Design,Construction, and Evaluation of Geosynthetic Electrode for Drainage by Electrokinetic Method

The necessity of drainage and improvement of soil resistance parameters are unavoidable in the most mineral and geotechnical projects. Therefore, electrokinetic geosynthetic, as a fundamental technology, is capable of increasing the stability and stabilization of fine-grained soils and derive from the combination of electrokinetic performance and electroosmosis flow along with the application of geosynthetics. In this study, to enhance and improve the electrokinetic geosynthetic process, an electrode based on geotextile by chemical polymerization was developed. For this purpose, non-conductive fibers of geotextile sheet was converted to the conductive fibers by coating with a pyrrole conductive polymer (using two types of oxidants) and aniline conductive polymer, along with the adding four different types of nanoparticles. Then, to evaluate the efficiency of the geosynthetic electrode comparing to the copper electrode, a physical model was designed and filled by saturated kaolinite clay and drained by the electroosmosis process. According to the results, coating with Pyrrole polymer was only in the form of a layer around the geotextile fiber and did not obstruct the porosity of the fiber. Therefore, this fiber, after the coating, has the capability of simultaneously applying as a filter and electrode, and after the completion of the electrokinetic process, it can remain as a filter in the soil without removing. In this study, the results demonstrated that the geosynthetic electrode with a minimum measured, 670 ohms, at a maximum pressure, 0.083 ( ), by applying electroosmosis process was capable of draining 43 milliliters of water, which was only 14 percent lower compared to the copper electrode and similar conditions.