Characterization of Shear Strength and Compressibility of Diesel Contaminated Sand

Soil contamination with petroleum products and/or waste are a problem that can be detected nearby industrial areas and other amenities that include underground leaking tanks or pipelines. The negative effect of oil contamination on the soil properties is significant and can completely alter the strength as well as the serviceability limit states of the bearing stratum. In this study, Diesel was mixed with cohesionless soils using four different mixing percentages, starting with 5% up to 13.5% by weight, to cover a wide range of contamination ratios. The effects of contamination on the soil shear strength parameters and compressibility were assessed. Furthermore, the ultrasonic test was utilized to evaluate changes in the soil stiffness due to diesel contamination. Accordingly, a correlation was developed between wave velocity and California bearing ratio using frequencies ranging from 24 to 500 kHz. © 2020, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.