Coutinho and Lacerda, 1989). Angles were found to increase up to 57 with effective mean stress pressures decreasing from 300 to 50 kPa. d) A very high ranging between 60 and 90 was found for Swedish clayey gyttja with 10% organic content (Larsson, 1990). It was related to the abundance of micro-fibers discovered by electron scanning microscopy. However, whether the microfibers are organics or was not established. Effective mean stresses up to 100 kPa and as low as 15 kPa were recorded during testing. e) Organic clay from Cubzac-les-Ponts in France with organic contents up to 25% and bulk densities in the range 12 to 16 kN/m3, did not reveal particularly high angles (Shahanguian, 1981). From the reported CIU tests on normally consolidated clay under effective mean stresses between 30 and 70 kPa, back calculation reveals only 2834 or less. f) Krieg (2000) studied the geotechnical properties of various organic clays from Schwerin, Berlin and Rotterdam, and found values of ranging from 44 to 74. Bulk density varied from 1.2 to 1.5 t/m3 with organic contents up to 30%. Diatoms and remains of plant fibers were thought to be the cause of the high strength values. During testing, recorded minimum effective mean stresses were above 50 kPa. The multi-scale fabric of organic soils is highly variable and the fundamentals of their behaviour are not

Table 1 Geotechnical classification and index properties of OVP organic soils Depth (G.L., m) Geotechnical classification and identification. N (%) s a D50 Samples for triaxial compression (m) No. Depth (m) Wn (%) n (g/cm3) a/r CIU10A CIU10B 1.181.35 144 1.351.53 167 1.332 1.295 1.226 1.210 1.145 1.0 1.5 1.7

1.162.06 (a) Very organic brown silty clay, with very closely spaced thin laminae of fine grained silt (Almere deposits) 2.062.78 (b) Very organic clayey dark brown silt, with very closely spaced thin laminae of medium-grained silt (Almere deposits) 2.562.93 (c) Dark brownblack peat, with significant amounts of fine wood fibers. Spongy structure 2.933.40 (d) Very organic light gray clayey silt, with very closely spaced thin laminae of mediumgrained silt and with vertical rootlets 3.404.58 Mixed layers of very organic soils: (c) peat soil+ (d) Very organic clayey SILT
a

1020 2.2552.455 5

30

2.085

12

CAU11B 2.062.26 203 CAU11D 2.262.44 212 CIU11C 2.642.84 257

33

2.039

CIU12C CIU12A

3.043.24 303 3.243.42 148 3.413.51 355 3.513.61 360 4.024.22 323

1.149 1.264

2.0 1.0

70

1.602

CIU14A CIU14B CAU13

1.074 1.074 1.198

2.0 1.5

Calculated by the relation 1/s = N/1.365 + (1 N)/2.695. This relation was obtained for Dutch organic soils according to the method used by Skempton and Petley (1970) for organic soils. The temperature used in loss-on-ignition test (N) was 550 C.

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well understood. A programme aimed at understanding the unusual properties of Dutch organic soils, non-peat soils in particular, was launched in the 1990's. The Dutch nature reserve park in Oostvaardersplasen (OVP) near Almere, the Netherlands, was chosen as sampling site. The OVP Holocene soil deposits are believed to be representative of Dutch organic soils, which consist of layers of organic clay and silt and peat. The geology of the OVP site can be schematised using Van Loon and Wiggers (1975). After the sea level rose at the end of the last ice age (Weichselien up to 8000 BC), a peat layer was formed above Pleistocene sands. Sea transgressions and regressions succeeded

each other. During transgressions large areas of peat were eroded and clay was formed. During regression, peat was formed. At the end of the subboreal (3000 to 900 BC) several sea transgressions led to the formation of the Flevo lake. Peat was eroded by wave action and the lake expanded. A detritus-gyttja layer started to form at about 1250 BC from the eroded peat in the fresh water environment of the lake. Around 0 BC, the connection of the Flevo lake to the Wadden Sea to the North became wider. In the fresh to slightly brackish waters of the newly formed Zuiderzee lagoon, the silts and clays of the Almere deposits were formed. They contain an upwards diminishing amount of organic matter derived

Fig. 1. Stress paths and radial strain changes (a) silts b and d (b) clay a and peat c.

