Assessment of sustainable expanded glass granules for enhancing shallow soil stabilization and dynamic behaviour of clay through resonant column tests

Abstract

In geotechnical engineering applications such as artificial slope fills, backfill for retaining walls and embankments are required to be as light as possible, yet more durable and provide drainage. Recently, the use of waste materials in stabilization applications is preferred due to both a more sustainable environment and economic advantages. In this study, expanded glass granules, used in lightweight and stabilization material such as autoclaved aerated concrete, were mixed with clay at various ratios (by mass 1 – 2% and by volume 2.5 – 5 – 7.5 – 10 – 15%) and their dynamic properties such as initial shear modulus, damping ratio and modulus reduction were investigated under various effective pressures comparatively using resonant column/torsional shear test (RCTS). Considering the shear modulus results of the mixtures by mass (1–2%) and by volume (2.5–5 − 7.5%), it is observed that low and medium shear strain amplitude (0.001–0.05%) were observed to be higher in the range of up to 40% and 10% compared to the reference sample. In addition, it was calculated that the density of the mixed specimens (2.5–5 − 7.5%) with high shear modulus were up to 6.2% lower than the reference sample. The study concludes that the use of expanded glass granules (by mass 1–2%, by volume 2.5, 5%) is experimentally satisfactory for shallow soil stabilization in geotechnical applications where the presented boundary conditions are valid.