EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH ON CHEMICAL IMPROVEMENT OF LOESS

Chemical improvement of loess is an important topic in the area of loess foundation engineering treatment. It has important theoretical value and good applied prospects in loess foundation treatment, loess hazard and control. Loess as filling material of roadbed, channel and slope engineering is frequently encountered in northwest and north of China. Loess and remolded loess possess many distinctive physical-mechanical properties that can lead to the improvement and development of various ground improvement techniques such as soil solidification and reinforcement. Loess must be improved. Otherwise it cannot be applied to engineering construction. In order to study the effects of loess solidified by chemical materials, a series of indoor experiments are conducted to analyze the properties of the raw loess of Taiyuan before and after treated by mixed with varying contents of new polymer-soil stabilizer(SH) and cement. The results of compressive strength, direct shear and permeability tests show that the engineering properties of the loess are improved by SH or cement. The strength and impermeability of solidified loess with chemical solidified materials are better than the raw loess. The properties of strength increased with the content of solidified agent, its density and curing time, but the permeability coefficients decreased. The suitable content of mixed SH or cement is about 10%.SH is a new polymer-stabilized agent of water-solubility. Because of its less dosage, cheap price, high strength, low permeability and no disintegrating effect on loess, SH is better than cement. SH can be taken into consideration according to practical situation.