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Table 2 Triaxial compression properties of OVP organic soils Soil type Test No. End of consolidation a () Organic silt CIU11C CIU12A CIU12C CAU11B CAU11D CAU13 CIU10A CIU10B CIU14A CIU14B 0.15 0.05 0.19 0.20 0.16 0.11 0.05 0.12 0.08 0.15 v () 0.33 0.17 0.38 0.16 0.18 0.09 0.15 0.27 0.17 0.33 r () 0.09 0.06 0.09 0.02 0.01 0.01 0.05 0.08 0.04 0.10 3 (kPa) 83 39 121 30 19 25 41 83 40 79 s (kPa) 83 39 121 45 32 38 41 83 40 79 Failure, i.e. maximum shear stress state a () 0.29 0.17 0.30 0.26 0.22 0.13 0.13 0.35 0.17 0.31 r () 0.02 0 0.04 0.05 0.02 0.02 0.01 0.03 0 0.01 t (kPa) 40 17 49 27 23 19 22 35 22 41 s (kPa) 57 25 81 34 28 23 31 57 25 49 3,f (kPa) 17 8 32 7 5 4 9 22 3 5 () assuming c = 0 45 43 38 52 56 56 46 38 63 65

Organic clay Peat

from peat and gyttja and several laminations of various thickness and gradation. The laminations are believed to be the result of wave and storm actions (Van Loon and Wiggers, 1976). At about 1600 AD, the connection to the Wadden Sea rapidly widened even further. The water became brackish to salty and the marine deposits of the Zuiderzee were formed. The Zuiderzee was closed by a dike in 1932. Lake Ijssel was created and then reclaimed to form the Zuiderzee polder in 1968. Human activities resulted in the formation of a thin and reworked cover of fresh water soils: the Ijsselmeer deposits. The OVP are a nature reserve in this polder where little reworking has taken place. The upper layer has gone through several stages of weathering in recent decades. From the results of a preliminary laboratory testing programme which focussed on the soft organic clays of the Almere deposits, the samples were found to fail in undrained triaxial compression with values of 50 to 60. The values were calculated assuming zero cohesion and the mobilized effective angle of internal friction was at maximum. The high values were found to remain irrespective of the sampler, sample size and consolidation history (Den Haan, 2003). The latter results eventually stimulated the multi-scale investigation of the OVP organic soils, excluding peat, by using advanced microscopy technologies. The results are presented hereafter. In the study, one attempts to relate the presence of microfossils, observed by means of
Table 3 Variation in and c with organic soil type and effective confining stress OVP a very organic silty clay 2 tests: CIU10A and CIU10B () c(kPa) n (g/cm3) 3,f (kPa)

electronic microscope, and the presence of silty laminations, recognized by Computed Tomography X-ray scanner and electronic microscope to the high resistance of the OVP soils. The use of these technologies is shown to be decisive for the comprehension of the behaviour of heterogeneous soils like OVP organic soils, even if it is not new. X-ray CT scanner allowed a major breakthrough in the understanding of shear strain localisation in sand specimens subjected to triaxial testing (Desrues et al., 1996). It also appeared suitable for the study of strain localisation in clayey materials in few occasions, when compacted shear bands form under large confining pressures (Tillard, 1992) or existing fissures affect macro-cracking (Sun et al., 2004). To discover the real-time fabric change of clayey soils at different loading states, environmental scanning microscopy (ESEM) is useful, particularly when equipped in the ESEM chamber with a microloading module (Cheng et al., 2004 and Cheng, 2004). 2. Triaxial compression of OVP organics soils: Macro-level observations 2.1. Profile description Samples down to 5 m below the ground level were recovered using the Delft Continuous Begemann

OVP b, d very organic clayey silt 3 CIU tests CIU11C, CIU12C and CIU12A 35.8 (R2 = 0.974) 4.5 (R2 = 0.974) 1.186 8.1; 16.7; 31.6 3 CAU tests CAU11B, CAU11D and CAU13 44.0 (R2 = 0.990) 4.6 (R2 = 0.990) 1.211 4.0; 4.6; 7.1

