Influence of Oil on the Magnitude and Rate of Collapsible Soils

Abstract

Collapsible soils particularly cover arid and semi arid regions where sometimes petroleum industry is well developed. The hydrocarbon is transported by pipelines towards refineries located in coastal areas. In case of a leak, these soils may collapse. The experimental work, carried out in oedometer illustrates the influence of oil, comparatively to that of water, on the potential and the degree of collapse of three reconstituted soils prepared in laboratory with various proportions of fine particles. For the soil with small percentage in fine particles, whatever the nature of the liquid of flood, the collapse potential decreases with the compacting energy and the initial water content. Inversely, for the soils with high percentage of fine particles, the collapse potential increases. The collapse by water flooding is faster and is more accentuated than in the case of oil. With oil flooding, the suffusion phenomenon does not occur as in the case of water flooding.

Keywords: collapsible soil, compacting energy, degree of collapse, oil, collapse potential