Resistance of soybean-urease-induced carbonate precipitation-treated aeolian sand under combined rainfall and wind erosions
摘要
This study investigated the soybean-urease-induced carbonate precipitation (SICP) technology for aeolian sand stabilization, with focus on evaluating erosion resistance under combined rainfall and wind conditions. First, we conducted SICP reaction and sand cementation tests to optimize the treatment parameters. Then, desert sands treated with these optimized parameters were tested in the rainfall and wind erosions. The SICP-treated specimen achieved best enhancement when prepared using a reaction solution containing 60 g/L soybean urease, and higher or lower urease concentrations gave lower strengths. The treated sand specimens underwent different rainfall conditions (precipitation from 40 to 360 L/m2, and wetting–drying cycles up to 10 cycles), followed by the wind erosion tests. After exposure to various rainfall conditions, SICP-treated specimens exhibited different wind erosion resistances. Low-intensity rainfall produced minimal destructive effects on crust stability. After high-density rainfall, the wind erosion rate of SICP-treated specimens reached 471 g/(m2 min), which was 7 times higher than that of the control group (no rainfall erosion beforehand). After 10 cycles of wetting–drying erosion, the wind erosion rate reached 841 g/(m2 min), which was 13 times higher than the control group. The results imply that, although the SICP treatment had favorable erosion resistance than natural sand under combined rainfall and wind erosions, its erosion performance became noticeably lower than that under pure wind erosion tests. This finding had not been reported previously and should be considered in future engineering practice. Furthermore, degradation mechanisms of SICP-treated sands under rainfall conditions are also discussed.