Effect of Cement on Mechanical Behavior of Soil Contaminated with Monoethylene Glycol (MEG)

Abstract

This paper presents a study on the mechanical properties of a contaminated clay soil and its treatment by cement. One group of unconfined compression (UC) tests was performed on samples of natural soil, and soil contaminated by Mono Ethylene Glycol (MEG) with 40% concentration at different degrees of contamination (3, 6 and 9%). Another group of UC tests was conducted on the samples that were prepared as mixtures of clean or MEG contaminated soil with different cement contents (3, 6 and 9%) at different curing times.The results show that the strength and stiffness of the soil contaminated with MEG is reduced increasingly by the degree of contamination. In addition, by adding cement to the contaminated soil, the strength of the soil is increased as a function of degree of contamination, percent of cement and curing time.

Experiments and dimensional analysis of contaminated clay soils

“…The test results are largely consistent with the majority of reported results found in the more recent literature sources (e.g. Ratnaweera and Meegoda 2006;Khamehchiyan et al 2007;Estabragh et al 2016bEstabragh et al , 2016cNasehi et al 2016;Estabragh et al 2017). Any inconsistency can be attributed to the differences between the type of soil, the type of contaminant agent, and the range of tested degrees of contamination.…”

“…A minimum curing time of Environmental Geotechnics Accepted manuscript doi: 10.1680/jenge.18.00018 7 days, as suggested in the literature (e.g. Meegoda and Gunasekara 1992;Ratanweera 1995, 2008;Singh et al 2008;Estabragh et al 2016bEstabragh et al , 2016c, was considered to ensure an even distribution of moisture throughout the soil mass.…”

“…cement, lime and fly-ash, the proposition has gained increased attention among practicing engineers (e.g. Tuncan et al 2000;Trembley et al 2002;Al-Rawas et al 2005;Hassan et al 2005;Estabragh et al 2016bEstabragh et al , 2016cEstabragh et al , 2017.…”

“…Samples were compressed by a constant displacement rate of 1 mm/min, as commonly adopted in the literature (e.g. Fatahi et al 2012;Estabragh et al 2016bEstabragh et al , 2016cEstabragh et al , 2017Soltani et al 2017a).…”

“…The stress-strain response of a clay soil in the face of a varying pore-fluid composition is mainly governed by the net result of two different opposing or non-opposing mechanisms, i.e. physico-chemical interactions and mechanical factors (Ratnaweera and Meegoda 2006;Dolinar and Trauner 2007;Zhan et al 2008;Olgun and Yıldız 2010;Liu et al 2015;Estabragh et al 2016bEstabragh et al , 2016cEstabragh et al , 2017. The physico-chemical effects are commonly interpreted by means of the diffuse double layer concept, which has been well-documented in the literature.…”