OVP c peat 2 tests: CIU14a and CIU14b

29.7 7.7 1.314 8.6; 22

64.3 0 1.074 3.0; 5.3

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Fig. 2. CT-numberdepth profile.

sampler. From Den Haan (2003), it can be expected that they are high quality samples which behave as Laval samples during consolidated triaxial testing. Visual inspection of the OVP cores and index properties (bulk density, specific density, natural water content, loss-on-ignition and particle size distribution) were determined. The results from the analysis are summarized in Table 1. Sand layers and the top deposits are not considered. The bulk density of OVP soils was found to decrease and fluctuate with depth. As expected, geotechnical indices of OVP organic soils were found to be highly variable at the centimeter scale of resolution of routine test measurements. For example, the water content of two neighboring samples CIU12A and CIU12C was found to deviate by 155%. Using XRD analysis, size distribution analysis and petrographic analysis on 30 m thick thin sections and natural samples, it was shown that OVP organic soils are mixtures of clay, silt and fine sand-size fractions. The clay-size fraction consists of illite, quartz, calcium carbonate and organics. The medium silt-size fraction dominates in the mixture and is made of quartz, calcium carbonate and organics. The fine sand-size fraction consists of quartz, pyrite, shells and organics. Organics present in the OVP soils are derived from eroded peat and gyttja formed in an earlier period. Wood fragments, stems and rootlets co-exist in the OVP soils with micro-organisms such as algae and plankton, amorphous organics and silicate and calcium

carbonate microfossils. Some thin laminations of medium to coarse silts could be observed with the naked eye. In the dry state, the OVP soils do not disintegrate under light to moderate finger pressure due to the binding effect provided by their amorphous organic and clay fractions. Denomination of the OVP organic soils has not been possible due to the diversity of classifications proposed in the literature to distinguish true peats from organic soils. Progressive transition from one soil type to another renders the segmentation of the organic soils profile even more difficult. However, disregarding the top and bottom sandy layers, the soil profile was schematised as shown in Table 1 and four types of organic soils (a to d) have been identified accordingly. 2.2. Description of testing programme After classification, 10 samples were selected. Samples 66 mm in diameter and 150 mm in height (whenever sufficient material was available) were subjected to undrained triaxial tests after isotropic and anisotropic consolidation, abbreviated CIU and CAU respectively. Application of a back pressure of 200 kPa ensured saturation to a satisfactory level with B-values greater than 0.94. The pore pressure was monitored in the traditional way at the sample ends and further by using a needle probe in the middle of sample. The ratio of the axial to the radial strain was calculated at the end of the isotropic

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Fig. 3. Laminations in sample 10B (a) CT-number profile (b) sample reconstitution after test (c) nebulous material in bright lamina, 5.0 cm from bottom. d) shell-like structures in zone in between bright laminae, 7.0 cm from bottom.

consolidation. The radial strain was derived from measurements of axial strain and volumetric strain made from the start to the end of the isotropic consolidation phase. Special attention was paid to the effects of shear rate and remoulding process on shear strength. Two undrained creep tests on anisotropically consolidated specimens were carried out under constant deviatoric stress to examine the possible reduction of strength due to an extremely low shear rate. One sample was brought to failure by undrained shear and subsequently subjected to a few cycles of unloadingreloading. The purpose of the socalled remoulding process in place was to examine the degradation of strength due to de-structuring.

Fig. 1 illustrates the stress paths followed during testing in the deviatoric stress (t = 1/2(1 3))effective mean stress (s = 1/2(1 + 3)) plane as well as the change in radial strain as function of the effective mean stress. The observed strength results are summarized in Table 2 per soil type and consolidation path. Initial soil bulk density and effective confining stress at failure (3,f) are also indicated. 2.3. Results and discussions As can be seen in Table 1, the very organic clayey silts (soils b and d) form the important constituent of the

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Fig. 4. Failure mode of Sample CAU11D: CT images are enhanced pictures with the threshold range of CT-number values in [400,680].

