Experimental Study on Dynamic Characterization of Guar Gum-Treated Fly Ash
摘要
This study investigates the potential of guar gum biopolymer (GG) to improve the dynamic characteristics of industrial waste fly ash (FA). Strain-controlled cyclic triaxial tests were performed on untreated FA and GG-treated FA to understand the influence of different parameters such as confining pressure (0.05–0.20 MPa), frequency (0.50–1.25 Hz), and over-consolidation ratio (OCR) (1–4) on the dynamic shear modulus (DSM), damping ratio (DR), and excess pore pressure (EPP) response. The results demonstrated that a small GG dosage (0.50%) significantly enhanced DSM and DR while reducing EPP build-up under all tested conditions. The GG-treated FA exhibited better resistance to EPP accumulation, lowering the maximum EPP ratio as the confining pressure, frequency, and OCR increased. For untreated FA, the dynamic stress–strain response showed an exponential decay in the cyclic deviator stress, marked by progressive hysteresis loop flattening. However, the GG inclusion minimised this decay, stabilising the hysteresis loops and causing them to overlap after a few cycles. For the GG-treated FA, DSM increased by 102% when the confining pressure was increased (0.05–0.10 MPa), increased by 28% when frequency was decreased (1.25–0.50 Hz), and increased by 71% when OCR was increased (1–4). After 50 loading cycles, DR increased by 67%, 101%, and 76% with increasing confining pressure, frequency, and OCR, respectively. Microscopic analysis confirmed the effectiveness of GG through interparticle bridging and pore-clogging mechanisms, which significantly enhanced the dynamic performance of the FA under dynamic loading conditions.