International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology (IJRASET)
ISSN: 2321-9653; IC Value: 45.98; SJ Impact Factor: 7.177
Volume 7 Issue XI, Nov 2019- Available at www.ijraset.com
780
© IJRASET: All Rights are Reserved
Oil Spills and their Effect on the Properties of Soil
Mustansir Raoof Dar
1
, Nasir Ali
2
, Abhishek Sharma
3
1
M.Tech Student,
2, 3
Astt. Prof, Department of Civil Engineering, GGGI, Dinarpur (Ambala)
Abstract: Oil spills has a negative effect on the environment and on the ecological life and it may also change the geotechnical
properties of the soil. The aim of this work was to study the effect of crude oil i.e. Kerosene and Diesel on the properties of the
soil. Three different types of soils were selected on the basis of their grain size distribution and their initial physical properties
of the selected soils such as optimum moisture content, maximum dry density, and shear strength, grain size distribution, and
permeability were determined. A number of samples were prepared by mixing the soil with different percentages of crude oil
products (kerosene and diesel) and their effects were studied by conducting different experiments such as permeability test,
proctor compaction test, direct shear test .When normal stress were low the percentage of diesel and kerosene in soil was
increased, the shear strength increased then it decreased .When normal stress was high as the percentage of diesel and
kerosene in soil increased, this resulted in the decrease in shearing strength where as permeability decreased in all the samples
with the addition of addition of diesel and kerosene.
Keywords: Oil spills, Diesel, Kerosene, Permeability, Shear Strength
I. INTRODUCTION
Petroleum products can be released into the soil environment via spill, leakage, transport, or other incidents which adversely
affect agricultural, residential or recreational land use. Since oil pollution is a great environmental threat as it can pollute
neighboring soil, surface and ground water, it may damage ecosystems and negatively affect health of plants, animals and human
being. Therefore it’s important to study its effect on the ground and soil. In past few years, many researchers have been studying
the effect of oil spills on the properties of soil and their effect on the engineering applications. Oil spill may be caused due to
many reasons such as transportation on land and sea, ship accidents and due to drilling of oil processes. The aim is to develop an
understanding of the behavior of the soil subjected to oil product contamination and thus resulting change in their physical
properties. The outcome of this study can be the guidance for geotechnical designers and soil researchers to improve their
understanding of the soil behavior subjected to the addition of crude oil products like kerosene and diesel.
II. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The following objectives are set in this study:
A. To study the effect of the addition of different percentages of diesel and kerosene on different geotechnical properties of soil.
B. To conduct direct shear test on three types of soil contaminated with kerosene and diesel to study their effect on the shear
strength values.
C. To conduct the constant head permeability test on three types of soil contaminated with kerosene and diesel and to study their
effect on the coefficient of permeability.
D. To provide a comprehensive idea of soil behaviour contaminated with oil products from the data collected and analyzed.
III. EXPERIMENTAL WORK AND RESULTS
A. Soil Classification
In the first, the soil classification was done. Sieve size distribution was used to measure the gradation of the sand. The sieves are
selected according to Indian standard specifications.[1] A known weight of the sample was passed through sieves
100mm,80m,40mm,20mm,10mm,4.75mm,2mm,1mm,0.600mm,0.425mm,0.300mm,0.212mm,0.150mm,0.075mm.The retained
sand on each sieve was weighted using a balance and converted to a percentage of the total soil sample. By this method the
maximum soil diameter was found and we could now differentiate between the different soils samples according to their grain size
distribution. This was done for the three different soils and they were classified using the Unified Soil Classification System as
shown in Table 1 From the values obtained it was noticed that all of the values of Cu were greater than 6 and all the values of Cc
were less than 1. Therefore, it was concluded that the three soil samples were poorly graded sands with different gradations.