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Evaluation of swelling pressure of bentonite/claystone mixtures from pore size distribution

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Abstract

The swelling behaviour of expansive clays is strongly related to the interaction between clay particles. In this paper, a series of constant-volume swelling pressure and mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) tests were carried out on MX80 bentonite/Callovo-Oxfordian (COx) claystone mixtures with different bentonite fractions and dry densities. Results show that the swelling pressure increased linearly with the increase in dry density. Additionally, at a given dry density, the larger the bentonite fraction, the larger the swelling pressure. From the MIP results, the inter-particle pore volume decreased with the increases of bentonite fraction and dry density. To link the macroscopic swelling behaviour with the microstructure features, a new method was proposed, allowing the determination of the average inter-particle distance from the pore size distribution. Moreover, a linear relationship was identified between the swelling pressure and the average inter-particle distance in a semi-logarithmic plane, regardless of the bentonite fraction and montmorillonite content.

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Acknowledgements

The supports from the Chinese Scholar Council (CSC) and the French National Radioactive Waste Management Agency (Andra) are greatly acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire Navier/CERMES, Ecole des Ponts ParisTech, 6 et 8 Avenue Blaise Pascal, Cité Descartes, Champs-sur-Marne, 77455, Marne-la-Vallée Cedex 2, France

    Zhixiong Zeng & Yu-Jun Cui

  2. Andra, 1/7, Rue Jean Monnet, 92298, Châtenay-Malabry Cedex, France

    Jean Talandier

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  1. Zhixiong Zeng
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  2. Yu-Jun Cui
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  3. Jean Talandier
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Correspondence to Zhixiong Zeng.

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Zeng, Z., Cui, YJ. & Talandier, J. Evaluation of swelling pressure of bentonite/claystone mixtures from pore size distribution. Acta Geotech. 18, 1671–1679 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-022-01676-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-022-01676-5

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