RETRACTED ARTICLE: Study of Factors Affecting the Compressive Strength of Sandy Soil Stabilized with Polymer

Material engineers are continually confronted by depletion of quality construction materials for road and airfield construction. Even if good quality construction materials for road and airfield are available, the haul costs may preclude their use. Stabilization of soils in order to improve strength and durability properties often relies on cement, lime, fly ash, and asphalt emulsion. These materials are inexpensive, relatively easy to apply, and provide benefits to many different soil types. In addition, there are a variety of nontraditional soil stabilization/modification additives available from the commercial sector such as polymer emulsions, acids, lignin derivatives, enzymes, tree resin emulsions, and silicates. These additives may be in liquid or solid state and are often touted to be applicable for most soils. Polymers may be easy to apply in permeable materials such as sand and may achieve good stabilization in relatively shorter periods of time. These polymer materials can be used for stabilizing, soil in road shoulders, slopes, and pads of military and emergency airports. In addition, these types of materials can be used to prevent the movement of the dune sands on the sides of railroads and stabilizing the dust on the surface of access roads. Within the present research, two different polymers of wide range of dosages have been applied. Following results have been achieved: (1) These polymers improve the compressive strength from 0.03 N/mm2 for control sample to 5.2 N/mm2 for improved sample. (2) The optimum curing time of dune sands with different polymers is 7 days. (3) The UC strength of stabilized samples soars with an increase in the temperature, in the first 24 h of the curing process. (4) When the concentration of salt increased from 1 to 10 percent, UC strength of stabilized samples decreased.     

Some geotechnical properties of a lime-stabilized laterite containing a high proportion of aluminium oxide

The engineering properties of many soils can be improved by lime stabilization. Not all such soils, however, show improved strength. Such non-reactive soils will show no strength increase regardless of lime type and percentage, curing environment and duration of treatment.The type and amount of minerals and elements may either facilitate or inhibit increase in strength. The strength of soils possessing high proportions of aluminium oxide could be reduced when stabilized with lime and cured over a long period at a high temperature. This decrease in strength is due to the type of reaction products formed.A Kenyan laterite with a high proportion of aluminium oxide was stabilized with different percentages of lime and cured over periods of uo to 28 days. The results show that with a lower percentage of lime, the unconfined strength decreases with increase in curing time. However, when the amount of lime is increased, there is an increase in strength with curing time. The immediate California Bearing Ratio (C.B.R.) values are observed to be functions of density and moisture content. The higher the density, the greater the C.B.R. values.     

The Use of Municipal Solid Waste Incinerator Ash to Stabilize Dune Sands

Dune sands are problematic soils because they have low shear strength and are susceptible to collapse upon wetting. Dosages of municipal solid waste incinerator ash between 10 and 80?% were used to improve the engineering properties of dune sands. The soil-ash mixtures were allowed to cure for periods from 7 to 90?days. Laboratory tests such as compaction, unconfined compression, shear box and hydraulic conductivity tests were performed to measure the engineering characteristics of the stabilized material. The results showed that the maximum dry density remains approximately constant up to ash content of 30?% and then it decreases with the increase in ash content. The optimum water content increases with the increase in ash content. The unconfined compressive strength substantially increases with ash content up to 30?% and then decreases with the increase in ash content. The angle of friction follows similar trend to the unconfined compressive strength. However, the cohesion shows a steady increase with the ash content. The hydraulic conductivity of the stabilized material consistently decreases with the increase in the ash content. The effect of curing time on the hydraulic conductivity is minimal after 7?days of curing time. However, the unconfined compressive strength and the cohesion slightly increased with curing time up to 90?days.     

