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Effect of Chemical and Biological Stabilization on the Resilient Modulus of Clay Subgrade Soil

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Abstract

According to the geotechnical section of the Kyoto Protocol, researches on nontraditional materials such as polymers and new methods like biological soil stabilization have been developed. This study aimed to investigate and compare the effect of chemical and biological stabilization of clay subgrade soil. For chemical stabilization, polymers called cationic polyelectrolyte (CPE) and Nicoflok were used. For biological stabilization, the microbial-induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) method was adopted and a biopolymer solution called Beta-glucan was employed. In both methods, the dry density of the soil decreased and its optimum water content and pH increased. The Plastic Limit of the soil increased after stabilization with CPE and decreased in stabilization with other stabilizers. All four additives increased the uniaxial compressive strength and the elasticity modulus of the soil. The effect of Nicoflok and biopolymer was more evident. Despite similar results in the uniaxial test, the increasing effect of Nicoflok on the resilient modulus (MR) was more than that of the biopolymer. Raising the dose of these two stabilizers and also the curing time changed the resilient behavior of the fine-grained soil to coarse-grained under different stress conditions. Nicoflok and biopolymer-stabilized samples exhibited a higher California bearing capacity (CBR) and durability compared to the untreated sample, with the effect of Nicoflok being more significant. The estimate of design MR for these samples using the stress-dependent model was more accurate compared to the conventional correlations with CBR. Therefore, chemical stabilization with the Nicoflok is economically feasible, while biological stabilization using the biopolymer is environmentally suitable for the studied soil.

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Change history

  • 28 August 2021

    The organization name of affiliation was corrected.

Notes

  1. For the CPE and Beta-glucan stabilizers, the weight ratio of stabilizer powder to dry soil is approximate and for comparison only; the concentration criterion has been employed to prepare the stabilizing solution.

  2. The Portland Cement Association.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to express our deep gratitude to the professors of Drug Applied Research Center of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences for their support in conducting MICP studies of this research.

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  1. Department of Civil Engineering, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

    Gholam Moradi, Siamak Shafaghatian & Hooshang Katebi

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  1. Gholam Moradi
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Correspondence to Gholam Moradi.

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Moradi, G., Shafaghatian, S. & Katebi, H. Effect of Chemical and Biological Stabilization on the Resilient Modulus of Clay Subgrade Soil. Int. J. Pavement Res. Technol. 15, 415–432 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42947-021-00029-x

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