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Structural Engineering and Mechanics Volume 88, Number 2, October25 2023 , pages 179-188 DOI: https://doi.org/10.12989/sem.2023.88.2.179 |
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Mechanical behaviours of biopolymers reinforced natural soil |
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Zhanbo Cheng and Xueyu Geng
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| Abstract | ||
| The mechanical behaviours of biopolymer-treated soil depend on the formation of soil-biopolymer matrices. In this study, various biopolymers (e.g., xanthan gum (XG), locust bean gum (LBG), sodium alginate (SA), agar gum (AG), gellan gum (GE) and carrageenan kappa gum (KG) are selected to treat three types of natural soil at different concentrations (e.g., 1%, 2% and 3%) and curing time (e.g., 4-365 days), and reveal the reinforcement effect on natural soil by using unconfined compression tests. The results show that biopolymer-treated soil obtains the maximum unconfined compressive strength (UCS) at curing 14-28 days. Although the UCS of biopolymer-treated soil has a 20-30% reduction after curing 1-year compared to the maximum value, it is still significantly larger than untreated soil. In addition, the UCS increment ratio of biopolymer-treated soil decreases with the increase of biopolymer concentration, and there exists the optimum concentration of 1%, 2-3%, 2%, 1% and 2% for XG, SA, LBG, KG and AG, respectively. Meanwhile, the optimum initial moisture content can form uniformly biopolymer-soil matrices to obtain better reinforcement efficiency. Furthermore, the best performance in increasing soil strength is XG following SA and LBG, which are significantly better than AG, KG and GE. | ||
| Key Words | ||
| biopolymer; optimum conditions; reinforcement effect; unconfined compressive strength | ||
| Address | ||
| Zhanbo Cheng and Xueyu Geng: School of Engineering, University of Warwick, Coventry CV47AL, UK | ||