Investigation and Comparison of Effect of Water-Soluble Polymers and Nanoparticles on Physical, Mechanical, and inflationary Properties of Clay

In the present study, to investigate and compare the effect of Nanosilica nanoparticles and water-soluble polymer of cationic polyelectrolyte on a set of physical, mechanical and chemical properties of CL clay, a series of laboratory tests were performed on untreated soil samples, treated with Nanosilica and treated with cationic polyelectrolyte. Nanosilica was added to soil with 0.5, 1, 2 and 3% dry weight of soil and cationic polyelectrolyte with concentrations of 3, 6, 9 and 12 gr/liter based on optimum water content and their effects on the soil details has been investigated in 3,7,14 and 28 days of processing. Despite the differences in the effectiveness mechanisms, these materials showed similar effects on the variety of soil samples characteristics in this study. By adding of both materials to the soil, optimum water content, liquid limit, unconfined compressive strength, and water retaining potential of soil have been increased and Maximum dry density and free swelling percentage of soil decreased remarkably. On the other hand, regarding small changes of plastic limit and increasing of liquid limit, plasticity index increases. Also, for various amounts of additives, there is no significant change in soil pH.