Abstract
Using chemical additives such as ordinary Portland cement is conventional for ground improvement purposes. Still, there are specific situations that require innovative solutions because the employment of traditional binders may lead to unpleasant issues. Organic polymers emerge as an option to deal with those drawbacks whilst promoting enhancements in the material’s mechanical response. Thus, the present study uses polyester [poly(glycerol isophthalate)], whose main source of raw material is glycerol, an abundant by-product derived from biodiesel production, in the improvement of uniform quartzitic sand. Thence, a series of mechanical tests were carried out on compacted sand-polymer-cement blends to evaluate the effect of variables such as polymer content, amount of cement, and curing temperature through a central composite design scheme. This enables the assessment of first and second-order effects as well as the curvature of the evaluated responses. In general, the polymer addition has led to substantial enhancement in the material’s response, particularly concerning the decrease in hydraulic conductivity. This highlights the usefulness of this polymer for geotechnical and geoenvironmental applications.
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Acknowledgements
The authors wish to explicit their appreciation to MCT-CNPq (Editais INCT-REAGEO & Produtividade em Pesquisa), and MEC-CAPES (PROEX) for the support of the research group.
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The funding was provided by CNPq, INCT.
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GV: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Validation, Writing—original draft. HCSF: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Validation, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing. NCC: Conceptualization, General Supervision, Writing—review & editing.
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Vieira, G.A., Scheuermann Filho, H.C. & Consoli, N.C. Geotechnical Enhancement of a Quartzitic Sand Using a Green Polymer. Geotech Geol Eng 41, 3971–3984 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-023-02499-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-023-02499-1