OVP organic soils. Despite some deviation in water contents, all b and d specimens present more or less the same loss-on-ignition. For the sake of simplicity, soils b and d will not be distinguished later on, as far as strength parameters are concerned. The presence of vertical rootlets in soil d caused several aborts during the triaxial tests and explains the divergence observed between the deformation behaviour of soils b and d.

Values of N or s, Wn, n and a/r are listed in Table 1. They are the loss-on-ignition, the specific density, the natural water content, the bulk density and the ratio of axial strain to radial strain at the end of isotropic consolidation. They indicate respectively that all organic OVP soils are very organic, very light and slightly anisotropic. Despite having such properties, the position of their failure envelopes in the t-s' plane

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Table 4 Correlation of CT-numbers, bulk densities and of all scanned samples Scanned sample () n (g/cm3) Mean of CT-number values PHU 498 619 440 432 370 208 Standard deviation of CT-number values 91 133 236 87 128 211

CAU11A (undrained creep) CIU10B CAU13 CAU11D CIU11C CIU12C

29.7 44 44 35.8 35.8

1.307 1.405 1.22 1.25 1.219 1.204

(Fig. 1) are extremely high and the following observations can be made on their strength and their deformation characteristics, i.e., ratio of axial strain to radial strain at the end of isotropic consolidation and rebound of radial strain at the near failure state. The amount of binding (cohesion) is scattered and remains limited to a few kPa. If cohesion is ignored, values of ' increase of 5 to 15 and range between 38 and 56 for non-peaty soils and 65 for peaty soils (see Tables 2 and 3). The remarkably high values of were found to increase in the order of very organic clay, silt and then peat soils. The high of non-peat soils was found to be slightly related to the anisotropy of the samples in terms of the ratio of axial to radial strain measured at the end of isotropic consolidation (see Table 1) and independent of the loading rate and remoulding process (CIU12A and CAU11A in Fig. 1). As far as the peat soil samples (CIU 14A and 14B) are concerned, the failure was reached without any subsequent decrease in shear stress, which eventually led to a constant Maximum at the post-failure state. This post-failure behaviour can be explained by considering the sample geometry and the boundary conditions at the moment of failure: the samples became very flat after around 30% vertical compression, and possible activation of permanent shear bands was limited by the end restraints on flat samples. This stress feature is sufficient to distinguish peat soil from other organic soils, in addition to the abundance of plant remains. All samples were found to fail with high at a considerably low effective confining stress (b 35 kPa). This observation is in agreement with the trend observed by Kenney et al. (1967), for clayey soils up to a normal stress of 100 kPa. But, values of the

OVP soils were found to be significantly higher than those reported by Kenney et al. and close to those observed by Coutinho and Lacerda (1989) and Larsson (1990) for organic soils. Microscopic observations presented in next section will clarify this point. The influence of consolidation history on strength for very organic clayey silt is noticeable. The triplet of CAU tests on OVP soils b and d led to a lower effective confining stress and a 8 higher than the triplet of CIU tests as indicated in Table 3. All samples were strongly compressed during shear, and failed near the point where the sample diameter was restored to its initial size by the lateral extension during shear, i.e. at around r = 0% in the graphs of Fig. 1a and b, see Table 2. Sample CIU12C (shown in Fig. 1a) was an extreme exception, probably due to the inclusion of several vertical rootlets. This deformation feature indicates that all organic soil samples at their initial state had little possibility of lateral extension except to collapse. Nevertheless, both vertical and lateral compressions were allowed with slight anisotropy as mentioned earlier. Microscopic observations presented in the next section will elucidate this point. 3. Unusual minifabric of OVP organic soils at submillimeter scale The observation of high variability of the OVP indices and the inverse correlation between their high- values and bulk density have given reason to study the density distribution at submillimeter scale (0.10.5 mm). A medical Computed Tomography X-ray scanner (Cheng and Ngan-Tillard, 2006) was used to inspect undisturbed sample cores in depth (see Fig. 2) with a resolution of 0.29 0.29 1 mm3 . The attenuation of the X-rays is called the CT-number and is measured in Hounsfield units (HU) which are defined as HU = 1000 ( water) / water where and water are the linear attenuation coefficients of the material and water, respectively. Variations in CT-numbers are known to correlate to either changes in bulk density or chemistry or both. Six samples as listed in Table 1 were also scanned after the triaxial tests in order to visualize the failure mode. Scans of 1 mm thick 66 mm diameter soil slices were made at 1, 4 or 100 mm intervals. In Fig. 2, each solid point corresponds to the average CT-number of four 1 mm thick slices and the arrows indicate the positions of two samples CIU10B and CAU11D subjected to detailed scanning after shearing. The images of the specimens after the test are displayed in Figs. 3 and 4 respectively. The

