No abstract

Many chemicals stabilisation techniques are being employed all over the world to improve the engineering and physical properties of the problematic soils and reduce the potential damages caused by them. Out of those chemical stabilisation technics, application of Polyurethane to improve the strength of marine clay was investigated in the laboratory. Characterization of the soil geotechnical properties was carried out by conducting laboratory test that includes natural moisture content, Atterberg limits, grains sizes analyses, specific gravity, moisture-density relationship, unconfined compressive strength (UCS), organic matter content and PH tests. Unconfined compressive strength test at optimum moisture content with varying the dose of the Polyurethane content was conducted to test the effectiveness of Polyurethane as a chemical stabiliser. The result of the preliminary tests of the sample shows that the soil has a liquid limit of 65%, plastic limit of 26% and plasticity index of 53%. The percentages of gravel, sand and fines in the marine clay sample were 0 %, 1.32 % and 98.68 % respectively %. The results of the UCS test also revealed that Polyurethane stabilisation improved the strength of marine clay by 230%. Thus, the improvement in strength of stabilised marine clay soil can significantly reduce the overall thickness of the pavement and total cost of the road construction in future.

Over the last decades, numerical modelling has gained practical importance in geotechnical engineering as a valuable tool for predicting geotechnical problems. An accurate prediction of ground deformation is achieved if models that account for the pre-failure behaviour of soil are used. In this paper, laboratory results of the consolidated drain (CD) triaxial compression tests and one-dimensional consolidation tests of marine clay were used to determine the hardening soil model (HSM) parameter for use in Plaxis 3D analyses. The parameters investigated for the HSM were stiffness, strength and advanced parameters. The stiffness parameters were secant stiffness in CD triaxial compression test ($$E_{50}^{\text{ref}}$$ E 50 ref ), tangent stiffness for primary oedometer loading test $$(E_{\text{oed}}^{\text{ref}} )$$ ( E oed ref ) , unloading/reloading stiffness $$(E_{\text{ur}}^{\text{ref}}$$ ( E ur ref ) and power for the stress-level dependency of stiffness (m). The strength parameters were effective cohesion ($$c_{\text{ref}}^{\text{'}}$$ c ref ' ), effective angle of internal friction ($$\phi^{\text{'}}$$ ϕ ' ) and angle of dilatancy ($$\psi^{\text{'}}$$ ψ ' ). The advanced parameters were Poisson’s ratio for unloading–reloading (ν) and K0-value for normal consolidation $$\left( {K_{\circ}^{\text{nc}} } \right)$$ K ∘ nc . Furthermore, Plaxis 3D was used to simulate the laboratory results to verify the effectiveness of this study. The results revealed that the stiffness parameters $$E_{50}^{\text{ref}} , E_{\text{oed}}^{\text{ref}} , E_{\text{ur}}^{\text{ref}}$$ E 50 ref , E oed ref , E ur ref and m are equal to 3.4 MPa, 3.6 MPa, 12 MPa and 0.7, respectively, and that the strength parameters $$c_{\text{ref}}^{\text{'}}$$ c ref ' , $$\phi^{\text{'}}$$ ϕ ' , $$\psi^{\text{'}}$$ ψ ' and $$K_{\circ}^{\text{nc}}$$ K ∘ nc are equal to 33 kPa, 17.51°, 1.6° and 0.7, respectively. A final comparison of the laboratory results with the numerical results revealed that they were in accordance, which proved the efficacy of the study.

No abstract