ABSTRACT
A laboratory study was conducted to investigate the effect of the percolation of water contaminated with chemicals from industrial activities on the integrity of calcareous sand particles. Distilled water and six prepared chemical solutions, which represent the most common waste effluents in the studied region, were used in the leaching of natural soil samples under a certain effective stress. A special laboratory setup was developed to facilitate the control of changes in axial strain and permeability of soil samples during the leaching process. Test results show that the integrity of calcareous sand particles is influenced by being exposed to some industrial liquid wastes, depending on the ability of chemicals in liquid wastes to increase the dissolution of carbonate salts from calcareous soils. This causes possible erosion to soil grains and changes in relationships established between soil particles leading to their compression.