高分子固化剂/纤维改良砂土的抗拉强度试验研究

本文采用高分子固化剂和聚丙烯纤维对砂土进行复合加固,通过对不同聚丙烯纤维含量、固化剂含量和干密度的重塑试样进行抗拉试验,测量试样破坏时的最大拉应力,对比不同试样抗拉强度的变化规律,并结合扫描电镜对复合加固机理进行较为深入的分析。试验结果表明,高分子固化剂和聚丙烯纤维的复合加固能够显著提高砂土的抗拉强度,纤维含量、固化剂含量和干密度对改良砂土的抗拉强度均具有较大的影响。当干密度和高分子固化剂含量一定时,砂土抗拉强度随纤维含量的增加逐渐增加,当固化剂含量为4%,干密度为1.5 g·cm-3时,纤维含量从0.2%到0.8%,抗拉强度从79.06 kPa增加到194.51 kPa;当干密度和纤维含量一定时,砂土抗拉强度随着高分子固化剂含量的增加而增加,当纤维含量为0.8%,干密度为1.5g·cm-3时,固化剂含量从1%到4%,抗拉强度从63.16 kPa增加到194.51 kPa;当高分子固化剂含量和纤维含量一定时,抗拉强度随着干密度的增加先增加后减小,在干密度为1.55 g·cm-3左右达到峰值。复合加固结合物理和化学加固的优点,通过纤维在颗粒间的相互作用力和固化剂在颗粒间的联结力,从而提高改良砂土的抗拉性能。本研究结果为进一步研究砂土复合加固及其工程应用提供一定的参考依据。     

水泥偏高岭土复合稳定粉砂土渗透特性试验研究

水泥稳定粉砂土抗渗性能受粉砂土自身渗透性能、水泥用量、水灰比等因素影响显著,如何在提升其抗渗性能的同时降低水泥用量是提升工程经济效益的关键。通过开展不同水泥偏高岭土掺比、初始用水量、水泥偏高岭土总掺量以及养护龄期条件下的室内渗透试验,研究了上述因素对水泥偏高岭土复合稳定粉砂土抗渗性能的影响规律,探讨了上述因素及无侧限抗压强度与渗透系数之间的经验关系。结果表明：水泥与偏高岭土掺比为5:1时,水泥偏高岭土复合稳定粉砂土抗渗性能最佳,且该掺比不随水泥偏高岭土总掺量的改变而变化;水泥偏高岭土复合稳定粉砂土渗透系数随初始用水量增加呈非线性递增,随水泥偏高岭土总掺量增加和养护龄期发展呈先快后慢降低;基于试验结果归纳提出了4个关于初始用水量、水泥偏高岭土总掺量、养护龄期和无侧限抗压强度的水泥偏高岭土复合稳定粉砂土渗透系数经验模型。研究成果可为水泥稳定粉砂土抗渗性能提升提供理论参考与借鉴。     

Rare earth elements of the Altar Desert dune and coastal sands, Northwestern Mexico

Twenty-one surficial sand samples from the Altar Desert coastal and desert dune systems were analysed for rare earth elements (REE) content. This was done to observe the provenance signatures for four strategic dune localities near the Colorado River Delta, the El Pinacate dune fields, and the beaches of the north of the Gulf of California in the state of Sonora, Mexico. Our goals are to show which mechanisms (i.e., aeolian, marine) exert more influence on the composition of the Altar Desert dune sands. This study also shows the usefulness of REE spatial distribution to determine the relative mobility of the sand. Some sand samples from the dune systems in San Luis Río Colorado (SLRC), Golfo de Santa Clara (GSC), and Puerto Peñasco (PP) displayed dissimilar REE concentrations with respect to the rest of the sand samples from the same sites. These differences can be related to short aeolian transport distance in the sands with high REE concentrations and long aeolian transport distance in the sands with low REE concentrations. Besides, high REE concentration in the sands might be due to their closeness to the Colorado River Delta sediments and to recycled sands derived from granitic rocks. In contrast, all the sand samples from the El Pinacate (EP) site have similar REE concentration values, suggesting that the El Pinacate dune sands are influenced by more selective aeolian processes and less diverse heavy mineral content. The Altar Desert dune sands are derived from granitic sources eroded by the Colorado River. Our results also indicate that the Altar Desert dune sands are low in heavy mineral content (with the exception of Fe and Ti bearing minerals) and enriched in carbonates with phosphates (especially at the PP site) yielding poor correlations between REE and major element concentrations. The REE geographical distribution values in the Altar Desert dune sands indicate that light and heavy REE concentration values are related to aeolian transport, maturity of the sands, their low weathering rates, proximity of the source rocks, and the biogenic debris input from beach sands into the dune.     

