geotechnical characterization of organic soils and peat

organic soils and peat are problematic due to their high water content, high compressibility and low shear strength. this article describes a laboratory study on geotechnical properties of these soils. soil samples having different organic content from several locations in malaysia were collected to determine the correlations of various basic geotechnical properties of the soils. the results indicate geotechnical properties of the soils are highly dependent on organic contents. thus, with an increase in organic content, the natural water content, liquid limit, and compression index increase; the specific gravity and bulk density decrease. based on the results obtained, the hemic and sapric peat have lower shear strength than the fibrous peat.