Properties and Improvement Techniques of Problematic Soils

Dear Colleagues,

Problematic soils are a group of soil materials that hinder the design and construction process. Therefore, investors and engineers usually decide to avoid making building investments in areas where problematic soils occur. Unfortunately, in densely populated areas, it is increasingly the only option to carry out construction on problematic soils.

Problematic soils, from a geotechnical point of view, are soils that have the potential to expand, collapse, disperse, undergo excessive settlement or even to fail under relatively low stress conditions. The above soil response phenomena are connected with the soil’s physical properties such as soil grain composition, saturation ratio, degree of compaction, mineralogy, and with its mechanical properties, for example, preconsolidation or soil strength parameters.

These problematic soils are creating a number of problems, including those that are related but not limited to bearing capacity, stability in excavation, stability in embankments, and long-term settlements.

In order to build on such soils, geotechnical engineers employ a wide range of improvement techniques, for example, soil physical and chemical stabilization, deep soil mixing, stone columns, etc.

For the successful utilization of problematic soil areas, scientific efforts need to be focused on the following activities: (I) the physical, chemical and mechanical properties of problematic soil such as bearing capacity, stiffness and compressibility, etc.; (II) laboratory and in situ testing techniques; (III) design methods and numerical analysis.

The aim of this Special Issue is to evaluate the properties and improvement techniques of problematic soils to allow safe and economically reliable construction on this type of soil material. Ground improvement engineering serves as a solution to the great quantity of such materials. In this context, there is a great need for deeper knowledge about problematic soils in the field and this Special Issue aims to collect contributions regarding the presented topic.

Studies are expected to address at least one of the following topics:

• the physical, chemical and mechanical properties of problematic soils, which concern the laboratory and in situ testing as well as the numerical analysis of the constructions;
• ground improvement design methods and case studies;
• numerical and constitutive soil modelling.

Contributions could address experimental investigations or mathematical descriptions. Case studies that propose a general procedure that could be applied in geotechnical engineering are also welcome.

This Special Issue is a call for geotechnical engineers, earthwork engineers, pavement engineers, and material researches as well as contractors. We would like to encourage them to contribute their research results and to report their experiences. We believe that these Special Issue contributions will significantly impact the problematic soils field of study.

Thank you for your contributions.

Dr. Wojciech Sas
Dr. Andrzej Głuchowski
Guest Editors

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• problematic soils
• organic soils
• anthropogenic materials/soils
• soft rocks
• geomaterials
• earthwork engineering
• subsoil improvement
• geotechnical testing
• properties of problematics soils
• properties of anthropogenic materials