Bull Eng Geol Environ (2012) 71:71–78
DOI 10.1007/s10064-011-0410-7
ORIGINAL PAPER
Prediction of expansive soil swelling based on four micro-scale
properties
Botao Lin • Amy B. Cerato
Received: 23 January 2011 / Accepted: 12 November 2011 / Published online: 15 December 2011
Ó Springer-Verlag 2011
Abstract A comprehensive study of expansive soil
behavior includes understanding the surface phenomena of
clay particles within the soil matrix. This research studies
four micro-scale properties of four remolded expansive
soils––matric suction, pH, surface conductance and per-
centage of montmorillonite––in order to predict soil
swelling. An approach to approximate surface conductance
is presented. Linear regression analyses were undertaken in
an attempt to predict percent swell and swell pressure
based on each of these micro-scale properties. Matric
suction was found to be the most accurate predictor of the
swelling behavior of the studied soils, which were initially
compacted at optimum moisture content. Surface conduc-
tance, which is a combination of specific surface area,
cation exchange capacity and cation mobility, also gave
good predictions, except for one soil with high acidity.
Keywords Expansive soils  Matric suction  Surface
conductance  Clay type  Swell percent  Swell pressure
Résumé Une étude approfondie du comportement des sols
gonflants inclut la compréhension des phénomènes de surface
concernant les particules argileuses au sein de la matrice du
sol. Cette recherche s’intéresse à quatre propriétés de micro-
échelle de quatre sols gonflants remaniés : succion matricielle,
pH, conductivité de surface et pourcentage de montmoril-
lonite, afin de prévoir le gonflement du sol. Une méthode
permettant d’approcher la valeur de conductivité de surface
est présentée. Des analyses de régression linéaire ont été
B. Lin  A. B. Cerato (&)
University of Oklahoma, 202 W. Boyd Street, Room 334,
Norman, OK 73019, USA
e-mail: acerato@ou.edu
réalisées, basées sur chacune des propriétés de micro-échelle,
afin de prévoir le potentiel de gonflement et la pression de
gonflement. La succion matricielle a été identifiée comme le
meilleur paramètre pour prévoir le comportement gonflant des
sols étudiés qui avaient été initialement compactés à la teneur
en eau optimum. La conductivité de surface, qui intègre la
valeur de surface spécifique, la capacité d’échange de cations
et la mobilité cationique a donné également de bonnes pré-
visions, sauf pour l’un des sols de forte acidité.
Mots clés Sols gonflants  Succion matricielle 
Conductivité de surface  Type d’argile  Potentiel de
gonflement  Pression de gonflement
Introduction
Expansive soil, the type of clayey soil that experiences
volumetric swelling or shrinkage with adsorption or
desorption of water, covers a quarter of the United States
and causes more than 9 billion dollars in loss every year
(Nelson and Miller 1992). Swell potential, in terms of
volumetric expansion and swell pressure, is difficult to
predict based on common geotechnical properties because
the individual clay platelets are largely controlled by sur-
face physicochemical forces rather than mechanical forces,
due to their infinitesimal size and the diffuse double layer
formed around each clay platelet (or aggregate). Conse-
quently, to more fully understand the identification of
expansive soil and predict quantitative movement requires
an appreciation of the surface phenomena of individual
clay platelets within the soil matrix and the interaction of
contacting platelets or aggregates caused by surface forces.
The conventional study of expansive soil characteristics
can be divided into the study of plasticity and soil heave
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72
measurement (Nelson and Miller 1992). The most com-
monly studied plasticity properties are plasticity index (PI)
and activity (Skempton 1953; Raman 1967; Chen 1988),
with the latter defined as PI over percentage of clay con-
tent. Soil heave has been investigated in terms of free swell
tests (Holtz and Gibbs 1956); swell index and potential
volume change (Lambe 1960); percent swell in the Cali-
fornia bearing ratio (CBR) test (Yoder and Witczak 1975;
Kassiff et al. 1969) and coefficient of linear extensibility
(COLE) (Brasher et al. 1966). All of these indices are
related to percent of swell or swell pressure of expansive
soils under various test conditions. However, plasticity
alone is far from a quantitative prediction of soil expansion
as it reveals little about the underlying physicochemical
mechanisms in soil microstructure; whereas soil heave
