Remote Sensing and Geotechnical Investigations of Expansive Soils Dr. Fekerte Arega Yitagesu 2012
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
REMOTE SENSING AND GEOTECHNICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF EXPANSIVE SOILS Fekerte Arega Yitagesu Examining committee: Prof.dr. V.G. Jetten University of Twente, ITC Prof.dr.ir. A. Stein University of Twente, ITC Prof.dr. S.M. de Jong Utrecht University Prof.dr. E. Pirard University of Liège, Belgium Dr. S. Chabrillat GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences ITC dissertation number 201 ITC, P.O. Box 6, 7500 AA Enschede, The Netherlands ISBN 978-90-6164-326-5 Cover designed by Demeke Ashenafi and Job Duim Printed by ITC Printing Department Copyright © 2012 by Fekerte Arega Yitagesu REMOTE SENSING AND GEOTECHNICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF EXPANSIVE SOILS DISSERTATION to obtain the degree of doctor at the University of Twente, on the authority of the Rector Magnificus, prof.dr. H. Brinksma, on account of the decision of the graduation committee, to be publicly defended on Wednesday March 28, 2012 at 14:45 hrs by Fekerte Arega Yitagesu born on February 16, 1975 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia This thesis is approved by Prof. Dr. F.D. van der Meer, promoter Dr. H.M.A. van der Werff, assistant promoter Dedicated to my beloved mom! Acknowledgements What a precious aptitude (this research)! I have sojourned my PhD journey seemingly alone, but undoubtedly in support and collaboration with numerous individuals and organizations. I would like to take this opportunity to express my most sincere acknowledgments to all who contributed to bring this work to fruition. First and foremost, I would like to pay my deepest respect and utmost gratitude to my promoter prof. Dr. Freek van der Meer. Your exceedingly generous support and apt guidance provided an endless enthusiasm at each step of my journey through the years. I came to ITC with avid interest to work on expansive soils. You intuitively introduced me to the various aspects of the current research; and I have learnt a lot from your conscientious working style, countless discussion and thorough revisions of my dissertation. The breadth of skills and lessons that I have learnt from you will be amplified over my career. I am truly, greatly indebted to you. My most sincere thanks go to my co-promoter Dr. Harald van der Werff for immense enthusiasm and unfading interest in my work in addition to your patience and support during writing and presentation of results. Thorough revisions and many fruitful comments helped to substantially improve this thesis. I am indeed privileged to have worked with you and more importantly grateful for all these immeasurable contributions. I also owe an overdue appreciation to Dr. Hagush Seged for being supportive throughout my Ph.D. duration. I have benefited a lot from your constructive comments. I would like to extend a much deserved thanks to Drs. Boudewijn de Smeth for the enthusiastic advice and support during the tedious laboratory work. I have experienced an excellent working environment in the laboratory courtesy of your support. You were an excellent advisor and role model as your devoted and meticulous working style will have a remarkable influence throughout my career. My heartfelt thanks to Dr. David Rossiter as I have learnt and do treasure the incredible analytical skills that I carefully collated from you. I am indebted to the invaluable contribution of Drs. Christoph Hecker. Your diligent support during the fieldwork and remote sensing laboratory work has been of great value, of course in addition to important discussion of my work. I truly appreciate the generous support of Ir. Wim Verwaal and Ir. Arno Mulder (of TU Delft engineering geology laboratory) as well as Mr. Henk Wilbrink (of ITC). I would like to acknowledge the ITC research fund, for granting me a scholarship; the Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA), for providing data and logistic support to carry out a fieldwork in Ethiopia; the Addis Ababa University (AAU) technology (AAIT) and natural science (School of Earth and Planetary Science) faculties, the geological survey of Ethiopia (GSE), the Ethiopian mapping agency (EMA), Gondwana engineering PLC, Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick and partners Ethiopia for various forms of assistance. I would like to extend my special thanks to prof. Martin Hale, former ITC research coordinator and his successor Dr. Paul van Dijk for their compassion and support. My wholehearted appreciation to Loes Colenbrander, Christie Agema, Theresa van Boogaard, Marie Chantal Metz, Bettine Geerdink, the entire IT (helpdesk), library, travel unit and finance department (especially Marion and Rébanna) staff members for handling and facilitating innumerable issues, which as a whole