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CT-number profile of sample CIU10B is shown in Fig. 3a. Changes of CT-number profiles of sample CAU11D caused by triaxial testing are shown in Fig. 5. From the CT analysis, the following observations can be made on the material variability: The CT-numbers of the OVP soils oscillate but gradually decrease with depth Several magnitudes and lengths of oscillations are observed both in overall CT-number profile (Fig. 2) and at the meso-scale within the samples (Figs. 3 and 5).

Peaks in CT-number profiles correspond to the presence of light subhorizontal laminae in the CT images. A light subhorizontal laminae appears about every 3 cm in sample CIU10B. Its cross-section is characterized by the presence of a nebula of more attenuating material (see Fig. 3c). Visual inspection of sample CIU10B after failure allowed to correlate the light subhorizontal laminae of the CT images to 23 mm thick silty layers. Other slightly darker laminae are visible on the CT images of sample

Fig. 5. Statistical analyses of CT-numbers over sample CAU11D.

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vertical crack at the bottom (Fig. 4). The shear plane formed across several dense laminae while the vertical cracking detached the weak part at the bottom. In the cross-section at 8 cm from the bottom where the shear band is present (Fig. 4d), lenticular elements are noticeable, even at a micro-CT level shown in Fig. 4(e). One cross-section of sample CAU11D changed due to triaxial shear as visualized in Fig. 4(b) and (c). It can be seen that around this section more vertical cracks (the dark zones in the image) were developing when the sample failed. So, the splitting failure mechanism cannot be excluded in the inter-laminate zones especially when the effective lateral stress is low. The role played by weak zones present in the sample before testing (Fig. 4b) will have to be clarified.

Fig. 6. Microstructure of marked denser lamina of sample 10B (after triaxial test).

CIU10B and CAU11D but cannot be detected with the naked eye on the failed samples. Lenses of attenuating material can be found in crosssections recorded outside the light and slightly darker laminae. This is the case for the slice recorded at a distance of 5.0 cm from the bottom of sample CIU10B and shown in Fig. 3d. Lenses can be oriented vertically rather than horizontally. The CT analysis also allowed to visualize the 3D geometry of the failed samples. The failure mode of sample CAU11D combined an inclined shear plane in the upper part with a major
Fig. 7. Microstructure of marked denser lamina of sample CAU11D (after triaxial test).

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sample together with the bulk densities (after triaxial compression) and -values measured in the laboratory. Results are gathered in Table 4. Assuming a homogeneous chemistry for all samples, the following relationship has been derived by fitting all the data in the table, which enabled the transformation of average CTP numbers ( HU) to the bulk density (n) for any volume (minimum volume: 0.3 0.3 1 mm). gn 0:0006 HU 1
P

3:1

Fig. 8. (a) Representative microfabric of OVP non-peat organic soils: deflocculated matrix of fine flat/porous silts (before consolidation test, broken diatoms as indicated). (b) Organics: plant remains in the debris aggregate, possibly wood cellular walls indicated by arrows (after consolidation test).

