Aims & Objectives
Aims
Saturated, cohesionless soils have a tendency to undergo liquefaction when subjected to cyclic loading during earthquakes. Previous laboratory and field work demonstrate that addition of a very small amount of nanoparticles to pore fluid can significantly increase the soil's resistance to cyclic loading, hence reduce liquefaction susceptibility. The purpose of our investigation is to quantify the improvement in the resistance of sand to cyclic loading after permeation with laponite.
Objectives
1. Research and evaluate current literature on liquefaction remediation using traditional methods and nanoparticles and identify the need for research into this area.
2. Order laponite and silica sand required for the experiments and book laboratory time.
3. Characterise the rheological properties of water with laponite dispersion using a rheometer.
-This is to work out the optimum concentration of laponite solution to use for permeation of the sand in the triaxial tests that will follow.
4. Carry out a monotonic loading triaxial test with on the sand specimen with and without laponite added to the sand.
-This to ensure that the shear strength of the soil subject the monotonic loading is not reduced after permeation with laponite solution.
5. Carry out a cyclic loading triaxial test on the sand specimen with and without any laponite added to the sand.
-This will quantify the improvement in cyclic resistance following permeation of the sand with laponite.
6. Interpretation and discussion of results obtained.
See methodology for more in-depth information on the objectives.
Aims
Saturated, cohesionless soils have a tendency to undergo liquefaction when subjected to cyclic loading during earthquakes. Previous laboratory and field work demonstrate that addition of a very small amount of nanoparticles to pore fluid can significantly increase the soil's resistance to cyclic loading, hence reduce liquefaction susceptibility. The purpose of our investigation is to quantify the improvement in the resistance of sand to cyclic loading after permeation with laponite.
Objectives
1. Research and evaluate current literature on liquefaction remediation using traditional methods and nanoparticles and identify the need for research into this area.
2. Order laponite and silica sand required for the experiments and book laboratory time.
3. Characterise the rheological properties of water with laponite dispersion using a rheometer.
-This is to work out the optimum concentration of laponite solution to use for permeation of the sand in the triaxial tests that will follow.
4. Carry out a monotonic loading triaxial test with on the sand specimen with and without laponite added to the sand.
-This to ensure that the shear strength of the soil subject the monotonic loading is not reduced after permeation with laponite solution.
5. Carry out a cyclic loading triaxial test on the sand specimen with and without any laponite added to the sand.
-This will quantify the improvement in cyclic resistance following permeation of the sand with laponite.
6. Interpretation and discussion of results obtained.
See methodology for more in-depth information on the objectives.