Freezing and Thawing Resistance of Hemp Fiber Reinforced Clays

Abstract

Clays are natural soils. In geotechnical engineering, clayey soils are problematic because of their volume change properties when interact with water. Additionally, they may lose strength when exposed to freezing-thawing. Various soil improvement methods are used for modifying the clay soils properties. One of these methods is by adding natural fibers. The aim of study was to investigate the strength and freezing-thawing properties of a high plasticity clay (CH) with hemp fiber. For this purpose, fiber-reinforced clay samples were prepared by adding hemp fiber at different percentages (0.5%, 1%, and 1.5%) and different lengths (2 mm, and 5 mm) to a CH clay from Erzurum, Turkey, and the consistency, unconfined compressive strength (UCS), and freezing-thawing properties of the samples were investigated. Unconfined compressive strength of the samples increased with the increase in the hemp fiber percentage, and improvements occurred in their unconfined compressive strengths after freezing-thawing cycles, compared to unreinforced clay. According to the test results it is thought that hemp fibers could be an alternative for improving the freezing and thawing resistance of clay soils.

Keywords

• Clay
• Freezing-thawing
• Hemp fiber
• Soil stabilization
• Unconfined compressive strength

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