See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/269083995

Correlations between Durability and Geotechnical Properties of Compacted

Shales

Conference Paper · March 2011

DOI: 10.1061/41165(397)420

CITATIONS READS
2 151

3 authors, including:

Lindsey Sebastian Bryson

University of Kentucky
83 PUBLICATIONS   645 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Lindsey Sebastian Bryson on 22 March 2021.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Geo-Frontiers 2011 © ASCE 2011 4109

Correlation between Durability and Geotechnical Properties of Compacted

Shales

L. S. Bryson1, Ph.D., P.E., M. ASCE, I. C. Gomez-Gutierrez2, A.M. ASCE, and T. C.

Hopkins3, P.E., M. ASCE
1
Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, 161 Raymond Bldg.,
University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA, Phone: 859.257.3247, Fax:
859.257.4404, email: bryson@engr.uky.edu
2
Research Assistant, Department of Civil Engineering, 161 Raymond Bldg.,
University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA.
3
Chief Research Engineer (ret), Kentucky Transportation Center, 176 Raymond
Bldg., University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA

ABSTRACT

In many areas of the United States, shale is used in the construction of

highway embankments and pavement subgrades due to the lack of economical
alternate materials. Immediately after construction, compacted shale exhibits an
acceptable range of engineering properties and behaviors. Unfortunately, with time
and in the presence of wet conditions, compacted shale becomes less durable. This
reduction in durability translates to the reduction of stability and loss of bearing
capacity.
This paper presents the results and analysis of several engineering tests
performed on a number of different unweathered and weathered shale samples in
Kentucky. Slake-durability tests were performed on unweathered shale samples while
consolidated undrained triaxial compression tests were performed on compacted
weathered shale samples. The test data suggest that the clay fraction of crushed
unweathered samples correlates with the consistency index. Also, the ratio between
the slake-durability index and clay fraction correlates with natural water content.
Finally, this durability ratio can be used to predict the effective critical state friction
angle of compacted shale. In general, correlations between the durability ratio and
geotechnical properties provided a means to estimate the suitability of compacted
shale typically used in embankments and pavement subgrades.

INTRODUCTION

Shale is extensively used in the construction of highway embankments and is

present in most roadway cuts in the United States and particularly in Kentucky.
Unfortunately, numerous problems have been encountered when making highway cut
and fill sections through different shale formations under wet conditions. Such
problems include embankment failures due to large settlements and slope instability.
Large expenditures have been required for excessive maintenance and in some cases
Geo-Frontiers 2011 © ASCE 2011 4110

major remedial work. The main causes of these problems are the use of shale with
low durability as rock fill, the formation of voids in the embankment fill due to the
weathering of shale, and inadequate benching and drainage of underlying slopes
(Strohm, 1980).
This paper presents the results of several engineering tests performed on a
number of different unweathered and weathered shale samples found in Kentucky.
This study identified basic physical and engineering properties related to the
durability of shale. Also, empirical relationships were developed between basic soil
parameters and shale durability, and between shale durability and shear strength of
compacted shale.

SHALE USED IN THE STUDY

Shale is a sedimentary rock formed by the lithification and diagenesis of clay

or silt. The consequent rock is characterized by a finely stratified structure
approximately parallel to the bedding planes. Generally, shale includes all weak
sedimentary rocks such as claystones, siltstones, and mudstones. Shale makes up the
largest portion of all sedimentary rocks. Shale is composed of about one-third quartz,
one-third clay minerals, and one-third of miscellaneous substances (Yonekura et al.,
2006).
The shale samples investigated for this study were taken from various
physiographic regions of Kentucky and belong to varied geologic periods. The
samples represent both hard, durable shale with low susceptibility to weathering and
soft, less durable shale with high susceptibility to weathering. Table 1 lists the
specific shale specimens selected for this study. Descriptions in Table 1 were made
by subjective observation.

Table 1. Shale selected for study.

