Due to the insufficient understanding of the mechanism for soil strengthening by using Ionic Soil Stabilizer (ISS), the application of ISS in soil treatment is limited. In this paper, red clay samples were treated by using ISS and the effects were examined by the Atterberg test and uniaxial pressure test. In order to understand the mechanism, ISS dilution-based seepage test and ξ-potential test have been carried out. The results show that the ISS-Water mixture of 1 : 200 was the most effective ratio to reduce the plasticity index. The measurements indicate the thickness of the pair-electricity layer of adjacent clay layers and the repulsion force among soil particles is reduced, which in turn enhances the attraction force of the clay layers. This process strengthens the connection among the soil particles and thus increases the strength of the soil as detected by the experimental tests.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.