The Effect of Fiber Content on Long-Term Compression Behavior of Tropical Fibrous Peat

Peat is soil which composed by organic content larger than 75%. This soil contains the accumulation of fragmented plant due to decomposition process. The parent material of peat in the tropical area is commonly from woody and ferns. This type of vegetation has lignin and cellulose in high percentage which difficult to decompose. Hence, peat in the tropical area generally classified as fibrous peat (fiber content larger than 20%). The degree of decomposition which categorized from the fiber content of this peat could vary from fibric, hemic, and sapric. The fiber on peat often correspond to the compression behavior of peat. However, study about the effect of fiber content to the long-term behavior of tropical fibrous peat still limited. Therefore, this study will present the effect of variation of fiber content to the long-term compression behavior of tropical fibrous peat. The tropical fibrous peat samples were collected form Palangkaraya, Centre of Kalimantan, Indonesia. The one-dimensional consolidation test was conducted using incremental load method to reconstituted sample and undisturbed sample. The result show that the increasing of fiber content tends to increase the magnitude of immediate compression, shorten the primary compression stage, and increase the rate of secondary compression.