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)

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Master student of Geotechnic, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Malayer, Iran.

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Malayer

3 Civil engineering faculty, razi university

Abstract

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.

Keywords

Main Subjects


[1] H.R. Akbari, H. Sharafi, A.R. Goodarzi, Effect of polypropylene fiber and nano-zeolite on stabilized soft soil under wet-dry cycles, Geotextiles and Geomembranes, 49(6) (2021) 1470-1482.
[2] N.C. Consoli, H.P. Nierwinski, A. Peccin da Silva, J. Sosnoski, Durability and strength of fiber-reinforced compacted gold tailings-cement blends, Geotextiles and Geomembranes, 45(2) (2017) 98-102.
[3] A. Kalhor, M. Ghazavi, M. Roustaei, M. Mirhosseini, Influence of nano-SiO2 on geotechnical properties of fine soils subjected to freeze-thaw cycles, Cold Regions Science and Technology, 161 (2019).
[4] M.R. Taha, Geotechnical Properties of Soil-Ball Milled Soil Mixtures, in: Z. Bittnar, P.J.M. Bartos, J. Němeček, V. Šmilauer, J. Zeman (Eds.) Nanotechnology in Construction 3, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2009, pp. 377-382.
[5] Z.H. Majeed, M.R. Taha, A review of stabilization of soils by using Nanomaterials, Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 7(2) (2013) 576-581.
[6] M. Bahari, M. Nikookar, M. Arabani, A.K. Haghi, H. Khodabandeh, Stabilization of silt by nano-clay, in:  7th National Congress on Civil Engineering, (2013), pp. 7-8.
[7] N. Khalid, M. Mukri, F. Kamarudin, A.H.A. Ghani, M.F. Arshad, N. Sidek, A.Z.A. Jalani, B. Bilong, Effect of Nanoclay in soft soil stabilization, in:  Second International Civil and Infrastructure Engineering Conference, Springer, Singapore, (2015).
[8] A.A. Sharo, A.S. Alawneh, Enhancement of the strength and swelling characteristics of expansive clayey soil using nano-clay material, in:  Geo-chicago, (2016), pp. 451-457.
[9] M. Abisha, S. Anushia, J. Jenitha Singh, S. Dynisha, S. Lavanya, Stabilization of weak clay soil using nanoclay, International Journal Ijariie, 3(5) (2017) 1476-1482.
[10] K. Onyelowe, I. Onuoha, O. Ikpemo, F.O. Okafor, M. Maduabuchi, K.-N. Judith, P. Aguwa, Nanostructured Clay (NC) and the Stabilization of Lateritic Soil for Construction Purposes, Electronic Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, 22(10) (2017) 4177-4196.
[11] K. Badv, S. Hosseinzadeh, the Effect of admixing of Nanoclay to Nazloo Clay and Firoozkouh sand for clayey liner applications, Sharif Journal of Civil Engineering, 33.2(4.1) (2018) 152-133 .(In Persian)
[12] A. Bagherzadeh Khalkhali, I. Safarzadeh, H. Rahimi Manbar, Investigating the Effect of Nanoclay Additives on the Geotechnical Properties of Clay and Silt Soil, Journal of Civil Engineering and Materials Application, 3(2) (2019) 65-77.
[13] M. Shahidi, F. Farrokhi, F. Asemi, Changes in physical and mechanical properties of gas oil–contaminated clayey sand after addition of clay Nanoparticles, Journal of Environmental Engineering, 145(4) (2019) 4019004.
[14] M. Zamanian, F. Qahremani, Investigating the effect of Portland cement and Nano-clay on the collapse potential and consolidation indexes of the collapsible soil, Amirkabir Journal of Civil Engineering, 52(6) (2020) 1439-1454.
[15] M. Karumanchi, G. Avula, R. Pangi, S. Sirigiri, Improvement of consistency limits, specific gravities, and permeability characteristics of soft soil with nanomaterial: Nanoclay, Materials Today: Proceedings, 33 (2020) 232-238.
[16] A. Ghasemipanah, R.Z. Moayed, H. Niroumand, Effect of nanobentonite particles on geotechnical properties of Kerman clay, International Journal of Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, 14(1) (2020) 34-39.
