Application of Metakaolin-Based Geopolymers for Eco-Friendly Stabilization of Coastal Soils
Publication: Geo-Congress 2024
ABSTRACT
Transportation infrastructure systems such as pavements constructed near coastal areas suffer distress from sea level rise and hurricane storm surges due to the presence of weak subgrades of cohesionless geomaterials. Traditionally, ordinary Portland cement (OPC) is used to improve the subsoil properties and design a resilient foundation for coastal pavements. However, the production and use of OPCs are often associated with significant carbon dioxide emissions, which affects the long-term sustainability benefits of such applications. Recently, geopolymers (GPs) have gained major traction as an alternative sustainable construction material due to their ability to provide superior mechanical performance and lower carbon emissions than traditional stabilizers. Therefore, a research study was performed to evaluate the engineering properties of metakaolin-based GP as a stabilizer for cohesionless coastal soils. Laboratory studies, including unconfined compressive strength (UCS) test and repeated load triaxial (RLT) test on untreated, OPC-treated, and GP-treated soil specimens, were performed at different curing periods. Sustainability benefit assessments were performed using a unified framework considering the effects of embodied energy of production, environmental factors, and socioeconomic factors. UCS and RLT studies showed that 20% GP treatment was effective in significantly improving both strength and moduli values beyond three days of curing. Sustainability assessments indicated that the application of GP has comparable sustainability benefits as compared to OPC-treated soils. Overall, the application of GP was found to be an eco-friendly solution to enhance the properties of cohesionless geomaterials for the long-term serviceability of coastal pavement infrastructure.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Geo-Congress 2024
Pages: 515 - 525
History
Published online: Feb 22, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Business management
- Cohesionless soils
- Ecosystems
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering materials (by type)
- Environmental engineering
- Geomechanics
- Geotechnical engineering
- Laboratory tests
- Load tests
- Materials engineering
- Polymer
- Practice and Profession
- Soil mechanics
- Soils (by type)
- Sustainable development
- Synthetic materials
- Tests (by type)
- Triaxial tests
Authors
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