Volume change and compressive strength of an alluvial soil stabilized with butyl acrylate and styrene

Abstract

The volume change and uniaxial compressive strength of an alluvial soil stabilized with co-polymer of Butyl Acrylate and Styrene (CBAS) are presented in this paper. CBAS has low viscosity improving its adsorption into the soil microstructure and its ionic structure helps the formation of electrostatic bonding within the clay fabric. CBAS can be applied with ease by directly mixing or spraying onto soils, which potentially makes it favorable for use in compacted fills. Treatment of soil specimens with CBAS indicated significant improvement in the shrinkage and compressibility characteristics with just a percentage addition of 5% by dry mass of soil. On the other hand, obtaining an improvement in the swelling behaviour required at least a 10% addition of CBAS. The secondary compression rate and the uniaxial compressive strength are improved significantly even at very low percentages of treatment. Microstructural changes in the soil fabric are observed with the use of scanning electron microscopy, which indicated that CBAS-soil interaction can be achieved effectively by wet mixing. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.