measurement is simply a demonstration of soil expansion
under various confining conditions. In other words, the
traditional methods used to study expansive soil behavior
are phenomenological and limited by various boundary and
environmental conditions.
An expansive soil is a type of unsaturated clayey soil
within which the voids are partially filled with water.
Therefore, before soil expansion even takes place, the soil
behavior is significantly affected by surface tension forces
at the air–water interface, which are defined as matric
suction (Nelson and Miller 1992; Fredlund and Rahardjo
1993). Mckeen (1992) created a classification model of
swell potential based on suction by correlating the soil
volume response to suction change with the slope of
the suction water content relationship. Garbulewski and
Zakowicz (1995) presented a classification scheme of swell
potential by evaluating the relationship between swelling
pressure and suction. Delage et al. (1998) investigated
volume changes of an expansive clay during wetting–dry-
ing circles under constrained suction values. In the field
where expansive soils are encountered, e.g., a landfill
barrier, the soil is usually compacted at optimum moisture
content (OMC). As a result, it would be interesting to learn
the effect of matric suction at OMC on the swell potential
of expansive soils, which will be investigated in this study.
Along with matric suction, specific surface area (SSA)
and cation exchange capacity (CEC) have been recognized
as important factors controlling many physical and chem-
ical properties of fine grained soils (Mitchell and Soga
2005; Peterson et al. 1996). pH is derived from the acidity
of the soil and is indicative of the way hydrogen is bounded
on the soil mineralogical unit, which can both affect the
degree of effective negative charge of the soil particle and
determine the charge type of ionized alumina exposed at
the edge of clay platelets (Mitchell and Soga 2005). In
addition to the physicochemical parameters of soil, such as
matric suction, SSA, CEC and pH, in assisting in under-
standing the mechanisms controlling soil swell and swell
123
B. Lin, A. B. Cerato
pressure, X-ray diffraction (XRD) provides a straightfor-
ward way to study the mineralogical make-up of expansive
soils (Al-Rawas 1999), while scanning electron micro-
scopy (SEM) has been frequently used to investigate the
microstructure of soils (Al-Rawas 1999; Al-Rawas and
McGown 1999; Du et al. 1999; Shi et al. 2002). However,
to date SEM micrographs are still difficult to quantify.
In this study, matric suction, pH, surface conductance (a
combined property of SSA, CEC and cation mobility) and
percentage of montmorillonite (derived from clay size
fraction and XRD diffractogram), are taken as micro-scale
parameters because they can be quantified and are closely
related to the development of the diffuse double layer
which determines the macroscopic soil behavior of highly
clayey expansive soils. Four field-sampled expansive soils
were tested to obtain their micro-scale properties in order
to predict the percent of swell and swell pressure. Linear
regression analyses were performed based on each micro-
scale property and the predicted and observed values were
compared.
Tested materials and soil properties
Four remolded expansive soils––Carnisaw, Hollywood,
Heiden and Eagle Ford––were studied; the first three
sampled from Oklahoma and the last from north Texas.
Common geotechnical properties
Common geotechnical laboratory tests were performed
following ASTM standards (ASTM 1999); the results are
given in Table 1. The swell potential was assessed by
performing the standard test method for one-dimensional
swell test of cohesive soils (ASTM-D4546 1999). Com-
pacted samples at OMC were submerged in de-ionized
water in an oedometer cell and allowed to swell under a
seating load of 1 kPa. After full expansion, the samples
were consolidated to their original height so that the swell
pressure could be deduced. The swell test results are given
in Table 2.
Measurement of matric suction
The matric suction of each soil sample at OMC was first
measured by the filter paper method (ASTM-D5298 1999).
Two specimens were prepared for each soil sample and the
process of moisture equalization was maintained for
2 weeks. Pressure plate tests were also performed to
deduce the soil water characteristic curves (SWCC) of
these four soils with a measuring range from 1 to
1,000 kPa. Soil specimens were compacted at OMC and
then saturated in a humidity-controlled chamber. The
Prediction of soil swell 73