Geologic Formation Geologic Period Description of Specimen

New Albany Devonian Hard black shale

Hance Pennsylvanian Hard gray shale
Upper Drakes Ordovician Hard gray shale
Osgood Middle Silurian Hard gray shale
Nancy Mississippian Medium hard gray shale
Kope Ordovician Soft gray clay shale
New Providence Mississippian Soft greenish-gray shale
Crab Orchard Silurian Soft greenish-gray shale
Newman Mississippian Soft gray shale

SAMPLING PROCEDURES

A detailed description of sampling and laboratory testing procedures can be

found in Hopkins and Deen (1984). Hower, the procedures are summarized herein.
Unweathered shale samples were obtained using hand tools and a drill rig. Shale
pieces for bag samples were loosened using a rock hammer and mattock. Most of the
Geo-Frontiers 2011 © ASCE 2011 4111

bag samples were obtained at a distance of at least 0.3 m measured horizontally from
the face of the shale formation. This distance was usually sufficient to obtain samples
free from the effects of surface weathering, although some fractures penetrated to
greater depths and were coated with iron precipitates. In certain instances, softer shale
had to be sampled at horizontal distances greater than 0.3 m to obtain unweathered
samples. The harder shale was usually sampled at horizontal distances of less than 0.3
m because of difficulties in excavating such samples. However, shale samples
obtained at the shallow distances were essentially unweathered.
Core samples were obtained using a double tube, NX-size (54-mm) core
diameter, M-series core barrel. During sampling, the drill rig was positioned as close
as possible to the bag-sampling site. The core barrel was advanced through the
overlaying material to an elevation equivalent to the elevation of the bag sample
digging. Hence, the core samples and the bag samples were essentially the same
material. Selected sections of the extracted core were waxed or thoroughly wrapped
with cellophane to protect the sample and to retain the moisture. The waxed samples
were stored in an environmental room (humidity controlled) for future testing.
Weathered shale samples were obtained from talus piles that had accumulated
near the bottom of highway cut sections to simulate as closely as possible the
potential condition of a particular shale formation after several years in an
embankment. Each highway cut section selected for sampling consisted essentially of
only one type of shale. The highway cut sections selected were as near as possible to
the sampling sites previously chosen for obtaining unweathered samples for slake-
durability and physical testing. Also, several disturbed bag and bucket samples of
each type of shale were obtained. The gradation of the weathered shale was assumed
to represent to some degree the natural condition of the shale after exposure to
weathering agents.

LABORATORY TESTING

The natural water content, ωn of unweathered shale samples were determined

by averaging approximately 20 tests of samples of the same shale. These tests were
performed according to ASTM D2216. Unweathered hand samples were crushed to
pass the No. 10 sieve. A mortar and rubber-covered pestle, recommended by the
ASTM D421 and D2217 standards, were used to crush the softer shales. A porcelain-
tipped pestle was used with harder shale samples. Particle size distribution (i.e.
mechanical and hydrometer tests) was performed. The clay fraction from crushed
shale was obtained from hydrometer tests. In the same way, weathered samples were
crushed following the same procedures. For Atterberg limits determination, the shale
samples were crushed to pass the No. 40 sieve, according to ASTM D4318. As with
the unweathered samples, index properties and grain size distribution were evaluated
for the weathered shale.
Slake-durability tests were performed on unweathered shale specimens
according to ASTM D4644. Also, consolidated undrained triaxial compression, CIU
tests were performed on weathered shale samples according to ASTM 4767. Triaxial
specimens were compacted to the maximum dry unit weight and optimum moisture
contents determined from the standard compaction test. The effective critical state
Geo-Frontiers 2011 © ASCE 2011 4112

friction angle, φ’cs of compacted shale was calculated from the results of the CIU
triaxial tests.

