Investigation into Some of The Engineering Properties of Soils Found in Mojo Town
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Date
2016-12
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Today Mojo has expanded considerably with new buildings, railways, roads, industriesand dry port. Therefore, a better understanding of the subsoil is required. It is also worthmentioning that, Mojo is located in the rift valley of Ethiopia thus placing it in seismic activzone. According to EBCS 8, 1995 the city is located in zone four
This research work is carried out to investigate the static engineering properties of MojoTown. To achieve this objective, soil samples were collected throughout the town andlaboratory and field tests were conducted.
According to results of the field test, the in-situ density ranges from 1.40 to 1.70g/cmand the dry density have a value from 1.12 to 1.61g/cm3.
From the grain size analysis result, the soil of the town has clay content ranging from
10.03 to 32.32%, silt fraction from 36.82 to 80.65%, sand fraction 5.77 to 92% and gravel
content from 0.0 to 18.77%.
The Atterberg limit test on the research area showed a liquid limit range from 29 to 87%plastic limit ranging from 18 to 50% and plastic index from 11 to 46%.
The specific gravity ranges from 2.62 to 2.70 and the Free swell ranges from 20 to 60%From the compaction test result the maximum dry density (MDD) of Mojo soil ranges from1.15 to 1.83 g/cm
3
and the optimum moisture content ranges from 14.57 to 44.33 %.
According to Unified Soil Classification System (USCS), The research area shows wide
range of category which include silt, silt with sand, sand and sandy silt with gravel
From the Direct shear test results which is conducted on representative samples collectethe research area have angle of internal friction ranging from 12
0
to
0
29
From the unconfined compression tests, Mojo soil unconfined compressive strength (qu),
ranges from 135 to 179 kPa, Undrained Shear Strength (cu), ranges from 68 to 90 kPaand the research area have stiff consistency.
Finally, from consolidation tests the soil in the research area is over consolidated in itnatural state with compression index ranging from 0.3 to 0.32, coefficient of consolidation
ranging from 0.24 to 0.82
and coefficient of permeability ranging from 1.83 to
⁄
23.4710
⁄
Description
Keywords
Properties of Soils, Mojo Town, Engineering Properties of Soils