Table 1 Some geotechnical properties of the samples tested

Test sample LL (%) PL (%) SL (%) PI (%) CF (%) A Gs USC

Carnisaw 59 32 20 27 51 0.5 2.68 MH

Hollywood 54 20 16 34 62 0.6 2.78 CH
Heiden 70 21 19 49 50 1.0 2.77 CH
Eagle ford 92 35 25 57 66 0.9 2.71 CH
LL liquid limit, PL plastic limit, SL shrinkage limit, PI plasticity index, CF clay size fraction (\2 lm), A activity, Gs specific gravity, USC unified
soil classification

Table 2 Summary of measured matric suction and swell potential

Test sample OMC cd (kN m-3) (ua-uw)OMC (kPa) S (%) SP (kPa) Swell potentiala
FP PP Averaged

Carnisaw 26.2 16.2 407 469 438 2.3 75 Medium

Hollywood 20.6 16.7 565 758 662 5.6 141 Medium
Heiden 24.2 15.5 771 1,120 946 9.3 230 High
Eagle Ford 27.1 14.2 1,040 1,126 1,083 12.7 263 Very high
OMC optimum moisture content, cd maximum dry unit weight, (ua-uw)OMC matric suction at OMC, FP filter paper test, PP pressure plate test,
S percent of swell, SP swell pressure
a
Based on Chen (1988) classification scheme

SWCCs were then determined following the drying path
according to ASTM-D2325 (1999). The SWCC model of
Fredlund and Xing (1994) was used to fit the measured data
points of volumetric water content versus matric suction
and the matric suction at OMC was determined from the
fitted equations. The matric suction values of each soil
sample obtained using each of the measuring methods are
listed in Table 2.
The magnitude of matric suction predicted from the
filter paper tests is consistently lower than that from the
pressure plate tests. During the process of moisture
equalization, the water vapor dissipated to the sandwiched
filter paper may contain infinitesimal particles or salts
existing in highly clayey soils that would deposit on the
paper resulting in underestimation of matric suction. On the
other hand, in the pressure plate tests, the time period for
moisture stabilization at a specific matric suction was set to
be 24–48 h. It is possible that the stabilization was
incomplete after this period such that the corresponding
water content is overestimated and hence the matric suction
at a given water content is over-predicted. As a result, the
measured values from these two different methods are
averaged to approximate the actual magnitudes as given in
Table 2.
As indicated in Table 2, soils with higher averaged
matric suction at OMC show a greater swell potential in
terms of percent of swell, swell pressure and the classifi-
cation scheme of swell potential. It is desirable to correlate
the averaged matric suction and the quantified swell
potential (percent of swell and swell pressure), which will
be discussed later.
Specific surface area and cation exchange capacity tests
The SSA values given in Table 3 were obtained following
the ethylene glycol monoethyl ether (EGME) surface area
determination method proposed by Cerato and Lutenegger
(2002). The CEC and the pH of each soil were determined
by Harris Laboratory, Inc., Lincoln, Nebraska using a 1 N
ammonium acetate extraction method (Rhoades 1982).
In Table 3, a more descriptive soil property, surface con-
ductance ks was obtained from the measured SSA, CEC, in
combination with the mobility of counterions, ucat (m2 V-1
s-1), following an approximate equation (Santamarina
et al. 2001; Ning 2007) defined as:
CEC
ks  ucat ð1Þ
SSA
Considering the cations as counterions, the mobility for
each cation of K, Mg, Ca, Na and H in each soil is 7.6, 5.5,
6.2, 5.2, 36.2 (910-8 m2 V-1 s-1), respectively, according
to the mobility chart of cations given by Santamarina et al.
(2001). Electron mobility is an ion property determining
the drift velocity of the electrons; it can mobilize given an
applied electrical field. Equation 1 assumes that the anionic
deficit in the diffuse double layer is zero, while in reality

