Strength properties of biopolymer treated clay/marble powder mixtures

Abstract

Depending on their unique layer structures and chemical structures, soil problems such as swelling, settlement and loss of strength can be seen especially on clay soils when exposed to water. Settlement occurring on clay soils on which the structure is built, causes various damages in the building. Additionally, in the clay soil interacting with water, strength loss occurs due to the effect of the building load. Today, when soil improvement techniques are developed and diversified, clay soils can be stabilized by using different additives. A clay soil that has been improved by adding waste marble powder within the scope of this study in certain percentages (5%, 15%, 25%), biopolymer added clay / marble powder samples were obtained by interacting with locust bean gum in certain percentages (0.5%, 1%, 1.5%). There are many studies in the literature on improving clay soils using only marble powder or only biopolymer. In this study, marble powder and biopolymer were used together and thus, the feasibility of a more effective soil improvement has been investigated. The results showed that the unconfined compressive strength of the biopolymer added clay-marble powder mixtures are higher when compared with natural clay. Similarly, shear box test results showed that the unconsolidated-undrained cohesions and internal friction angles of the doped clay samples increased. It was observed that the strength values of marble powder-added clay increased after improving with biopolymer.