Influence of IMC, Spacing, and Voltage on the Effectiveness of Electro-Kinetic Phenomena of Soil Stabilization

An Electro-kinetic phenomenon is used not only to accelerate the consolidation process of soft clays, but very much used for decontaminating the soils and enhancing the chemical stabilization process. In this paper, an attempt is made to study the influence of Initial Moisture Content (IMC), Voltage and Spacing of electrodes on the effectiveness of electro-osmotic stabilization of soft clays. Using electro-kinetic cell, experiments were conducted for a varying voltage of 20 to 80 V, IMC of 60 to 80 % and electrode spacing of 10 to 30 cm. It is found that as the IMC and voltage increase the volume of water collected at cathode also increases at any time interval. Increase of voltage not only enhanced the process of dewatering but very much also the propagation of cracks especially at lower IMC. Decrease of the spacing of electrodes reduces the dewatering process and also early attainment of strength. The flow of current was uniform at higher IMC irrespective of voltage and spacing. It is concluded that eventhough spacing, voltage and IMC are determining the effectiveness of Electro-osmotic stabilization, the influence is in the order of IMC > Spacing > Voltage.