Abstract
Soil improvement and treatment represent a necessity off-late in response to the growing demand for construction spaces. Biopolymers present an eco-friendly alternative material for soil treatment. This study investigates the viability of using guar gum, a polysaccharide for improving the geotechnical properties of clay soil. Guar gum is solvable, non-ionic and hydrocolloidal. Its tendency to form viscous gels, hydrate and form hydrogen bonds helps in improving the stiffness of the soil matrix and thereby enhances its strength. The treated soil behaves like clay in stiff consistency, failing at higher loads in lower strains. Also, the stiffness modulus of the soil-guar mixtures increases significantly. Formation of hydrogen bonds is a function of time, leading to an increase in strength of the treated soil-guar mixtures with age. Though biopolymers are susceptible to decay and degradation, the rate of degradation is minimal and strength gain is observed for the investigated period of 90 days.
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Sujatha, E.R., Sivaraman, S. (2022). Soil Stabilization Using Biopolymer: A Study on Its Gelling and Hydration Mechanism to Improve Strength. In: El-Askary, H., Erguler, Z.A., Karakus, M., Chaminé, H.I. (eds) Research Developments in Geotechnics, Geo-Informatics and Remote Sensing. CAJG 2019. Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72896-0_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72896-0_13
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