Identificación de arcillas dispersivas en los suelos de la presa Chojampe 2 del proyecto Pacalori

Abstract

Clay is commonly used in construction of hydraulic structures such as dams because these structures lower permeability and are able to be in contact with water. However, a dispersive type of clay is very susceptible to erosion once it makes contact with water, due to the salt concentration. For this reason, identification of dispersive soils in hydraulic projects is very important. The exploitation and central water plan for the province of Los Ríos (PACALORI in Spanish) contains 13 dams with homogeneous soil, with the objective of supplying irrigation water for more than 100,000 agricultural hectares and flood control. This project aims to study the soil from the dam containing homogeneous soil Chojampe 2, by performing the Pinhole test and the test of total dissolved salts (TDS) to identify the presence of dispersive clay and confirm the correlation between these two methods. After performing the Pinhole test and the test of total dissolved salts (TDS), the soil was found to be non-dispersive. The results obtained from the Pinhole test soil (yellow, red and green) fell into the ND1 category, classifying the tested soil as non-dispersive. As well as the results of the test of total dissolved salts classified the samples of the red and green mixture in the B Zone (non-dispersive) and the yellow mixture in the C Zone (intermediate).