Sample CIU10 B turned out to be exceptional. A continuous increase of shear stress during triaxial testing was observed as shown in Fig. 1 with a bending point marked with a star in the Fig. 1b. This sample would have reached a much higher than if the maximum shear stress had been reached. Its mobilized is 29.7 at bending point against 60 at the end of the test. Bright subhorizontal laminae were found in abundance in the CT images and no permanent shear band could be identified across the sample in the CT images. The exceptional stress behaviour might be correlated to the CT observations. A statistical analysis of CT-numbers for all the scanned samples has made possible the correlation of the mean and deviation values of CT-numbers per

The relationship has an R-square of 0.84 and is valid for OVP soils with a bulk density ranging from 1.05 to 1.35 g/cm3. Similar correlations are available in the literature (Cortellazzo et al., 1995) but could not be used for the OVP soils as they were established for materials of different nature and structure and using different CT parameters. The six samples scanned after testing were grouped in pairs according to the soil type and the bulk density level in Table 4. It may be seen that a clear correlation of density to does not exist. Neither do more homogenous samples, i.e. the ones with less deviations of CT-numbers necessarily correlate with higher values. But more detailed analysis of CT-numbers over sample CAU11D enables a better understanding of local deformation. The increased CT-number values shown in Fig. 5a after the test are obviously the consequence of the consolidation that made the sample denser. By analyzing the length changes of three parts (bottom, middle and top, each of them 5 cm long) the axial strains at the end of test are calculated to be approximately 20% for both bottom and middle part and 40% for the top part respectively. The mean of these three local deformations, i.e. 27%, well agrees with the axial strain value measured by means of LVDT during the test. The CT-number per voxel over different parts of this sample as shown in Fig. 5b does not follow a normal distribution since the histogram envelopes are skewed and present several peaks especially for the middle part of the sample because of the presence of laminae. The volume of three different parts after test are determined by fitting the maximum square inside each CT image of the core. They are 121.5, 132.8 and 112.3 cm3 for the low, the middle and the top parts respectively. With respect to the initial volume of 160.8cm3 ( = 6.4 cm, H = 5 cm) of each part, the relative volume changes are 24%, 17% and 30% for the three parts. As the average of these ratios of 24% does not agree with average volume change of 18.6% measured at the end of triaxial test, the corrected relative volume change with respect to the measured average volume change are used to represent the local volume

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Fig. 9. Intact diatom embedded in amorphous organics (Existence of much carbon in EDAX results indicates the presence of organics and calciferous matter together with Ca as indicated. The sulphate may be also present as a relatively high amount of S indicates).

strain of different parts of sample CAU11D, i.e. 18% for the bottom, and 13% for the middle and 23% for the top. Local radial strain of the bottom, middle and top parts then follow equal to 1%, 3.5% and 8.5%, all in extension. These values of local deformations confirm that denser laminae as more presented in bottom and middle parts than in the top part could more restrict axial compressive and radial extensional deformation.

In conclusion, the unusual minifabric of the OVP nonpeat soils has been studied by means of the CT-scanner. Two types of ministructures are thought to affect the shear strength and deformation of OVP samples: subhorizontal light and slightly darker laminae and, outside laminae light lenses. Zones containing more laminae were found to deform less both axially and radially. In the weakest part of the samples, the splitting failure mechanism cannot

Fig. 10. Schematic diagram of micro-deformation mechanisms of observed different layers (inside and outside denser laminae.

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be excluded when confining stress is low. The microstructure of the laminae and lenses is analyzed in the following section to better understand their contribution to the strength of the OVP soils. 4. Microfabrics of OVP soils (up to a few tens of micrometers across) Optical and electron microscopy equipped with EDAX (energy diffraction analysis of X-rays for chemical element identification) were used for the close-up observation of the areas marked in Fig. 3(b) (sample CIU10B) and Fig. 4(a) (sample CAU11D). The denser lamina of sample 10B was dominated by angular, platy and elongated siliceous silts, while organic micro-fibers were also identified with EDAX (Fig. 6). More or less the same microstructures were found for the bright lamina besides the shear band zone in sample CAU11D, shown in Fig. 7, with the impression that more elongated and lenticular siliceous silts (broken diatoms) were present. Outside the laminae, a looser microfabric was identified in which much finer silts and clay dominated the soil matrix with a much higher content of organics. Fig. 8a illustrates such a microfabric of the organic silts of soil type d. This chosen microfabric is believed to be representative. The silts generally included quartz fractions, broken diatoms, shell and faeces fractions while organics were present in variable size and form (see Figs. 8b and 9). This kind of deflocculated matrix is capable of holding much water and contributes greatly to the high compressibility of the soil. Lenses found on the CT images outside the laminae can be microfossils (diatom or shell or unknown microfossils) or other silicates etc. The close observation of the material inside and outside the dense laminae allows to postulate the following micro-mechanisms as sketched in Fig. 10, which are considered to be responsible for the high friction angle of OVP organic soils. The medium-coarse siliceous silts inside denser laminae and the fine siliceous/carbonate silts outside interlock during deformation due to their shapes, either angular or elongated or even lenticular. The interlocking mechanism prevails inside denser laminae because of the higher contact opportunity of silts. But it can also take place in the looser material when samples have gone through a consolidation process. Main siliceous silts involved in OVP organic soils were broken diatoms with lighter specific density (1.92.2 g/cm3) than quartz (2.65 g/cm3). Broken diatom-related silts have very rough surfaces because of their nano-pores. Broken diatoms led to many elongated or lenticular silt-size fractions in OVP organic soils. Although the micro-mechanical properties of lenticular elements deserve further study, one can