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74 B. Lin, A. B. Cerato

Table 3 Some physicochemical properties of the samples tested

Test sample SSA (m2 g-1) CEC (meq/100 g) pH K (%) Mg (%) Ca (%) Na (%) H (%) ks (910-8 S)

Carnisaw 107.5 27.3 4.4 0.9 9.1 1.8 0.2 88 8.27

Hollywood 145.5 26.4 7.2 1.3 4.6 93.2 1.0 0 1.12
Heiden 229.0 50.7 8.7 0.8 11.0 82.2 6.0 0 1.34
Eagle Ford 213.5 49.6 7.7 1.5 13.2 77.8 7.5 0 1.41
SSA specific surface area (total), CEC cation exchange capacity, ks surface conductance (weighted estimation)

surface conductance depends on both the concentration of

excess cations and the deficit of anions, in which the latter
is much smaller than the former and can be neglected in the
estimation of surface conductance (Klein and Santamarina
2003). If the surface conductance is weighted based on the
percentage of each cation present in the soil, the original
surface conductance definition can be modified as:
P
ui Pi CEC
ks ¼ ð2Þ
SSA
where ui is the mobility of each cation and the percentage,
Pi, is based on the count and not the mass of each cation. It
is thought that the weighted surface conductance property
describes the electrical conductivity of the diffuse double
Fig. 1 X-ray diffraction patterns of the Carnisaw soil
layer and may help in predicting the volumetric swelling
and swell pressure of expansive soils.

Mineralogical studies

Mineralogical studies were undertaken on only the clay

portion of each soil sample. It is believed that the physi-
cochemical effects only take place in micropores between
clay platelets (aggregates), which suggests that the swell
potential of the clay portion accounts for the majority of
the soil expansion. Approximately 10 g of each soil that
passed the #200 sieve (0.075 mm) were poured into a
centrifuge bottle filled with 200 mL of 10-3 mol L-1
sodium hexametaphosphate solution (dispersive agent) and
mixed to prepare suspensions for XRD tests.
The soil suspension was then put into a centrifuge bottle.
The bottles were placed on a shaker table and shaken for
15 min, and sonified in an ultrasonic dismembrator for
about 1 min. Next, the bottles were placed in a centrifuge
for 10 min at 95 rcf to separate out the[2 lm size fraction.
After this was accomplished, the remaining clay suspen-
sion was decanted into a high-speed centrifuge bottle and
centrifuged at 16,278 rcf for 30 min. For the preparation of
oriented XRD samples, the clear liquid was removed and
the remaining slurry was thoroughly mixed with pure water
to make a thick suspension, which was then mounted on a
glass slide following the method of ‘‘Oriented aggregate
mounts for X-ray powder diffraction’’ (USGS Open-File
Fig. 2 X-ray diffraction patterns of the Hollywood soil
Report 2001). Untreated, glycolated and heated (at 550°C
for 2 h) sample slides were prepared and the corresponding
diffractograms of each soil are given in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4.
The mineral symbols in these figures represent: V, ver-
miculite; P, palygorskite; M, montmorillonite; K, kaolinite;
I, illite; GO, goethite. The X-ray generator used 40 kV and
30 mA to generate Cu–K alpha radiation and the data were
collected from 4–34° 2h at a rate of 0.05° 2h per second.
A summary of the results and observations from the
XRD tests is given in Table 4, together with the geological
classification and the geotechnical description. The per-
centages of cations determined from the CEC tests are also
presented in Table 4. The percentages of montmorillonite,

