Soil-Strength Enhancements from Polymer-Infused Roots
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 140, Issue 2
Abstract
This research investigates the use of polymer-infused roots for soil-improvement applications. By infusing polymer through the easily accessible above-surface plant stems, polymer-infused roots can be created without subsurface excavations. Evaluation of this technique involves identifying the improvements from polymer-infused roots by measuring in situ shear strength of soil using a vane shear apparatus and by measuring the tensile strength using split-tension tests in the laboratory. Roots of Ruellia squarrosa and Artemisia annua plants were infused with a mixture of epoxy resin and polyoxyalkylamine blend hardener. Compared with noninfused roots, polymer-infused roots provided an additional 22 kPa (28%) of shear strength for elastic silt and an additional 13.1 kPa (25%) of shear strength for low-plasticity clay with a corresponding 13.6-kPa (55%) increase in tensile strength for the low-plasticity clay. Acid hydrolysis testing was performed to ascertain the potential durability of the polymer-infused roots. The 4% plant material mass loss measured for the infused samples was significantly less than the 18% plant material mass loss for the noninfused samples, demonstrating the protective effect of the polymer infusion process.
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Acknowledgments
This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. CMMI-0929294.
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 140 • Issue 2 • February 2014
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 30, 2012
Accepted: Jul 8, 2013
Published online: Jul 10, 2013
Published in print: Feb 1, 2014
Discussion open until: Apr 13, 2014
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