INFLUENCE OF DRYING-WETTING CYCLES ON THE COMPRESSIBILITY OF CLAY SOILS IN THE COMMUNE OF HOUEYOGBE

This article presents the results of an experimental laboratory study carried out with the odometer and the Richards press on a class A3 clay soil sample that had undergone drying-wetting cycles. These tests allowed us to analyze in fine the influence of the drying-wetting cycles on the compressibility and suction behavior of the soil object of our study. This study reveals that the drying-wetting cycles have a certain influence on clay soils. Indeed, the compressibility index of the soil increases while the swelling index decreases according to the cycles; the pre-consolidation pressure and the oedometric modulus show a more or less constant variation; the permeability of the soil increases clearly when the number of cycles increases. Soil suction decreases as the number of drying-wetting cycles increases under extreme conditions.