Experimental Shear Analyses of Oil Contaminated Sand

This article is discussing the effect of oil leak contamination on soil shear behavior. The authors also studied the effect of the natural existence of silt fraction, on shear properties of the same soil type. Sand soil is used as a foundation and replacement soil during civil construction in the region of Agrud Suez – EGYPT. In this research, direct shear tests were performed on pure sand and sand with 3% silt content soil, under various normal stresses to investigate the effect of soil grain size on shear properties. Moreover, shear properties were studied for oil- contaminated sand and sand with silt to determine the effect of oil contamination on both forms of soil. Results indicate that the presence of a small percentage of silt in sand soil may cause a significant decrease in shear strength. As it was observed that adding oil as a contamination material to sand may cause a decrease in shear resistance as well.