Disintegration characteristics, splitting tensile strength and microscopic mechanisms of marine silty soil improved...

Marine silty soil's complex properties challenge coastal engineering. This study comprehensively examined the hydraulic and microscopic characteristics of the marine silty soil enhanced by calcium lignosulfonate (CLS) and polyacrylamide (PAM) through a series of tests combined with fractal theory. The disintegration rate of the specimens doped with cement and CLS curing agents is positively correlated with the number of dry-wet cycles and negatively correlated with the doping amount. In contrast to the soil improved by other agents, the anti-disintegration property of the PAM-improved soil is particularly excellent. Microscopic analysis shows ion exchange among PAM, CLS and soil particles, generating minerals to fill pores and enhance cohesion. Analyses of pore structures show regularities in fractal dimensions and that the trends of average shape coefficient and probability entropy are opposite, remolded soil (0 cycles) < 5 % CLS (0 cycles) < 3 % PAM (6 cycles) < 5 % PAM (6 cycles) < 7 % PAM (6 cycles) < 5 % PAM (0 cycles). With dry-wet cycles increasing, pore distribution changes and higher PAM doping curbs pore development. This research can offer technical references for coastal silty subgrade and foundation pit reinforcement.