%0 Journal Article
%T A contribution to the better understanding of swelling in soils and soft rocks
%A Ana Petkov£żek
%A Matej Ma£żek
%A Bojan Majes
%J Geologija
%D 2010
%I Geological Survey of Slovenia
%X Swelling and shrinkage of sediments rich with clay belong to geologically conditioned risk factors. Economicloss as the consequence of volume changes in the geological catchment area of buildings and infrastructuralobjects is immense. Untimely detected swelling causes higher prices and unnecessary delays during the construction.In those cases when deep cuts and underground spaces are used as intervention into highly preconsolidatedsoils and soft rock with clay contents, failures of embankments and improperly designed supporting measures dueto swelling are not infrequent. Also periodic appearance of landslides at certain areas can be the consequence ofswelling. Some countries, such as the USA, introduced the guidelines and standards for the detection, assessmentand handling with swellable geological materials decades ago. Due to some other more urgent geologically conditionedrisks, such as landslides, earthquakes and constructions on soft ground, in Slovenia the development ofknowledge in the area of swelling soils was several years behind the knowledge in the rest of the world. With theconstruction of the Slovenian-Hungarian railway connection after 1998, motorways and the introduction of newknowledge about soil suction, also Slovenian experts were introduced to a different dimension of the problem ofswelling soils, as well as some important experiences were learned and new possibilities for the investigation andunderstanding of volume behaviour of swelling soils were opened. This is especially important for the predictedweather extremes, as only adequate knowledge will allow us to adequately explain any new phenomena in theground and prepare appropriate protection.
%K deformation
%K swelling
%K soil water retention curve
%K suction
%U http://www.geologija-revija.si/dokument.aspx?id=1096