[17] M.O. Karkush, A.D. Al-Murshedi, H.H. Karim, Investigation of the impacts of nano-clay on the collapse potential and geotechnical properties of gypseous soils, Jordan Journal of Civil Engineering, 14(4), (2020).
[18] H. Sadighi, M.A. Roshan Zamir, Nanoclay Stabilization of Crude Oil Contaminated Soils, Amirkabir Journal of Civil Engineering, 4(2) (2020) 175-184.
[19] A.R. Mazaheri, Evaluation of the effect of Nano-clay and Pressure change on the self-healing properties of clay soils, Amirkabir Journal of Civil Engineering, 53(5) (2021) 1821-1834.
[20] R. Kamgar, M. Naghani, H. Heidarzadeh, F. Nasiri, Modeling nanoclay effects on different parameters of a clayey sand, Modeling Earth Systems and Environment, 1 (2021) 1-14.
[21] M.E. Hosseini, M. Oliaei, H. Heidarzadeh, Laboratory investigation of the Nano Montmorillonite clay effect on Strength and Plasticity properties of the clayey sand, Sharif Journal of Civil Engineering, 37.2(2.2) (2021) 13-24. (In Persian)
[22] S. Ghareh, K. Yazdani, V. Besharat, Laboratory Study of the Effect of Clay and Silica Nanoparticles on the Behavior of Silty-Clay Soils in Mashhad, Amirkabir Journal of Civil Engineering, 53(11) (2022) 4723-4741.
[23] P. Jiang, L. Zhou, W. Zhang, W. Wang, N. Li, Unconfined Compressive Strength and Splitting Tensile Strength of Lime Soil Modified by Nano Clay and Polypropylene Fiber, Crystals, 12(2) (2022) 285.
[24] G. Zappia, C. Sabbioni, C. Riontino, G. Gobbi, O. Favoni, Exposure tests of building materials in urban atmosphere, Science of the Total Environment, 224(1-3) (1998) 235-244.
[25] R.S. Shiel, M.A. Adey, M. Lodder, The effect of successive wet/dry cycles on aggregate size distribution in a clay texture soil, Journal of Soil Science, 39(1) (1998) 71-80.
[26] W.H. Utomo, A.R. Dexter, Age hardening of agricultural top soils, Journal of Soil Science, 32(3) (1981) 335-350.
[27] ASTM Standard D 422, Standard test method for particle-size analysis of soils, American Society of Testing and Materials, West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, USA, (2002).
[28] ASTM Standard D 854, Standard test method for specific gravity of soil solids by water pycnometer, American Society of Testing and Materials, West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, USA, (2002).
[29] ASTM Standard D 698, Standard test method for laboratory compaction characteristics of soil using standard effort, American Society of Testing and Materials, West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, USA, (2007).
[30] ASTM Standard D 4318, Standard test method for liquid limit, plastic limit, and plasticity index of soils, American Society of Testing and Materials, West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, USA, (2000).
[31] ASTM Standard D 2166, Standard test method for unconfined compressive strength of cohesive soil, American Society of Testing and Materials, West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, USA, (2000).
[32] ASTM Standard D 1883, Standard test method for california bearing ratio of laboratory-compacted soils. American Society of Testing and Materials, American Society of Testing and Materials, West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, USA, (1999).
[33] ASTM Standard D 559, Standard test methods for wetting and drying compacted soil-cement mixtures, American Society of Testing and Materials, West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, USA, (2003).
[34] ASTM Standard D 2435, Standard test methods for one-dimensional consolidation properties of soils using incremental loading, American Society of Testing and Materials, West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, (2011)