Strength Behavior of Fine Grained Soil Reinforced with Randomly Distributed Polypropylene Fibers

Admixtures and reinforcement materials are frequently used in practice to stabilize coarse and fine grained soils and to improve their engineering properties. However, a limited number of studies have been carried out on fiber-reinforced fine grained soils. In this study, a series of unconfined compression tests, direct shear tests, and California Bearing Ratio tests were carried out to investigate the effect of randomly distributed polypropylene fiber on the strength behavior of a fine grained soil. The content of polypropylene fiber was varied between 0.25 and 1% by total dry weight of the reinforced samples. It was observed that unconfined compression strength, cohesion intercept and California Bearing Ratio increased with the addition of fibers. On the other hand, the results of the tests indicated that shear strength angle was not affected significantly by the fiber reinforcement.     

Influence of enzymatic lime on clay mineral behavior

Atterberg Limit Tests, unconfined compressive strength tests, and California Bearing Ratio Tests were conducted on the two minerals—kaolinite and bentonite—after subjecting them to stabilization with lime, enzyme, and enzymatic lime. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of enzymatic lime as a stabilizer over lime and enzyme. Results establish that enzymatic lime stabilization is the better stabilizer in terms of strength development. The unconfined compressive strength and California Bearing Ratio values of enzymatic lime stabilized samples have increased up to 5 and 30 times in the case of kaolinite mineral, but to only less than 1.5 times in the case of bentonite mineral. The study thus indicates that enzymatic lime stabilization is predominantly effective for clays containing kaolinite minerals.     

Lime stabilization of clay minerals and soils

Clay soil can be stabilized by the addition of small percentages, by weight, of lime, thereby enhancing many of the engineering properties of the soil and producing an improved construction material. In order to illustrate such improvements, three of the most frequently occurring minerals in clay deposits, namely, kaolinite, montmorillonite and quartz were subjected to a series of tests. As lime stabilization is most often used in relation to road construction, the tests were chosen with this in mind. Till and laminated clay were treated in similar fashion. With the addition of lime, the plasticity of montmorillonite was reduced whilst that of kaolinite and quartz was increased somewhat. However, the addition of lime to the till had little influence on its plasticity but a significant reduction occurred in that of the laminated clay. All materials experienced an increase in their optimum moisture content and a decrease in their maximum dry density, as well as enhanced California bearing ratio, on addition of lime. Some notable increases in strength and Young's Modulus occurred in these materials when they were treated with lime. Length of time curing and temperature at which curing took place had an important influence on the amount of strength developed.     

Laboratory Study on the Relative Performance of Silty-Sand Soils Reinforced with Linen Fiber

Randomly distributed fibers have been successfully used for the reinforcement of soils to improve their properties. However, the technique requires extensive testing on samples before it can be implemented. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to identify and quantify the influence of variables of linen-fiber (content and aspect ratio) on the performance of linen-fiber reinforced silty-sand specimens. The linen fibers have filament textures with special properties such as: low costs, plenitude in the region, lightweight, tension capacity and relative strength against deterioration. Linen fibers with diverse fiber contents (0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 1.0% of dry weight) and ratio aspect (50, 100 and 150) were used. The composite soils were laboratory tested for compaction, unconfined compression strength (UCS), California Bearing Ratio (CBR) and direct shear tests. The test results indicated that adding linen fiber in silty-sand soil resulted in increasing in unconfined compression strength, California Bearing Ratio values, peak friction angle and cohesion values. Furthermore, adding linen fibers have the dual benefit of increasing the stiffness (modulus of elasticity) and the ductility of the reinforced soil. However, this study suggests that the optimum fiber content for silty-sand samples reinforced with linen fibers is approximately 0.75% of the dry weight of the soil and a maximum performance was achieved at aspect ratio of 100 to avoid fiber balling. The laboratory results were used for the development of linear regression equation that best relates the UCS and CBR of a reinforced soil to the aforementioned parameters.     

