An experimental and constitutive investigation on the chemo-mechanical behaviour of a clay

Engineering issues for which the understanding of the chemo-mechanical behaviour of soils is relevant include wellbore stability problems, the salinification of groundwater, and nuclear waste storage. However, despite the vast number of situations in which couplings between chemistry and mechanics occur, the available constitutive models rely on limited experimental evidence. This paper presents the results of an experimental programme on the chemo-mechanical behaviour of a non-swelling illite. The osmotic suction is controlled through the ion concentration of sodium chloride in the pore water. Stress paths include mechanical loading at a constant osmotic suction, and an increasing osmotic …