Hydraulic and mechanical properties of wax-coated sands

Abstract

Wax-coated sands are a new category of synthetic soils, which are gradually becoming a reliable construction material. Because of their valuable drainage ability and mechanical properties, wax coated sandy soils are specifically applicable to pavement construction of horseracing tracks and sport fields. Although the mechanical and hydraulic properties of these synthetic soils are well-proven, there is still a lack of studies on how the soil samples behave differently when mixing with different wax fractions. Adding the wax affects permeability and compressibility of pure sand. Intensity of influences is a function of weight percentage of wax that has been added, and other physical and environmental factors. The effects of wax content on hydraulic properties (permeability), and mechanical properties (stress-strain behavior, compressibility) of sandy soils based on a series of experimental efforts were investigated. Obtained experimental results infer that increasing the amount of wax up to 6% causes an about 50% increase in permeability, mainly because of the significant effect of wax in lowering the friction along with covering and filling the angular parts of particles’ surfaces and forming rounded particles. In addition, wax-coated sands show a 20% to 60% decrease in confined compression modulus compared to non wax-coated sands.