Strength and morphological characteristics of organic soil stabilized with magnesium chloride

Abstract

Organic soil causes major problems in infrastructure development. It has high compressibility and low shear strength, and requires chemical stabilization if it is to be a sustainable geomaterial. This research investigated the strength and microstructural properties of organic soil stabilized with magnesium chloride (MgCl 2 ). Unconfined compressive strength tests were undertaken to assess shear strength properties, and microstructural changes were monitored via field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDAX). The results confirm that MgCl 2 improves the compressive strength of organic soil. The strength of MgCl 2 -stabilized organic soil is increased to around 3 – 5 times that of untreated soil during the first 7 days of curing. FESEM results show that the porosity of organic soil is filled by a new cementitious compound, identified as magnesium silicate hydrate (M-S-H).

Physicochemical and Microstructural Characterization of Klias Peat, Lumadan POFA, and GGBFS for Geopolymer Based Soil Stabilization

“…Figures 8-a to 8-d illustrate the FESEM micrographs for Klias peat, GGBFS, pre-treated POFA, and GPOFA used in this research. In Figure 8-a, Klias peat showed the presence of voids, similar to those reported by Sutarno & Mohamad [26], Latifi et al [99], and Hassan et al [100], interspersed with particles possessing honeycomb structures, an indication that the peat soil is fibrous [101]. Meanwhile, the GGBFS material seen in Figure 8-b shows particles that are smooth and possess semi-polygonal shapes [102], that are angular [97], and that are sharp-edged in nature [73].…”

A Review of Advances in Peat Soil Stabilisation Technology: Exploring the Potential of Palm Oil Fuel Ash Geopolymer as a Soil Stabiliser Material

“…In these aforementioned peat stabilisation studies, only the study by Ahmad et al [31] produced acceptable stabilised samples based on ASTM D 4609. Research works using various non-traditional stabilisers to improve the Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) of peat soil were also attempted by Malaysian researchers, with POFA-OPC blends [30,32,33], Magnesium Chloride solution [34,35], SS299 liquid polymer [36], and Vinyl Acetate Acrylic Copolymer (VAAC) [37]. With the exception of the study conducted using VAAC (which recorded a stabilised peat UCS value of 2000 kPa), the results of UCS for peat soils stabilised using non-traditional stabilisers were deemed unacceptable since the stabilised soils registered UCS values lower than 345 kPa.…”

“…In the following year, Hassan et al [35] attempted to utilise Magnesium Chloride to enhance the strength of Matang hemic peat soils. By using 6% MgCl as recommended by Latifi et al [34], the stabilised soil UCS had a value of 96 kPa after 28 days of curing.…”

Sustainable Improvement of Residual Lateritic Soils Using Alum

“…Where necessary, soils are stabilized to achieve some desirable engineering performance and optimal usefulness. Various researchers have attempted to stabilize engineering soils using mechanical methods (Yilmaz, 2015), chemical techniques (Arulrajah et al, 2017;Hassan et al, 2017;Latifi and Meehan, 2017;Rashid et al, 2017;Latifi et al, 2018), biological means (Lee et al, 2017;Dehghan et al, 2018;Hataf et al, 2018;Shankar et al, 2019) and electrical approaches (Tjandra and Wulandari, 2007;Hojati, 2017) for optimal use in various geotechnical construction works. Mechanical methods such as compaction produce increased soil strength, reduced compressibility, minimized volume change, lowered permeability and reduction in susceptibility to frost action.…”