123
Prediction of soil swell 75

percentages of clay minerals can be estimated as the per-

centages in the clay portion multiplied by clay size frac-
tion. In the following regression only the percentage of
montmorillonite (vermiculite) is used as montmorillonite is
much more capable of developing a diffuse double layer
than other minerals (Mitchell and Soga 2005). No differ-
entiation is made here between montmorillonite and ver-
miculite due to the technical limitations of the XRD test
itself; although these swelling minerals may exhibit various
degrees of swell potential. The type of exchangeable cation
in an expansive soil also has a significant influence on its
swelling potential. In Table 4, Ca2? is the predominant
type of cation for all the four soils except Carnisaw.
Fig. 3 X-ray diffraction patterns of the Heiden soil
Nevertheless, divalent cations as Ca2? and Mg2? prevail as
interlayer hydrated cations in the mineralogical unit of
Carnisaw compared to the percentages of Na? and K? in
Table 4. In this study montmorillonite is assumed to be of
one type for the following regression analysis.

Regression analysis

As mentioned above, the measured percent of swell and

Fig. 4 X-ray diffraction patterns of the Eagle Ford soil
vermiculite, illite and kaolinite were determined from the
XRD diffractograms following the approach of ‘‘Semi-
quantitative analysis of clay minerals’’ (USGS Open-File
Report 2001), and represent the approximate percentages
within the clay portion of the soils.
Table 4 shows the soils consist of a majority of clay
weathered from clayey shale or colluvial sediment. Given
the clay size fraction of each soil (Table 1) the real
swell pressure were from one-dimensional oedometer tests
which are subject to certain boundary and environmental
limitations. At this stage, however, these two parameters
will still be used as the two dependent variables that are
representative of macroscopic swelling. In this study it was
considered desirable to perform single linear regression
analysis based on each of the measured micro-scale prop-
erties to predict these dependent variables and compare the
predicted with the observed values. Multi-linear regression
was not appropriate due to insufficient soil sample data; it
yielded R2 values equal to 1.0, which render this type of
regression meaningless. Matric suction, pH, surface con-
ductance and percentage of montmorillonite (PM) were
selected as four independent variables to be used in the
linear regression analyses.

Table 4 Summary of the geological, geotechnical, mineralogical and chemical results

Test Geological classification Geotechnical description Clay minerals Cations (%)
sample (%)a

Carnisaw Residuum weathered from shale of Red brown silty clay or elastic silt V (24), I (48), Na (0.2), Ca (1.8), Mg (9.1),
Pennsylvanian age KA (28) K (0.9), H (88.0)
Hollywood Clayey colluvial sediments over Yellowish olive fat clay with trace M ? V (37), Na (1.0), Ca (93.2), Mg (4.6),
limestone of Cretaceous age of light grey limestone I (34), KA (29) K (1.3),
Heiden Clayey shale of Cretaceous age Olive grey highly plastic fat clay M (73), I (10), Na (6.0), Ca (82.2), Mg (11.0),
with trace of organic root KA (17) K (0.8),
Eagle Ford Fossiliferous clayey shale with sandy Yellowish tan highly plastic pure M (42), I (41), Na (7.5), Ca (77.8), Mg (13.2),
shale lenses clay KA (17) K (1.5),
M montmorillonite, KA kaolinite, I illite, V vermiculite, Na sodium, Ca calcium, Mg magnesium, K potassium, H hydrogen
a
The mineralogical description is related to the clay portion only

