Effect of Drying on the Index Properties of Lateritic Soils

Due to significant variation in geological and climatic conditions the characteristics of lateritic soils vary from place to place. Because of the prevailing climatic conditions, the laterites and lateritic soils of a particular region may be different from those found in other parts of the world. Some investigators report that the pretest drying has significant effect on the properties of soils. In such studies the authors associate the effect of drying on the properties of soils due to the mineralogy of soil. From this context there is a need to investigate the effect of sample preparation on lateritic soils prior to testing. In the present study lateritic soils from different sources in west coast region of India were studied to investigate the effect of drying on their index properties. Due to pretest drying it is observed from the results that there is a significant change in Atterberg limits and other properties of soils tested. These changes are attributed due to aggregation of particles. The observed changes are found to be permanent.