Treatment for Expansive Soil Channel Slope with Soilbags

Expansive soil is regarded as one of the trouble soils and is difficult to deal with in engineering because of its strong swelling–shrinkage behavior and well-developed fissures and overconsolidation. In this paper, a treatment method for an expansive soil channel slope with soilbags is proposed. The mechanism of the proposed treatment method is introduced. A number of the swell potential, swelling pressure, seepage, and interlayer friction tests were conducted on soilbags filled with expansive soils, which were taken from a construction site of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project in China. The test results indicate that soilbags can enhance the strength and restrict the swelling deformation of the expansive soil, and that the assembly of soilbags has a high permeability and interlayer friction coefficient. The stability of an expansive channel slope reinforced by soilbags is analyzed based on the limit-equilibrium theory.