Preliminary Screening of Residual Soil Stability in Karst Terrain

Research Article| January 01, 2005 Preliminary Screening of Residual Soil Stability in Karst Terrain ERIC C. DRUMM; ERIC C. DRUMM 1Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-2010 Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar MICHAEL Z. YANG MICHAEL Z. YANG 2KCI Technologies, Inc., 10 North Park Drive, Hunt Valley, MD 21030-1846 Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information ERIC C. DRUMM 1Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-2010 MICHAEL Z. YANG 2KCI Technologies, Inc., 10 North Park Drive, Hunt Valley, MD 21030-1846 Publisher: Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists First Online: 02 Mar 2017 Online ISSN: 1558-9161 Print ISSN: 1078-7275 Copyright © 2005 Geological Society of America Environmental & Engineering Geoscience (2005) 11 (1): 29–42. https://doi.org/10.2113/11.1.29 Article history First Online: 02 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation ERIC C. DRUMM, MICHAEL Z. YANG; Preliminary Screening of Residual Soil Stability in Karst Terrain. Environmental & Engineering Geoscience 2005;; 11 (1): 29–42. doi: https://doi.org/10.2113/11.1.29 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyEnvironmental & Engineering Geoscience Search Advanced Search Abstract The stability of the residual soils that overlie cavitose limestone is often a concern during the siting, construction, and maintenance of facilities in karst terrain. Voids or domes often form in the residual soil above the rock cavities, and unless the thickness of the residual soil is sufficient for the development of arching, the soil may collapse and sinkholes may form. A preliminary screening method is proposed to estimate the thickness of residual soil required to provide stability for a given range of potential soil-void diameters. The method considers two modes of instability for sites with shallow (less than 25 m) overburden. Stability with respect to the first mode (cover collapse) depends on the development of arching in the residual soil and suggests a minimum allowable cover thickness for stability. Stability with respect to the second mode (cover subsidence) corresponds to the yielding and plastic flow of the soils into the soil and/or rock void and suggests a maximum cover thickness above which subsidence should be evaluated. Sites with very thick overburden (more than 25 m) are generally not considered problematic. The limiting conditions for the first stability mode are compared with estimated sinkhole dimensions reported in the literature and the application of the stability chart is demonstrated by an example. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.