imagine that they can sustain considerable amount of tensile stress rather than compressive stress. 5. Concluding discussions 1) From geotechnical classification point of view, natural OVP organic soils contain three types of soft soils, e.g. very organic clay, very organic silt and peat soil. Despite a large spread in index properties, all OVP organic soils exhibit extremely high values of during consolidated undrained triaxial compressions. The macro-mechanical properties of OVP organic soils depend on details of multi-level fabric to varying degrees. The multi-scale investigation as presented bridged the gap between laboratory observations and microstructure, which eventually identified non-organic microstructural elements serving as internal confinement in OVP organics soils. Deformation mechanisms of the microstructural elements are proposed and these make the unusual geotechnical properties explainable. 2) On one hand, the presence of dense subhorizontal laminae is revealed. The laminae are shown to be rich in angular and platy particles of medium silt size which are believed to interlock during deformation and contribute to the high strength of the OVP soils. We have defined a programme focused on the influence of laminae on the strength and deformation of OVP soils by testing samples with and without laminae in simple shear and Ko oedometer. On the other hand, lense-like structures are observed at several scales outside dense laminae and are believed to have a role of selfconfinement in much the same way as horizontally orientated plant fibers in peat. We propose to elucidate their role in the high strength of the OVP soils in a Distinct Element Modelling environment. 3) In the OVP tested soils organic materials were believed to have a primary contribution in increasing Atterberg limits and compressibility. But their role in increasing strength was not evident except in peat soil. Coexistence of organics and microfossils made identification of organics difficult. On the other hand, unlike in fibrous peat the fibrous microstructural elements were difficult to detect in a back-swap light microscopy equipped in several geotechnical laboratories, simply because of their non-organic nature. 4) Organics and microfossils are associated to high water content and allow the generation of high pore water pressures and low effective confining pressures during shearing. It has been observed that high value is always correlated to low effective confining pressure. Moreover samples show little possibility of lateral extension other than collapse.

