Menthol as a Cementing Agent for Superficial Undisturbed Sands: Applicability and Soil Structure Analysis
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 34, Issue 11
Abstract
At present, there is a lack of good sampling technology and methods for sandy gravel soil. The sampling quality of sandy gravel soil directly affects the accuracy of important parameters such as soil shear strength, compression modulus, and compactness, and then affects geotechnical design and engineering stability evaluation. A method of sampling superficial undisturbed sands is proposed. The method uses a temporary cementing agent that enables the study of the physical-mechanical properties of sands, mitigates disturbance, and reduces the high failure rate associated with traditional sampling techniques. The mobility and volatility of menthol were investigated, and the viability of menthol as a temporary cementing agent for undisturbed sands was assessed. Based on the single-factor analysis of variance method, the effect of menthol on the change of shear stress and void ratio of sand was verified. Soils cemented with menthol were sampled and the menthol was evaporated. Computed tomography imaging was used to investigate the effect of menthol on particle movement, porosity, and the morphology of particles within sands. The results show that menthol has little effect on the porosity of the soil or the morphological indexes (size, shape, and angularity) of particles. Moreover, the porosity and morphological indexes were significantly correlated. The use of menthol is an innovation that improves current sampling methods for undisturbed sands, the design of geotechnical studies, and soil testing.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
Many thanks to the support of the National Key R&D Program of China (2020YFC1807200), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41877231 and 42072299), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, CHD (300102212510).
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 34 • Issue 11 • November 2022
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© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Jan 1, 2021
Accepted: Feb 18, 2022
Published online: Aug 18, 2022
Published in print: Nov 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Jan 18, 2023
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