RESULTS

Table 2 presents the index properties of the unweathered shale samples and
Table 3 presents the index properties of the weathered shale samples. The ωn of the
unweathered shale ranged from 1.7 to 11.6 percent. The liquid limit, LL of these
specimens ranged from 20 to 35 percent and the plasticity index, PI ranged from non-
plastic NP to 11.1 percent. The LL and PI of the weathered shale increased, ranging
from 24 percent to 40 percent and 7.1 percent to 15.4 percent, respectively. However,
it was observed that New Albany and Hance shale were less plastic with weathering.
It is noted that these two shale units have the lowest percentage of clay fraction, CF
of crushed unweathered samples. Thus, the degradation product of these two shale is
most likely a fine sand, as opposed to a silty or clay material.

Table 2. Index properties of unweathered shale.

natural Particle-size analysis (Percent
Liquid Plasticity
Geologic water Specific finer by weight)
Limit Index
Formation content Gravity
(%) (%) No. 10 No. 200 < 0.002mm
(%)
New Albany 1.7 21.5 NP 2.24 100 70.8 3.3
Hance 2.9 21.0 5.0 2.73 100 27.5 14.0
Upper Drakes 4.5 20.0 7.0 2.83 100 89.2 18.2
Osgood 4.9 24.0 7.0 2.77 100 95.2 20.1
Nancy 4.6 20.2 4.0 2.75 100 99.0 29.8
Kope 8.3 28.0 3.0 2.73 100 71.5 22.3
New Providence 11.0 33.0 8.6 2.78 30.3
Crab Orchard 8.4 35.0 11.1 2.68 100 96.0 28.4
Newman 11.6 24.0 6.8 2.71 100 94.2 35.8

Table 3. Index properties of weathered shales.

Liquid Plasticity Particle-size analysis (Percent
Geologic Specific
Limit Index finer by weight)
Formation Gravity
(%) (%) No. 10 No. 200 < 0.002mm
New Albany - NP 2.52 100 88.0 13.5
Hance - NP 2.74 100 87.0 8.0
Upper Drakes 24.0 15.0 2.85 100 85.0 21.0
Osgood 26.0 7.1 2.74 100 96.0 26.0
Nancy 31.0 11.0 2.73 100 98.0 25.0
Kope 30.0 8.3 2.83 100 95.6 34.2
New Providence 40.0 15.4 2.61 100 97.2 31.0
Crab Orchard 38.0 14.0 2.78 100 97.5 32.5
Newman 35.0 12.1 2.73 100 93.4 32.0

Figure 1 shows ωn as a function of CF of the unweathered crushed shale. It

can be seen that ωn increases with increasing CF. The trend increases significantly as
Geo-Frontiers 2011 © ASCE 2011 4113

the CF becomes greater than 20 percent. The observation appears to coincide with the
rule-of-thumb that regardless of the parent matrix, a material will behave as clay once
the clay content exceeds approximately 20 percent. The relationship between the ωn
and CF is described by an exponential function given as

ω n = 1.502 ⋅ CF exp(0.058) (1)

This type of relationships between ωn and CF are generally a good predictor

of the engineering behavior of fine grain soils (Mitchell, 1993). For example, soils
with high CF tend to hold more pore water. Consequently, these soils tend to exhibit
lower shear strengths than soils with lower clay content.

14.0
ω n = 1.502 ⋅ CF exp(0.058)
) 12.0 Unweathered shale
%
(t
n  
et 10.0
n
o
cr 8.0
et
a 6.0
w
la
r 4.0
u
ta
N 2.0

0.0
0 10 20 30 40
Clay fraction (%)
Figure 1. Natural water content as a function of clay fraction of the unweathered
shale.

Figure 2 shows the consistency index, CI as a function of the CF for the study
shale. The CI describes the relative consistency of cohesive soils (or in this case,
compacted shale) in their natural state. It is given as

LL − ω n
CI = (2)
PI

For conditions in which ωn is approximately equal to LL, CI is approximately

zero. This condition would imply that the natural state (behavior) of the geomaterial
is similar to a viscous fluid. A CI equaled to unity implies that ωn is at the PL. Shale
with a CI between 0 and 1 will behave like a stiff-to-hard clay. If the CI exceeds
unity, the geomaterial is in semi-solid state and will be characterized as behaving
more like a rock.
In Figure 2, the harder, more durable shale tends to coincide with the higher
CI. This harder shale is characterized by low CF and natural water contents less than
the PI.
Geo-Frontiers 2011 © ASCE 2011 4114

4
Unweathered shale
xe 3
d
nI
yc
ne 2
ts
is
n
o
C1

0
0 10 20 30 40
Clay fraction (%)
Figure 2. Consistency index as a function of the clay fraction.

