Shear Strength Behaviour and Empirical Stress–Strain Modelling of Reconstituted Cohesive Soils Amended with Granular Sharp Sand
Keywords:
cohesive soil, sharp sand amendment, shear strength, triaxial test, empirical modelAbstract
Reconstituted cohesive soils underpin much of the civil infrastructure in the Niger Delta, yet their low shear strength and high compressibility continue to compromise pavements, shallow foundations, and embankments. This study experimentally investigated the stress–strain and shear strength response of three cohesive soils amended with 0–10% granular sharp sand and developed an empirical model for strength prediction. Undisturbed-then-reconstituted samples from three boreholes (BH1–BH3) were classified as A-7-5 (BH1, BH2) and A-6 (BH3) under the AASHTO system and as CH under the Unified Soil Classification System. Index, compaction, unconfined compressive strength (UCS), and unconsolidated–undrained triaxial tests at confining pressures of 100, 200, and 300 kPa were conducted on fifty-four specimens. Liquid limit and plasticity index decreased from 58.4% to 46.3% and from 30.6% to 22.2%, respectively, while maximum dry density rose from 1.52 to 1.70 g/cm³ as sand content increased to 10%. UCS increased by 106% for BH1 (62.4 to 128.9 kPa), and cohesion and internal friction angle rose from 28.5 to 57.4 kPa and from 4.2° to 15.8°, respectively. A multiplicative power model, Y = 15.43Q^3.347/(P^1.573 S^4.711), calibrated by least-squares regression on cohesion, friction angle, and additive content, reproduced measured shear strengths with coefficients of determination of 0.9913 (BH1 and BH2) and 0.9983 (BH3), and root-mean-square errors below 3.9 kPa. The findings demonstrate that modest sharp-sand amendment is a low-cost, locally implementable stabilization strategy, and the validated model gives practitioners and road agencies a practical tool for preliminary strength estimation and evidence-based subgrade policy in deltaic environments.
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