Physical and mechanical properties of Nano-SiO 2 treated loess

Ran Kong^*

• Lanzhou Vocational and Technical College of Resources and Environment, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China

Improving the performance of loess is of significant importance against its failure and degradation. Also, it is substantial to rammed earth and infrastructure constructed with loess materials. We tested the physical and mechanical properties of nano-SiO 2 treated loess with different contents and curing days, including unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and splitting tensile strength (STS), and their corresponding water content, density, and void ratio. Meanwhile, we paid close attention to the homogeneity during sample preparation, i.e., sample quality, based on the UCS test. Then, we analyzed their relation to physical and mechanical properties for a better understanding. The results show that the UCS test is a valuable method to examine the quality of sample preparation. The UCS, STS, and density increased, and the water content and void ratio decreased with increasing contents and curing days due to Nano-SiO 2 addition. The improvement of mechanical strength is related to the ratio of water content to Nano-SiO 2 content and curing period rather than the physical properties and additive contents of treated loess. These findings reveal that nano-SiO 2 can be an effective stabilized agent for loess improvement, which has important implications for geohazard mitigation and engineering management in the Chinese loess area.