123
76 B. Lin, A. B. Cerato

In the input of the regression, the matric suction and the

swell pressure were normalized by one atmosphere (100 kPa),
while the surface conductance was normalized by 10-8
S cm-1. As a result, both the independent variables and the
dependent variables become unit-less. The regression equa-
tions and the corresponding R2 values are listed in Table 5. As
shown, the predictions based on (ua-uw) and ks2 rendered the
highest R2 magnitudes (highlighted in bold face). The com-
parison between the predicted values and the observed values
are given in Figs. 5 and 6. Note that in Table 5 the predictions
based on surface conductance are divided into two categories:
the first one (ks1) includes the data of all the four soils and the
second (ks2) includes three soils, neglecting Carnisaw. As
shown in Table 3, Carnisaw has an exceptionally high surface
conductance which is mainly due to the effect of hydrogen,
Fig. 5 Comparison between predicted and observed percent of swell
while no hydrogen contributes to the surface conductance
value for the other three soils. As a result, it is desirable to
study the effect of surface conductance on soil swell data with
and without the inclusion of Carnisaw.

Discussion

For highly clayey expansive soils, swelling is largely depen-

dent on electrical, chemical and physical forces that act on the
surface of clay platelets or aggregates. These surface forces
are related to the interaction between the diffuse double layers
of adjacent particles and the interaction between the diffuse
double layer and bulk fluid or air. However, these forces are
difficult to identify and quantify. Instead, the four micro-scale
properties, as proposed in this study, are investigated from
direct laboratory measurements. Fig. 6 Comparison between predicted and observed swell pressure
(a) Matric suction determines how the soil particles are
bonded together by the surface tension force as well (c) Surface conductance (weighted) is a comprehensive
as the degree of development of a diffuse double layer electrical property combining SSA, CEC and coun-
around clay platelets. terion mobility. It is believed to be a more direct
(b) pH is derived from the acidity of the soil and is illustration of the effect of electrical forces.
indicative of the way hydrogen bonds on the soil (d) Percentage of montmorillonite is used to describe the
mineralogical unit; as a result, it affects the develop- influence of expansive minerals of the clay portion on
ment of the diffuse double layer. soil expansion. In this case, calcium montmorillonite

Table 5 Regression equations for the prediction of percent of swell and swell pressure
Prediction Percent of swell, S (%) R2 Swell pressure, SPa R2

Based on (ua-uw)a S = -4.64 ? 1.55 (ua-uw) 0.99 SP = -0.54 ? 0.30 (ua-uw) 0.99
Based on pH S = -6.17 ? 1.95 pH 0.63 SP = -1.03 ? 0.40 pH 0.75
Based on ks1 S = 10.39 - 0.96 ks1 0.55 SP = 2.35 - 0.19 ks1 0.60
Based on ks2 S = -20.11 ? 22.71 ks2 0.92 SP = -3.33 ? 4.22 ks2 0.99
Based on PM S = -0.85 ? 33.31 PM 0.59 SP = 0.02 ? 7.03 MI 0.73
ks1 surface conductance of all the soils, ks2 surface conductance of the soils excluding Carnisaw
a
(ua-uw) and SP were normalized by 1 atmospheric pressure (100 kPa)