Influence of weathering

Mechanical weathering includes processes that fragment and disintegrate the

shale into smaller pieces without changing the mineral composition. Chemical
weathering is the alteration of the shale minerals into new minerals. Both
mechanisms (mechanical and chemical) constitute weathering, but one process may
dominate over the other. This study was performed under the assumption that
mechanical weathering is the dominant mechanism of weathering.
Shale composed of minerals with high plasticity had high susceptibility to
weathering. Thus, after degrading into their constitutive minerals, these shale
specimens became more clay-like, whereas the shale that became less plastic after
weathering had higher percentages of particles sized greater than 0.002 mm (i.e. clay
fraction).
Figure 3 shows the fines ratio of the test shale before and after weathering.
The fines ratio is defined as CF divided by the fines (percent passing the No. 200
sieve). Shale that showed an increase in the percentages of silt and clay-sized
particles after weathering are plotted above the unity line. Shale that showed a
decrease in percentages of particles smaller than silt-sized are plotted below the unity
line. Three notable exceptions to the aforementioned trends are the Nancy, Newman,
and Hance shale samples. Although these three shale samples are plotted below the
unity line (i.e. fines ratio decreased after weathering), all three specimens became
more plastic after weathering. This was most likely a function of the mineralogy of
these shale samples, or due to some chemical weathering mechanism not taken into
account. Further research is required to ascertain the reason for this discrepancy.
Geo-Frontiers 2011 © ASCE 2011 4115

0.6

0.5

(CF/Fines)weathered
0.4
Newman
0.3
Nancy
0.2
Hance
0.1

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
(CF/Fines)unweathered
Figure 3. Comparison of the fines ratio before and after weathering.

Factors affecting durability

The durability of shale refers to how well the shale material can withstand
changes in the environment and still retain its initial strength and stiffness. The most
common method of quantifying shale durability is through the use of the slake-
durability test described in ASTM 4644. This test involves placing about ten oven-
dried pieces of unweathered shale (each piece weighing approximately 40 to 60 g) in
a spinning wire mesh drum, which is submerged in a water bath. The drum is rotated
at 20 revolutions per minute for 10 minutes. After the spinning cycle is complete, the
drum and the material is oven dried. The remaining material is put again in the drum
and rotated another 10 minutes. The final oven-dried mass for the second cycle is
obtained. The slake durability index, Id2 is calculated as

Wf
Id2 = ×100% (3)
Wi

where Wf = oven-dried weight of material retained in the drum for the second cycle;
Wi = initial total dry weight.
Figure 4 shows the results of modified slake durability tests performed on the
unweathered shale specimens. The figure presents the Id2 as a function of the CF. As
shown in Figure 4, the Id2 appears to be heavily influenced by the CF. The
relationship between the two parameters can be described via a second order
polynomial given as

I d 2 = 95 .375 + 1 .156 (CF ) − 0 .093 (CF )

2
(4)

Because of the strong influence of the CF on the Id2, a new parameter was
developed, called the durability ratio given as
Geo-Frontiers 2011 © ASCE 2011 4116

Id2
H 10 = (5)
CF

100 Hance
New
1 .156 (CF ) − 0 .093 (CF )
2
Id2 = 95. 375 +Albany Nancy
80 Osgood
Upper
Drakes New
Kope Providence
60
2
Id
40
  Crab
20 Orchard
Unweathered shale Newman
0
0 10 20 30 40
Clay fraction (%)
Figure 4. Slake durability index as a function of the clay fraction.

