Improving the Properties of Saline Soil Using a Deep Soil Mixing Technique

Abstract

Saline soils belong to the category of problematic soils with high compressibility and weak shear strength when exposed to water. Water dissolves the salts in soils which are the primary cementing agents. Therefore, stabilization methods that provide sustainable cementing substances are employed in this study using deep soil mixing techniques to enhance the properties of saline soil. In this regard, a laboratory-scaled deep soil mixing procedure was developed to treat the soil in a way similar to the field methods. A binder, consisting of marble powder and cement, was employed to treat the soil. This study aimed to select the most efficient binder mix design in terms of optimum marble powder/cement ratio and optimum water/binder ratio. Unconfined compressive strength, durability, density measurements and ultrasonic velocity pulse tests were conducted on the treated soil. To determine the treatment efficacy, microstructure analysis of the treated samples was conducted. The 80C20MP and 70C30MP samples exhibit a dense soil structure with minimal voids, and their microstructure is denser than the other treated specimens. Additionally, the EDX analysis shows increased calcium percentages with up to 30% MP replacement, aligning well with the microstructure analysis and the UCS values. The results indicate that the economical and eco-friendly binder mix consisted of (70% to 80%) cement and (20% to 30%) marble powder with water/binder ratio in the range of 1.1 to 1.3. This mix contributed greatly to the improvement in soil strength and integrated columns.