Feasibility Study of Loess Stabilization with Fly Ash–Based Geopolymer
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 28, Issue 5
Abstract
Loess, which primarily consists of wind-transported silt and clay particles, is widely distributed around the world, including the central Asia, central Europe, the northwestern and central United States, Alaska, and South America. The metastable structure of natural loess has resulted in construction delays and catastrophic failures. To explore the potential applications of soil improvement with green materials, this paper presents an experimental study of applying fly ash–based geopolymers for the loess stabilization. Two different precursors are employed to the investigation. It is found that potassium hydroxide renders a higher unconfined compressive strength than sodium hydroxide to the samples when the same fly ash/loess ratio is applied. This agrees with the results of the mechanical properties of the two different geopolymers. With an increasing fly ash/loess ratio, the compressive strength and Young’s modulus increase. The microstructural characterization unveils that a compact and stable microstructure has been developed in the stabilized loess. With the aid of energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction, it is observed that it is the binding effect of geopolymer gel that contributes to the improvements in the mechanical properties of stabilized loess samples.
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Acknowledgments
This work is supported by the Louisiana State University, under the economic development assistantship for the first author and the fellowship from Schlumberger Foundation Inc. for the fourth author. All the opinions presented here are those of the writers, not necessarily representing those of the sponsors.
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 28 • Issue 5 • May 2016
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 16, 2015
Accepted: Sep 25, 2015
Published online: Jan 4, 2016
Published in print: May 1, 2016
Discussion open until: Jun 4, 2016
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