The effect of soaking and wetting on the properties of the gypsum soil treated with polyurethane

Abstract

the shear strength parameters of the treated and untreated gypsum soil under the effect of four soaking and drying cycles has studied in this paper, moreover examined the effect of wetting and drying cycles on the collapse potential of the soil and comparing between the behavior of the treated and untreated gypsum soil under the effect of the two conditions. Gypsum soil sample brought from Sawa lake in Al Muthana governorate with the content of gypsum 65.5%, the polyurethane polymer (PP) was used with different percentages 3, 6, and 10% to enhance the mechanical properties of gypsum soil, model was prepared to achieve four soaking and drying cycle to the samples before testing, this model consists of an Aluminum plate base with dimensions 70 x45 cm and glassy sides with 10 cm height, this model subdivided longitudinally into three parts by glassy breakers to compact untreated and treated gypsum soil with 3 and 6% of polyurethane, series of direct shear tests and single oedometer test carried out on the treated and untreated gypsum soil, the result shows that the polyurethane polymer can be used successfully to stabilize the mechanical characteristics of gypsum soil with high gypsum content.