made my stay at ITC pleasant. I am deeply grateful to the comfort and care that you provided me. I am greatly indebted to Mr. Bekele Negussie who has been consistently supportive. Your encouragement set the initial momentous step of this research. I salute you Beke! I also have a great regard to the contributions of Dr. Dereje, Zerihun Nuru, Gebre (and Misrak), Muse Belew, Daniel Nebro, Getu Segne, Dr. Dagnachew Leggese, Dr. Gezahegn, Tolossa Shagi (Ethiopian Deputy Minister of Mines), Dr. Lulseged Ayalew, Dr. Araya (Dean of AAU natural science faulty) and Dr. Atalay. I would like to pay a profound tribute to my friends, colleagues, the large Habesha and entire PhD community for their cordiality that made my stay in Enschede memorable. Sumbal, Shruthi, Van, Dr. Zack, Leo, Beatrice, Abel, Sindu, Rita, Alex, Xuanmei, Samantha, Carolina, Adrie, Sharon, Khamarrul, Byron, Roberta, Mila, Shafique, Juan, Getch, Tagel, Dawit, Armindo, Berhanu, Atkilit, Fasil, Tolga, Dr. Jennifer, Wiebke, Anandita, Frederick, Andre, Mariela, Dr. Sekhar, Dr. Prasun, Dr. Tapas, Dr. Pankaj, Dr. Saibal, Nasrullah, Marshal, Sanaz, Pablo, Tam, Yaseen (and Salma), Paresh, Moonjun, Christiano and Peter deserve a very special thanks. Thank you for the moments that I cherish and do remember mostly with a smile. The support of relatives, friends and colleagues from back home is also gratefully acknowledged. Finally, my loving thanks to my family for their love, unwavering support, understanding and encouragement. My husband (Fikremariam), kids (Ruth and Sam), mother (Teni), brother (Ge) were particularly the sources of inspiration and strength, which brought me towards the completion of this research. To you, my gratitude is endless. ii Table of Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................ i List of figures ...................................................................................... vi List of tables........................................................................................ xii Chapter 1 ............................................................................................. 1 General Introduction ............................................................................. 1 1.1 Problem definition ........................................................................ 1 1.1.1 Soil geotechnical classification .................................................. 2 1.1.2 Remote sensing techniques ...................................................... 3 1.2 Research objectives ...................................................................... 4 1.3 Thesis structure ........................................................................... 5 Chapter 2 ............................................................................................. 7 Expansive soils: Problems and the study sites .......................................... 7 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................. 7 2.2 Geotechnical investigation ........................................................... 12 2.3 Active clay minerals .................................................................... 13 2.4 The study Sites .......................................................................... 16 2.4.1 The Addis Ababa study site .................................................... 16 2.4.2 The Addis Ababa-Nazret study site ......................................... 19 2.5 Conclusions ............................................................................... 23 Chapter 3 ........................................................................................... 23 Empirical relationships among geotechnical parameters: soil geotechnical classification ....................................................................................... 23 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................... 24 3.2 Materials and Methods ................................................................ 25 3.2.1 Soil sampling ....................................................................... 25 3.2.2 Geotechnical testing ............................................................. 27 3.2.3 Mineralogical analysis............................................................ 27 3.2.4 Multivariate regression analysis .............................................. 27 3.3 Results ...................................................................................... 29 3.3.1 Geotechnical Characteristics .................................................. 29 3.3.2 Mineralogical assemblage ...................................................... 32 3.3.3 Estimating Expansion index ................................................... 38 3.4 Discussion ................................................................................. 41 3.5 Conclusions ..............................................................................