Effects of biopolymer on the unconsolidated-undrained static triaxial test behavior of sand [Effets du biopolymère sur le comportement du test triaxial statique non consolidé-non drainé du sable]

Abstract

Gel-type biopolymers have been introduced as new environmentally friendly soil binders that have shown substantial strengthening effects in laboratory experimental programs. Although the shear resistance of gel-type biopolymer treated sands has been verified with direct shear tests and uniaxial compressive tests, there has been no attempt to examine shear behavior under different confining stress conditions. Therefore, this study investigates gel-type biopolymer treated sands with laboratory triaxial tests to describe shear behavior with isotropic confinement taken into account. In this study, sand is treated at 0.5% and 1.0% to soil content in mass (mb/ms), and xanthan gum which is a gel-type biopolymer have been used. It is assumed that the shear behavior of the gel-type biopolymer treated sands differs according to curing conditions (initial and dried), due to biopolymer hydrogel matrix formation and accompanying gel strength variation.