Laboratory Evaluation of Stabilization and Reinforcement of Sandy Soil Using Fiber and Epoxy Resin

Strengthening of poor and improper soils, in order to be utilized in civil engineering projects, for fabricating a soil with ideal engineering properties, is called stabilization and reinforcement. Soil stabilization is used for various purposes such as prevention of surface erosion, improvement of poor subgrades, controlling of shifting soils, rehabilitation of base layers and retrieving of old paths. Today, because of weaknesses such as poor strength and long duration for curing with common stabilizers (lime and cement), the attitude for finding new materials which can improve these deficiencies has increased. In this research, a sandy soil, a petrochemical material called epoxy resin (as stabilizer), and also a fiber (as soil reinforcing agent) were used to evaluate their effects on soil resistance-parameters. The behavior of stabilized soil in compression and shear was determined in this project. Results of the tests revealed that compression and tensile strengths of stabilized soil with epoxy resin were increased significantly; while the strengths of the sandy soil without epoxy were too weak. By addition of fiber to the soil samples, the soil compression strength was not increased; whereas, it has profound effect to promote tensile strength. Also, soil samples containing fiber showed more deformation. This means that they absorb more energy under loading to reach the rupture stage.