基于高分子复合材料改良砂土三轴剪切试验研究

为研究剑麻纤维和高分子固化剂复合改良对砂土工程特性影响,通过一系列三轴剪切试验,对不同掺量和长度的剑麻纤维与高分子固化剂改良砂土的剪切强度特性进行了研究,从峰值偏应力、应力应变曲线特征和抗剪强度参数等方面分别对改良机理进行了研究。研究结果表明,纯高分子固化剂改良砂土的峰值偏应力和黏聚力明显提升,由于固化剂粘结砂土颗粒,限制了变形过程中颗粒的相对滑动,内摩擦角略微降低。随纤维掺量的增加,不同围压下固化剂改良土体的峰值偏应力明显增加,应力硬化特征愈加明显,土体的黏聚力和内摩擦角随纤维掺量的增加保持单调递增趋势。在单纯添加固化剂的情况下,土体强度与固化剂浓度呈正相关的关系;在给定0.4%的纤维含量下,随着纤维长度的加长,纤维和高分子固化剂复合改良砂土的剪切强度先增强后降低;在纤维长度为18 mm时,土体的剪切强度达到最大,黏聚力达到最大207.57 kPa;纤维长度的改变对试样破坏时的轴向应变和土体的内摩擦角基本没有影响。     

Stabilization of desert sands using municipal solid waste incinerator ash

This paper presents experimental results on the use of incinerator ash in stabilizing desert sands for possible use in geotechnical engineering applications. The incinerator ash was added in percentages of 2, 4, 8, 10 and 12%, by dry weight of sand. Laboratory tests such as compaction, unconfined compression, shear box and hydraulic conductivity were performed to measure the engineering characteristics of the stabilized material. The results showed substantial improvements in unconfined compressive strength and shear strength parameters (c and φ). Thus, incinerator ash can be used to improve the shear strength characteristics of desert sands. The permeability of the sand–incinerator ash mixture was relatively low.     

Effect of polyvinyl acetate grout injection on geotechnical properties of fine sand

This laboratory project aims to investigate the influence of polyvinyl acetate (PVA) grout injection on sandy soil improvement. In order to make the polymeric material injectable through the soil particles, adhesive polymer is mixed with water in certain weight percentages. Fine grained sand with different dry densities in its loose, medium and dense state, is prepared in a cylindrical mould and subjected to this polymeric grout injection. Unconfined compression tests are conducted on grouted samples after passing their curing period. Results illustrate that increasing the polymer percent in grout leads to significant compressive strength and elastic modulus enhancement. On the other hand, by increasing grout concentration, loose sand demonstrated higher compressive strength and elastic modulus improvement in comparison with medium and dense sand.     

Assessing the engineering properties of concrete made with fine dune sands: an experimental study

Sand dunes cover an area of 16.6% of the total area of Egypt. This paper presents the results of an extensive laboratory testing that was carried out to determine the engineering properties of concrete. The concrete fine aggregate is fine dune sands obtained from three sites in the Kharga Oasis, Western Desert, Egypt. All samples were classified as poorly graded sand according to the Unified Soil Classification system. Fineness modulus values of the studied dune sands range from 0.89 to 0.97. The percentage of sulfates and chlorides are very low and nearly negligible. Sodium and calcium hydroxides were recorded in some samples with scarce concentration. Organic impurities were not recorded. The degree of workability of the studied dune sands ranged from low to medium, which are suitable for normal reinforced work without vibration and heavily reinforced section with vibration. The measured compressive strength of concrete decreases with increasing dune sand content.     

Soil erosion on a sub-tropical coastal dune complex,Transkei, Southern Africa

A fossil dune complex on the east coast of southern Africa is presently undergoing extensive accelerated erosion, with concomitant dune reactivation and degradation, unconfined erosion (sheetwash and wind deflation) and extensive development of V-shaped, ravine-type gully forms on hillslopes composed of thick sequences of Quaternary (Berea Formation?) dune sands. The sands comprise a thick, reddened, ferralitic sand carapace overlying white, poorly cemented quartzitic sands. Soil erosion has resulted from degradation of the red dune sand cover. Despite the cohesionless nature of the host materials, gully forms developed on dune sands are typologically similar to those developed in regolith or soft bedrock. This demonstrates that gully forms are influenced by the degree of homogeneity, rather than the absolute strength, of the host material subject to erosion. Factors which have contributed to erosion are discussed.     

