Investigation Into Some Of The Engineering Properties Of Soil In Woldiya Town

Woldiya is a hillside market town, capital of the Semien Wollo Zone, and Woreda in Northern Ethiopia.rnLocated North of Dessie and Southeast of Lalibela in the Amhara Region. This town has a latitude andrnlongitude of 11°50′N, 39°36′E and an average elevation of 2112 meters above sea level. A lot of civilrnengineering structures are under construction; however, nothing has been done on the investigation of soilrnwith respect to the intended urban development plan. Therefore, the objective of the research is torninvestigate some of the engineering properties of soils found in Woldiya town.rnThe engineering behavior of soils formed under temperate or tropical conditions is determined by certainrnphysical characteristics designated as engineering properties. In practice the determination of all thernengineering properties of soils is expensive and time consuming. Whereas, Index properties are simplerrnand cheaper engineering characteristics which are indicative of some engineering properties and essentialrnparameters for soil classification.rnTo achieve the aim of the thesis disturbed and undisturbed samples from different parts of the town wererncollected and laboratory tests were done. The index property investigation in this study includes; naturalrnmoisture content, specific gravity, particle size distribution, Atterberg limits and free swell tests.rnFurthermore, the consolidation and shear strength characteristics of soil in the town were studied.rnThe grain size analysis test result showed that the dominant proportion of soil particle in the research arearnis fine-grained soils, which have clay content ranging from 6-50%, silt faction 40-63% sand fraction 2-rn20% .rnThe result of Atterberg Limit test on the soil in the research area showed a liquid limit ranging from 34-rn97%, plastic limit ranging from 28-35% and plastic index from 5-63%.The specific gravity ranges fromrn2.65-3.0. Free swell test conducted on the samples collected shows range from 39-130%.rnThe shear strength of a soil mass is the internal resistance per unit area that the soil mass can offer to resistrnfailure and sliding along any plane inside it. Shear strength is the principal engineering property whichrncontrols the stability of a soil mass under loads. It governs the bearing capacity of soils, the stability ofrnslopes in soils , the earth pressure against retaining structure and many other problem.rnDisturbed and undisturbed samples were collected during the driest season. The soil was very stiff, whenrntry to do unconfined compression test it shows crumble before the run of the test. Because of this reason itrnis impossible to do unconfined compression test in this thesis. Even though, unconfined compression testrnis not done, direct shear test was done to show the shear strength of soil in the town. The cohesion andrnIXrninternal friction of the representative samples of test pit four and five are (64.83kPa,17.850) andrn(91.56kPa,19.650) respectively.rnAccording to the Unified Soil Classification System, the soil is categorized mainly as clay soils andrnpartially silts soils. The AASHTO Classification System shows that the usual types of significantrnconstituent materials of the Woldiya soil are clayey soil. Finally one-dimensional consolidation tests wererndone and have compression index ranging from 0.28-0.4, recompression index ranging from 0.05-0.07,rncoefficient of consolidation ranges from 0.031-0.039cm2/sec.

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