Evaluating the Undrained Shear Strength of Sulphide-Bearing Soils in the Sundsvall Area

Sammanfattning: Sulphide soils in Sweden are mainly found along the northeast coastline. These soils area characterized by their fine grain size, low shear strength and black, or grey, color. These soils are also found further south, in the Sundsvall area in Västernorrland, but have slightly lower sulphide content there. They are therefore often classified as sulphide-bearing soils. It is presumed that the undrained shear strength is underestimated in these soils. The undrained shear strength is used in the design of different geotechnical reinforcements. To obtain the undrained shear strength of a soil, several methods can be used. In situ, cone penetration tests or field vane tests can be used for example. In a laboratory environment, the undrained shear strength can be obtained from fall cone test or direct shear tests on undisturbed samples. Depending on how the soil is classified, they can be evaluated as a sulphide soil or as inorganic clay.  The objective of this master's thesis is to investigate if there are any indications showing that the undrained shear strength of sulphide-bearing soils in the Sundsvall area is being underestimated. It has also been investigated whether these soils should be evaluated as inorganic fine-grained soils instead of sulphide soils. Attempts have also been made to find a more suitable and site-specific reduction factor, cone factor, for the cone penetration tests. In order to enable this study, data from the mentioned investigation methods have been collected from Sweco's project Dubbelspår Dingersjö-Sundsvall C. The Project was separated into three subareas, since there were mainly three areas with direct shear tests. The data was evaluated both as sulphide soil and as inorganic clay, and then compared with the reference values from the direct simple shear tests. The site-specific cone factors for the cone penetration tests were also derived by using the undrained shear strength from the direct simple shear tests.  The result from the comparison with the reference values shows that the undrained shear strength of the sulphide-bearing soils in the Sundsvall area is underestimated if it is evaluated as sulphide soil. This applies to all three methods, cone penetration tests, fall cone tests and field vane tests. The fact that the undrained shear strength is currently underestimated means that costs and environmental impact could be reduced in many projects in Västernorrland if a more accurate reduction were to be used. New cone factors were also derived as a part of the result. The new cone factors were 20.55, 18.84 and 17.04 for the three subareas. This can be compared to the current cone factor for sulphide soil, which is 20. At the end of this report it is discussed whether the direct simple shear tests are the most suitable method for obtaining reference values in these soils. It is also discussed which parameters are believed to affect the cone factors. Future research should investigate how the silt and organic content affects the undrained shear strength. This should be done to be able to find a more accurate reduction for sulphide-bearing soils. Whether the direct simple shear tests are best suited to use as a reference values should also be investigated further.