The article presents the results of CRL research on glacial till contaminated with JET A1 aviation fuel and mineral oil 15W40. The conducted research has shown that the compressibility of fine grained soils contaminated with hydrocarbons during a constant rate of loading tests depends on the physical properties of the soil, properties of oil contaminants, their content in the soil pores as well as the adopted loading velocity. The implemented laboratory test program shows that the contamination of glacial till with hydrocarbons increases their compressibility. Moreover, this research shows that the CRL test method may be recommended in the compressibility research of fine grained soils contaminated with hydrocarbons.

Petroleum products influence the engineering behaviour of the soil. Neogene clays and glacial tills from Central Poland were tested under laboratory conditions to evaluate the changes of selected physical and mechanical parameters: particle size distribution, particle density, swelling, shear strength and permeability. Four petroleum products were used in the experiments: diesel fuel, kerosene, jet fuel and mineral engine oil. The study revealed that even for the lowest degree of contamination the values of physical and mechanical properties of the soils changed significantly. Greater variation can be expected in soils contaminated with high-viscosity compounds. Also, higher relative changes were found for glacial tills than for Neogene clays. Consolidation tests revealed changes in soil permeability depending on the soil composition and the physical properties of the contaminant – considerable reduction of permeability was observed for glacial tills contaminated with light Jet fuel, while the reduction was lower for Neogene clays. The obtained results indicate the role of mesopores and the dimensionless pore pressure coefficient in changes of soil permeability. The methodological issues regarding testing and analysing the hydrocarbon-contaminated soils were also presented and discussed, which might be useful for researchers studying contaminated soils.