The Effect of Oil Contamination on Geotechnical Properties

Every day, petrochemical activities, oil spills, and pipeline or reservoir leakage contaminate the ground. In addition to environmental concerns, such as groundwater pollution, the alteration of geotechnical properties of the contaminated soil is also cause for worry. There are many ways which could enhance the leakage of gas oil including; corroded storage tanks, processing plants and petroleum transportation. Contamination has been proven to alter the geotechnical properties of soil, and researchers have extensively studied the properties of contaminated granular soils (sand) and fine-grained soils (clay and silt).This paper summarizes the results relating to the effects of crude oil and gas oil contamination on the geotechnical properties of soils such as Atterberg limits, compressibility, hydraulic conductivity, shear strength, bearing capacity and the cohesion of the soils. In addition, this investigation was undertaken to evaluate the effect of temperature on the strength, permeability, and compressibility of oil-contaminated sand. The samples were artificially contaminated by mixing the soils with crude oil and gas oil in the amount of 2%, 4%, 8%, 12%, and 16% by dry weight. The results indicated a decrease in strength, permeability, optimum water content and Atterberg limits and an increase in compression index and maximum dry density occur as the oil content increases. Knowledge of these effects of oil contamination is important in coastal engineering and environmental remediation activities of the studied coastal plain.

Keywords:

Oil-contaminated soil , Geotechnical properties , Sand and clay , Granular soil , Fine-grained soils