123
Prediction of soil swell
and vermiculite are two major swelling minerals in
the soils studied.
Another possible expansive mineral is swelling chloride,
which was not found in the four soils studied. Percentage of
montmorillonite is able to somehow describe the degree of
development of the diffuse double layer. For example, soil
with a large amount of sodium montmorillonite can
develop a well-formed and thick diffuse double layer
around clay platelets. At the same time, the formation of a
diffuse double layer is stronger around wide and platy
montmorillonite platelets than small and thicker ones.
Plastic index (PI) and activity are not considered micro-
scale properties because they are determined from an
empirical specification for plasticity (e.g., blow number)
and not directly from an underlying physicochemical
mechanism. In other words, PI is largely a phenomeno-
logical and user-defined concept. Furthermore, the deter-
mination of PI of identical specimens of soil has been
found to produce highly variable results between different
laboratory testers and is also sensitive to the specimen
preparation method (Armstrong and Petry 1986). Conse-
quently, neither PI nor activity were used for regression,
though they are to some extent indicative of the relative
swell potential, as seen from Tables 1 and 2 i.e., percent of
swell and swell pressure increase with the increase of
plasticity index or activity (except for the case of Eagle
Ford where the activity is smaller than that of Heiden).
Single linear regression analyses were performed for the
predictions of swell percent and swell pressure based on
each of the four micro-scale properties discussed. The
regression analysis attests to the exceptional performance
of the matric suction variable in predicting percent of swell
or swell pressure. The matric suction value used for pre-
diction represents the state of the air–water interface of the
soil in its initial unsaturated and compacted condition. The
matric suction values reveal the formation of a meniscus on
or in between clay platelets or aggregates from which the
diffuse double layer begins to expand until stabilization
during a saturation process. The one-dimensional swell
tests were performed in such a way that the soil underwent
this same process of development of diffuse double layers.
As a result, matric suction at OMC most closely reflects the
state of the soil samples for the swell tests and thus gives
the best prediction of the swelling behavior. From Figs. 5
and 6, the prediction using pH shows poor performance as
the pH values of the tested soils are all close to neutral,
except for Carnisaw which has a value of 4.4. At the same
time, the results show that both the percent of swell and the
swell pressure show a good correlation with the increase
of surface conductance, excluding Carnisaw which has a
high content of hydrogen resulting in an exceptionally
large conductance (Table 3). The exclusion of Carnisaw
77
will result in excellent correlations, as can seen in Table 5
and Figs. 5 and 6. PM provides a relatively poor prediction
probably because of the variation in swelling potential
among the swelling minerals and the estimation involved in
the quantification of the mineralogy from the XRD analy-
sis. Moreover, ks, pH and PM have nothing to do with the
initial compaction condition of the soil and the prediction
based on these properties should include such information
in future research.
Conclusions
Four micro-scale properties were studied to predict the
macroscopic behavior of expansive soils in terms of soil
expansion. These properties are described as micro-scale
because they quantify or semi-quantify (in respect to
the case of PM) the intrinsic microscopic behavior of
expansive soils. Plasticity is not considered a micro-scale
property because it is defined from phenomenological
observations, i.e., obtaining the moisture content according
to a specific blow number to determine liquid limit.
Moreover, it cannot explain the development of a diffuse
double layer, which is the predominant determinant of the
behavior of fine-grained soils.
An approach to approximate the surface conductance of
expansive soils is proposed. Surface conductance is the
electrical conductivity of a diffuse double layer and is
representative of the electrical forces between adjacent
diffuse double layers. Percentage of montmorillonite is
derived from semi-quantitative approximations from XRD
test results and the clay size fraction is determined from the
hydrometer test.
Single regression analyses were performed to predict
swell percent and swell pressure. Matric suction of soil
samples at OMC was found to be the most significant
variable in the predictions, probably because the magnitude
represents the change of diffuse double layers from the
initially compacted state of the soil. For the four soils
studied, surface conductance provides good predictions for
soil swell, except for the sample from Carnisaw which had
a low pH. pH and PM, if measured more accurately, are
expected to play a more significant role in predicting
macro-scale soil behavior when used in combination with
other micro-scale properties for multi-linear regression
analysis using a larger database of soil properties. Other
possible micro-scale properties, such as dielectric permit-
tivity and directional conductivity, should also be included
to possibly strengthen the predictions. The choice of micro-
scale properties should include, but not be limited to, those
capable of reflecting information of the initial state of
the soil specimen, e.g., the property of matric suction, as
this could help to explain the underlying microscopic
123
78
mechanism(s) that best affects macroscopic behavior
(swelling) of expansive soils.
Acknowledgments Financial support for this research was provided
by the National Science Foundation (Grant No. 0746980). The sup-
port is greatly appreciated. The authors are also thankful to Dr.
Madden at the University of Oklahoma for his help on the XRD tests.
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