Analyzing the Effect of Nano-Silica-Cement Mixture on Shear Strength of Babolsar Sandy Soil

In many cases, natural soil does not have the required strength and needs to be improved. One of these methods is soil improvement with the use of additives. In this method the engineering properties of soil are improved by being mixed with one or more other materials. Nano-silica which is a very active pozzolan can also be considered as a stabilizer to perform cementation reactions. In this study, the effect of cement and nanosilica mixture on Babolsar sandy soil shear strength within 7 and 28 days has been studied. Direct shear tests are performed on specimens containing 4, 6 and 8 percent of dry weight of sand, cement and 10, 30 and 50% of the weight of cement nano-silica with the density of 98%. The results showed that the addition of nano-silica to cement up to a certain percentage increases the shear strength and shear strength decreases with additional amounts. In this study 30 percent increase in nano-silica is followed by the optimized shear strength improvement