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X.H. Cheng et al. / Engineering Geology 93 (2007) 3144 Hight, D.W., Bond, A.J., Legge, J.D., 1992. Characterization of the Bothkennar clay: an overview. Gotechnique 42 (2), 303347. Kenney, T.C., Moum, J., Berre, T., 1967. An experimental study of bonds in natural clay. Proceedings of the Oslo Geotechnical Conference on Shear Strength of Natural Soils and Rocks, vol. 1, pp. 6569. Krieg, S. (2000). Viskoses Bodenverhalten von Mudden, Seeton und Klei. Ph.D. thesis. Verffentlichtungen des Institutes fr Bodenmachanik und Felsmechanik der Universitt Fridericiana, Heft 150, Karlsruhe. Larsson, R., 1990. Behaviour of Organic Clay and Gyttja. Report, vol. 38. Swedish Geotechnical Institute, Linkping. Shahanguian, S., 1981. Dtermination exprimentale des coubes d'tat limite de l'argile organique de Cubzac-les-Ponts. Rapport de recherche LCPC, vol. 106. Skempton, A.W., Petley, D.J., 1970. Ignition loss and other properties of peats and clays from Avonmouth, King's Lynn and Cranberry Moss. Gotechnique 20 (4), 343356. Sun, H., Chen, J., Ge, F., 2004. Deformation characteristics of silty clay subjected to triaxial loading, by computerised tomography. Gotechnique 54 (5), 307314. Tanaka, H., Locat, J., 1999. A microstructural investigation of Osaka Bay clay: the impact of microfossils on its mechanical behaviour. Canadian Geotechnical Journal 36, 493508. Tillard, D., 1992. Etude de la rupture dans les gomatriaux cohsifs. Application la marne de Beaucaire. University Grenoble 1, Grenoble France, p. 297. Van Loon, A.J., Wiggers, A.J., 1975. Holocene lagoonal silts (formerly called sloef) from the Zuiderzee. Sedimentary Geology 13, 4755. Van Loon, A.J., Wiggers, A.J., 1976. Primary and secondary synsedimentary structures in the lagoonal almere member (Groningen formation, Holocene, the Netherlands). Sedimentary Geology 16, 8997.

5) Further investigation of the mechanics of microfabrics will enhance the understanding of the fundamental behaviour of soft organic soils. It may also enable the creation of innovative ground improvement techniques based on smart geomaterials. Acknowledgements This research was supported by Delft Earth Research Centre. Part of the experimental work was performed with the CT scanner purchased by TUDelft within the framework of the STW project entitled Control of flow in porous media using gels. References
Cheng, X.H., Janssen, H., Barends, F.B.J., Den Haan, E.J., 2004. A combination of ESEM, EDX and XRD studies on the fabric of Dutch organic clay from Oostvaardersplassen (Netherlands) and its geotechnical implications. Applied Clay Science 25, 179185. Cheng, X.H., 2004. Localization in Dutch Dune Sand and Organic Clay. Delft university press, The Netherlands. Cheng, X.H., Ngan-Tillard, D.J.M., 2006. X-ray CT Study of Mini-fabrics of Organic Soils (Oostvaardersplassen). Advances in X-ray Tomography for Geomaterials. ISTE Ltd, Grenoble, France, pp. 399406. Cortellazzo, G., Simonini, P., Bellis, G.B., Della Vedona, B., Ramigni, R., 1995. Soil properties by computed tomography and needle probe method. Proc. 11th ECSMFE, Copenhagen. Danish Geotechnical Society, Copenhagen, pp. 331336. Coutinho, R.Q., Lacerda, W.A., 1989. Strength characteristics of Juturnaiba organic clays. Proc. 12th ICSMFE. Balkema, Rotterdam, pp. 17311734. Day, R.W., 1995. Engineering properties of diatomaceous fill. Journal of Geotechnical Engineering 908910 (December). Den Haan, E.J., 1995. Theme report on special problem soils/soft rocks. Part I: Peats and Organic Soils. Proc. 11th ECSMFE, Copenhagen, vol. 9, pp. 139156. Den Haan, E.J., 2003. Sample disturbance of soft organic Oostvaardersplassen clay. Proceedings 3rd International Symposium on Deformation Characteristics of Geomaterials, vol. 1. Lyon, pp. 4955. September 2224. Desrues, J., Chambon, R., Mokni, M., Mazerolle, F., 1996. Void ratio evolution inside shear bands in triaxial sand specimens studied by computed tomography. Gotechnique.

Further reading
Den Haan, E.J., El Amir, L.S.F., 1994. A simple formula for final settlements of surface loads on peat. Advances in Understanding and Modelling the Mechanical Behaviour of Peat. Balkema, pp. 3548. Mitchell, J.K., 1992. Fundamentals of Soil Behavior. Wiley & Sons Inc, New York. Paul, M.A., Barras, B.F., 1999. Role of organic material in the plasticity of Bothkennar Clay. Gotechnique 49 (4), 529535. Tigchelaar, J., De Feijter, J.W., Den Haan, E.J., 2000. Shear tests on reconstituted Oostvaardersplassen clay. Proc. Conf. Soft Ground Technology. Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands, pp. 6781.