Coastal dunes and strandplains in southeast Queensland: Sequence and chronology

Parabolic dunes invade coastal strandplains and overlie prior blown dunes in southeast Queensland. These coastal dune landscapes were produced primarily by real changes in wind strength and frequency. Sand movement began in past glacial ages and in the most recent instance persisted into Holocene time. Four interglacial shores are identified with marine isotope stages 5, 7, 9 and 11, and allow estimation of the ages of the dune and beach sands, by correlation with the EPICA Dome C ice core, as follows: Triangle dune sand, n.d.; Garawongera dune sand, 65 ka; Woorim beach sand, 125 ka; Bribie beach sand, 245 ka; Bowarrady dune sand, 270 ka; Poyungan beach sand, 335 ka; Yankee Jack dune sand, 360 ka; Ungowa beach sand, 410 ka; Awinya dune sand, 430 – 486 ka; Cooloola dune sand, >486 ka.     

昌黎海岸风成沙丘砂组构特征及其与海滩砂的比较

对昌黎海岸沙丘砂进行薄片统计,重砂矿物分析,电镜扫描,粒度分析及与海滩砂的对比研究发现,沙丘砂在物质组成、颗粒形态、石英砂表面结构特征和粒度特征方面均继承了海滩砂特征,不过,海滩砂中也有沙丘砂的某些特征,反映了两者沉积的混合。这是由于向岸风和离岸风共同作用的结果。     

掺绿砂改良膨胀土室内试验研究

绿砂高额的处理费用与其具有的再利用潜力相比,使绿砂再利用的研究得到重视,尤其对公路路基改良具有很大的利用潜力。针对膨胀土路基的胀缩问题,围绕绿砂及膨胀土-绿砂混合物进行一系列室内土工试验,探讨绿砂作为公路膨胀土路基改良剂的可行性。在不同含水率及不同配比条件下,对绿砂以及绿砂改良后膨胀土的基本物理性质、击实特性、力学特性等进行室内对比试验分析。分析结果表明,绿砂改良膨胀土试样的强度主要取决于试样的含水率、掺砂率;随着掺砂率的增加,塑性指数逐渐降低,最佳含水率也随之减小,最大干密度增大的幅度变化很小,无侧限抗压强度先降低而后提高,其后又降低。     

Mass‐wasting of ancient aeolian dunes and sand fluidization during a period of global warming and inferred brief high precipitation: the Hopeman Sandstone (late Permian), Scotland

Large‐scale deformation structures in late Permian aeolian dune sands are associated with sand fluidization and injection. Exceptional precipitation and flooding of the desert margin are believed to have caused mass‐wasting by gravitational collapse and sliding of water‐saturated dunes, which loaded down‐dip strata, thus generating overpressure and triggering sand injection. This short‐lived but heavy precipitation seems to have been associated with a climatic change from arid Rotliegend dune deposition to widespread Zechstein marine conditions within the greater North Sea area, probably just before or coinciding with deposition of the rapidly expanding marine Kupferschiefer.     

The use of shredded waste tires to improve the geotechnical engineering properties of sands

A new geo-environmental approach was proposed to use waste tires in certain engineering applications and thereby reduce the potential impact on the environment. This paper presents a laboratory study on the effect of shredded tires on the physical properties of some sands. Shredded tires were passed through US sieve size 4 and mixed with three different types of sands with varying gradations. Each type of sand was mixed with four different percentages of shredded tires: 10, 20, 30 and 40% by dry weight. Direct shear tests were conducted to study the effect of the shredded tires on the shear strength properties of sands, such as angle of internal friction and shear strength. The addition of shredded waste tires increased both the angle of internal friction and the shear strength of the sands. Additionally, a prediction model was developed to calculate the shear strength of sand due to increasing shredded tire content. The shredded tires improved some engineering properties of sand.