Laboratory Geotechnical Investigations on Five Silty Soils Sampled Along the Banks of the Lubumbashi River/Haut-Katanga/DR Congo

An adequate design of port structures along waterways requires a good knowledge of the geotechnical properties of the surrounding soils. This study aims to characterize the geotechnical laboratory properties of alluvial soils along the Lubumbashi river (section between the Tshombe and Tshondo bridges, approximately 3 km long) in the city of Lubumbashi, province of Haut Katanga in DR Congo. To meet this objective, five sampling zones were selected from which samples were taken with a hand auger and various geotechnical laboratory tests were performed. Identification tests reveal that the tested soils have low to moderate plasticity and are in the range of sandy silt to silty sand with a low fraction of clay particles, essentially inactive. Oedometric compression tests reveal that the soils in place are (moderately) compressible. The consolidated undrained (CU) triaxial compression and direct shear tests indicate effective values of internal friction angle and negligible drained cohesion that, are consistent for this kind of soil. In the end, the compressibility and strength parameters of the five tested soils are correlated with their plasticity index, showing a decrease in the shear strength and an increase in the compressibility when the plasticity index increase.