Effect of freezing soil temperatures on strength parameters of clayey sand soils stabilized by poly propylene and poly vinyl alcohol fibers

Abstract

Applying synthetic fibers is one of the most effective physical methods for soil improvement and stabilization. In this paper, we determine the effects of polypropylene (PP) and poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers contents (0.2, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5%) at environment temperature (25 °C) and various freezing soil temperatures (0, −5, −10 and − 15 °C) on stabilization of the clayey sand soil (SC) samples. The results show that for both types of fibers, by simultaneous increasing of fiber content and lowering the temperature, the values of the unconfined compressive strength (UCS), elastic modulus (EM), ductility and California bearing ratio (CBR) increase, and they all reach their maximum values for 1.5% fiber content at −15 °C. Moreover, we show that PVA fibers perform better compared to PP fibers in increasing of UCS, EM, ductility and CBR values for different fiber contents and temperatures. This can be attributed to the fact that PVA has higher tensile and flexural strength compared to PP fiber.