Assessment of Riverbank Soil Properties at Sg. Damansara

Riverbank failure is a common issue whereby almost every year riverbanks are prone with problems, such as erosion, breaching or retirements. Among the major causes are due to the use of geotechnical unstable materials, seepage and sliding of soil. Therefore, the main issue to be tackled is to evaluate riverbank soil properties. Soil properties evaluation is significant for riverbank assessment and this paper gives better justification for problem arise. This study focuses on the characterization of soil properties and the identification of the physical and mechanical soil properties of undisturbed soil sample. This is seen as an opportunity to overcome any issues related to the riverbank failure. The location of this study is located at Damansara River, Seksyen 13, Shah Alam, Selangor. Laboratory experiments that have been conducted are Moisture Content Test, Specific Gravity Test, Atterberg Limit Test, Particle Distribution Test, Compaction Test, Permeability Test and also Shear Strength Test. The soil at Damansara River riverbank is classified as well graded silty sand. Moisture content for both samples is 33 and 39 %. The specific gravity for both samples recorded as 2.27 and 2.61. Furthermore, plastic limit for each sample is 31 and 35 % while liquid limit is 42 and 50 %. Dry density for Sample 1 is 1.85 Mg/m³ while Sample 2 is 1.70 Mg/m³. The permeability of the soil is range of 10⁻³ to 10⁻⁵. The strength of riverbank soil is low due to the condition of soil properties which is sand where the value of cohesion, c′, recorded is 8 kPa while internal friction, Ø, value is 20.4°.