Figure 5 shows how the durability ratio varies ωn. For the study shale types,
the durability ratio varies over a couple of orders of magnitude. Therefore, it is
convenient to show the durability ratio on a square root scale as opposed to an
arithmetic scale. It is noted that the durability ratio requires hydrometer analyses to be
performed on the shale specimens. Figure 5 allows for the determination of durability
ratio using the following empirical expression:

H 10 = 55.61 − 20.88 ln(ω n ) (6)

60 H = 55 .61 − 20.88 ln (ω )
10 n
Unweathered shale
50  

40
0
1
H
tr 30
q
S
20

10

0
0 5 10 15
Natural water content (%)
Figure 5. Durability ratio as a function of natural water content.
Geo-Frontiers 2011 © ASCE 2011 4117

Correlation with shear strength

In developing a simple means for estimating φ’cs of compacted shale, it was

decided to develop correlations between the φ’cs and other variables. Several
correlations of φ’cs with simple index parameters were attempted. Correlations
between LL, PI, or CI did not exhibit distinctive or reliable correlations. Traditionally
sin(φ’cs) has been shown to correlate with the PI of fine grain soils (Bjerrum and
Simons, 1960). However, this was not the case for the study shale types.
A desired outcome of this study was to develop a simple means to estimate
the shear strength (i.e. effective shear strength) of weathered, compacted shale using
durability characteristics. Correlations between φ’cs and H10 produced good results. In
Figure 6, φ’cs is shown as a function of H10.

45

40 φ 'cs = 0.21 H 10 + 28.06

φ'cs

35

30

25
0 20 40 60
sqrt (H10)
Figure 6. Critical state friction angle as a function of durability ratio.

The expression that describes the relation between φ’cs and H10 is given as

φ 'cs = 0.21 H 10 + 28.06 (7)

The implication of Figure 6 is that harder, more durable shale exhibits higher
weathered shear strengths. Thus, the aforementioned empirical expression (Equation
7) allows for the prediction of long-term behavior from simple short-term durability
procedures.

CONCLUSION

Clay fraction obtained from crushed unweathered shale samples shows

important correlations between the index properties of crushed material and the
mechanical properties of compacted shale. Also, the slake-durability test provides a
means of distinguishing and characterizing different types of shale. Therefore, the
 Geo-Frontiers 2011 © ASCE 2011 4118

durability ratio, H10, was defined as a simple and effective parameter for estimating
the critical state effective friction angle of compacted shale.
The natural water content of shale is a strong indicator of slake-durability
characteristics. This simple and inexpensive test may be used to predict the clay
fraction for crushed Kentucky shale and also the durability and the critical state
effective friction angle of compacted shale. As natural water contents of undisturbed
shale increase, the clay contents after the crushing process increase. No correlations
between plasticity indices were observed.
A simple inexpensive method, based on two simple index test, is proposed for
estimating the shear strength, φ’cs, of compacted shale. The method makes use of
results from the slake-durability test and particle-size analysis of shale after the
crushing process. To make use of the method proposed herein, particle-size tests
based on the hydrometer method are required.

REFERENCES

Bjerrum, L., Simons, N. E. (1960). "Comparison of shear strength characteristics of

normally consolidated clays." Proceedings of the ASCE Research Conference
on the Shear Strength of Cohesive Soils, Boulder, Colorado: 711-726
Hopkins, T. C., Deen, R. C. (1984). "Identification of Shales." Geotechnical Testing
Journal 7 (1): 10-18.
Mitchell, J. K. (1993). Fundamentals of Soil Behavior, 2nd ed., John Wiley & Sons,
Inc., New York.
Strohm, W. B. (1980). "Design and construction of shale embankments: summary."
U.S. Department of Transportation Report No. FHWA-TS-80-219.
Yonekura, K., Hasegawa, H., Suzuki, T. (2006). "Mineral Compositions,
microstructures, and mechanical properties of primary materials from the
Paleolithic age." Materials Characterization 56 (2): 165-168.

View publication stats