Engineering Properties and Compressibility Behavior of Tropical Peat Soil

This paper presents the engineering properties and compressibility behavior of various types of tropical peat soil collected from several locations in Malaysia. These soils represented fibric, hemic and sapric type of tropical peat with organic content ranging from 70% to 90%. The correlations of the various basic engineering properties of the tropical peat soils have been found to be close and new equations have been established. Loss on ignition (Organic Content) appears to be a very useful parameter for the peat. It correlates well with the natural water content, liquid limit, density and specific gravity. Compressibility behavior of various type of peat soil was measured using Rowe Cell consolidation test for accuracy and conventional oedometer test for comparison purpose. Compressibility index Cc and Cα was identified as two crucial parameters to estimate settlements in peat soil. Parametric study has been carried out at the end of the study to foresee the effect of surcharge on fibric, hemic and sapric peat ground. Based on the results obtained, it shows that fibric peat recorded the highest settlement followed by hemic and sapric peat with increase in consolidation pressure.