Amirkabir University of Technology Amirkabir Journal of Civil Engineering 2588-297X 55 12 2024 02 20 Investigating and studying the effect of Montmorillonite Nanoclay on consolidation and strength behavior of soft and loose fine-grained soil (Case study: fine-grained soil of Kermanshah Faculty of Agriculture) Investigating and studying the effect of Montmorillonite Nanoclay on consolidation and strength behavior of soft and loose fine-grained soil (Case study: fine-grained soil of Kermanshah Faculty of Agriculture) 2441 2472 5307 10.22060/ceej.2023.22016.7880 FA Reza Fathi Master student of Geotechnic, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Malayer, Iran. MohammadReza Elyasi Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Malayer Jahangir Khazaei Civil engineering faculty, razi university 0000-0002-9909-7273 Journal Article 2022 12 15 Using innovative and environmentally friendly materials to stabilize problematic soils is one of the challenges facing geotechnical engineers. Nanoclays are highly reactive due to their high specific surface area, low specific gravity, fine particles, and making them an effective and environmentally friendly stabilizer due to their uniformity with soil materials. In this study, the effect of Montmorillonite Nanoclay on the behavioral properties of Kermanshah's loose fine-grained soil was evaluated. For this purpose, after conducting index and identification tests on the base soil, Nanoclay was added to the soil at 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 percent by dry weight of the soil, and Atterberg limits, consolidation, unconfined compressive strength, and California bearing ratio tests were conducted on samples with curing periods 1, 14, 28 and 60 days. Also, the durability of the stabilized samples was investigated by subjecting them to wet-dry cycles, and the effect of nanoclay on the soil’s microstructure was evaluated using scanning electron microscopy on both unstabilized and stabilized samples. The results show that the stabilization performance is significantly dependent on the amount of Nanoclay and curing periods. Based on the results, the optimal amount of Nanoclay is 4%, and the presence of this amount of Nanoclay along with increasing curing periods has increased the plastic index, compressive strength, and soil bearing ratio and decreased the coefficient of consolidation, settlement, compression, permeability, and soil swelling. It is noteworthy that the durability of stabilized soil against environmental conditions has also increased. Using innovative and environmentally friendly materials to stabilize problematic soils is one of the challenges facing geotechnical engineers. Nanoclays are highly reactive due to their high specific surface area, low specific gravity, fine particles, and making them an effective and environmentally friendly stabilizer due to their uniformity with soil materials. In this study, the effect of Montmorillonite Nanoclay on the behavioral properties of Kermanshah's loose fine-grained soil was evaluated. For this purpose, after conducting index and identification tests on the base soil, Nanoclay was added to the soil at 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 percent by dry weight of the soil, and Atterberg limits, consolidation, unconfined compressive strength, and California bearing ratio tests were conducted on samples with curing periods 1, 14, 28 and 60 days. Also, the durability of the stabilized samples was investigated by subjecting them to wet-dry cycles, and the effect of nanoclay on the soil’s microstructure was evaluated using scanning electron microscopy on both unstabilized and stabilized samples. The results show that the stabilization performance is significantly dependent on the amount of Nanoclay and curing periods. Based on the results, the optimal amount of Nanoclay is 4%, and the presence of this amount of Nanoclay along with increasing curing periods has increased the plastic index, compressive strength, and soil bearing ratio and decreased the coefficient of consolidation, settlement, compression, permeability, and soil swelling. It is noteworthy that the durability of stabilized soil against environmental conditions has also increased. https://ceej.aut.ac.ir/article_5307_764a9f2462bf088af07b6ae6c107e62c.pdf