Liquefaction Mitigation Using Natural Rubber Latex Treatment
摘要
Pertaining to the loose cohesionless soil deposits, the primary concern of geotechnical professionals is liquefaction failure. Hence, liquefaction mitigation has become a prime objective of ground improvement research. Most of the liquefaction countermeasures are developed with a focus on modifying factors such as plasticity, density, size and shape of particles, saturation degree, etc. This study presents a novel method for liquefaction mitigation in sands using natural rubber latex (NRL) treatment. The commercially available Quartzanium grade III sand was used for cyclic response and liquefaction studies. The strain-controlled cyclic triaxial tests with a frequency of 1 Hz and shear strain amplitudes of 0.225, 0.45, and 0.75% were performed to assess the liquefaction resistance and modulus degradation. The NRL-treated samples were prepared using a pressurized permeation method to permeate ready-prepared sand samples with NRL solutions of concentrations ranging from 10 to 30%. The study considered a unit value of pore pressure ratio to indicate the onset of liquefaction. The outcomes of strain-controlled cyclic triaxial tests showed that the NRL treatment effectively lowers the pore pressure build-up and prevents liquefaction. The performance of the treated sand improved with an increase in the concentration of NRL solution used for the treatment.