Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2147e2157

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Journal of Rock Mechanics and

Geotechnical Engineering
journal homepage: www.jrmge.cn

Full Length Article

Mechanical properties of dredged soil reinforced by xanthan gum and

fibers
Dianzhi Feng a, b, Bing Liang a, Xingxing He b, c, Fu Yi a, Jianfei Xue a, Yong Wan b, *, Qiang Xue b
a
School of Mechanics and Engineering, Liaoning Technical University, Fuxin, 123000, China
b
State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, China
c
State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Biopolymers have become popular in geotechnical engineering as they provide a carbon-neutral alter-
Received 6 July 2022 native for soil solidification. Xanthan gum (XG) and jute fiber (JF) were selected to solidify the Yellow
Received in revised form River dredged soil. The mechanical behavior of solidified dredged soil (SDS) was investigated using a
21 October 2022
series of uniaxial compression and splitting tension tests at different XG and JF contents and fiber
Accepted 6 February 2023
Available online 16 March 2023
lengths. The results indicate that on the 28th day, the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) values of
SDS samples reached 2.83 MPa and splitting tensile strength (STS) of 0.763 MPa at an XG content of 1.5%.
When the JF content was greater than 0.9%, the STS of the SDS samples decreased. This is because that
Keywords:
Solidified dredged soil (SDS)
the large fiber content weakened the cementation ability of XG. The addition of JF can significantly in-
Xanthan gum (XG) crease the strain at peak strength of SDS samples. There is a linear relationship between the UCS and STS
Jute fiber (JF) of the dredged soils solidified by XG and JF. Microanalysis shows that the strength of SDS samples was
Mechanical properties improved mainly via the cementation of XG itself and the network structure formed by JF with soil
particles. The dredged soil reinforced by XG and JF shows better mechanical performance and has great
potential for application.
Ó 2023 Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Production and hosting by
Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction Solidification treatment, as a main method of harmless disposal

The Yellow River is the second longest river in China and has the
highest sediment content in the world (Dang et al., 2020). The
massive deposition of Yellow River sediment causes land waste,
affects the ecological balance and thus leads to environmental di-
sasters. Dredging is frequently used to ensure the stability of the
river. Nevertheless, the dredged soil of the Yellow River is silty sand
with poor cementation and low clay content, which cannot be
compacted for direct use (Xu et al., 2021). Especially in northern
China, large-scale stockpiling of Yellow River sediment can easily
cause environmental and geological problems, such as desertifi-
cation and dust and soil erosion (Pan et al., 2015). Therefore, it is of
great significance to effectively realize the reutilization of Yellow
River sediment to promote the sustainable development of the
Yellow River basin.
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: ywan@whrsm.ac.cn (Y. Wan).
Peer review under responsibility of Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chi-
nese Academy of Sciences.
of dredged soil at present, is widely used in practice (Mymrin et al.,
2017; Deng et al., 2020). Solidified dredged soil (SDS) usually pos-
sesses high strength and good water stability, and can be directly
used in foundation pit backfill, subgrade construction, slope rein-
forcement and other projects as a building material with good
performance (Li et al., 2019; Zentar et al., 2021). Portland cement,
with the advantages of high strength and easy access, is the most
commonly used binder in the solidification treatment of soil (He
et al., 2020; Zentar et al., 2021; Zhou et al., 2022). However,
cement production will not only consume energy but also
discharge greenhouse gases, i.e. carbon dioxide, which will even-
tually lead to a series of environmental pollution problems (Flatt
et al., 2012; Wang et al., 2019). Therefore, exploring an environ-
mentally friendly green binder to replace cement for soil solidifi-
cation is essential to promote a low-carbon economy and
sustainable social development.
Biopolymer-based soil treatment (BPST) technology has been
widely used in geotechnical engineering in recent years due to its
characteristics of excellent cementation and environmental
friendliness (Mitchell et al., 2005; Chang et al., 2016). A typical

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrmge.2023.02.010
1674-7755 Ó 2023 Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-
NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
2148 D. Feng et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2147e2157

representative biopolymer, xanthan gum (XG), which is extracted

from plants with the advantages of good cementation and sus-
tainability, is gradually being recognized as an alternative to con-
ventional soil solidifiers (Jeanes et al., 1961; Cabalar and Canakci,
2011; Im et al., 2017; Cabalar et al., 2018; Anandha Kumar and
Sujatha, 2021). Chang et al. (2015) reported that the reinforcing
effect of XG on soil depends mainly on the soil particle size ditri-
bution, curing time, XG content and mixing method. Cabalar et al.
(2017) investigated the effects of XG on the permeability,
compressibility and shear strength of sand.
However, there are still some drawbacks for the XG application
in soil solidification, e.g. unsatisfactory tensile and shear strengths
and significant strength loss under wet conditions (Hataf et al.,
2018; Chen et al., 2020). Therefore, it is necessary to further
improve the mechanical properties of biopolymer-solidified soil by
Fig. 1. Particle size curve of the dredged soil.
other means. Fiber reinforcement is generally considered as an
alternative way to improve the mechanical properties of soil in
geotechnical engineering. At present, common reinforced fibers
include polypropylene fiber (Ojo et al., 2020), basalt fiber (Guo fiber for soil solidification, and few studies are concerned with the
et al., 2022), tyre buffings (Cabalar et al., 2014), and plant fiber combination of plant fiber and chemical curing agents for soil so-
(Ghavami et al., 1999; Jové-Sandoval et al., 2018), among which lidification. Karabash and Cabalar (2015) reported the effect of tire
plant fiber has aroused wide interest by many researchers and crumb and cement addition on the triaxial shear behavior of sandy
technicians due to its characteristics of broad resources of raw soils. The results showed that the addition of cement to sand with
material, energy conservation and sustainability (Losini et al., tire crumbs increases deviatoric stress and Young’s modulus, and
2021). Jute fiber (JF) is one of the cheapest natural plant fibers changes its ductile behavior to a more brittle one. Lang and Chen
with a wide distribution in China and is gradually becoming (2021) studied the effect of straw fiber on improving the splitting
favored in geotechnical engineering because of its good mechanical tensile strength (STS) of cement-solidified soil and found that the
performance. Studies have proven that JF has an important influ- optimum fiber content was 0.2%e0.3%, and the improvement effect
ence on the physics (capillary water absorption and thermal con- of solidified soil strength can be obvious when the fiber was short.
ductivity), mechanics (compressive and flexural strengths), failure Song et al. (2021) pointed out that incorporating JFs can enhance
mode (dry shrinkage cracking and flexural toughness) and dura- the strength properties of cementitious composites at a shorter
bility (freeze-thaw cycle and water erosion) of solidified soil (Güllü length (less than 20 mm) and lower volume content (less than
and Khudir, 2014; Araya-Letelier et al., 2021; Losini et al., 2021; 0.5%). These results indicate that plant fiber and curing agents have
Zhang et al., 2021). Zardari et al. (2020) reported that JF can a good synergistic effect and together can greatly improve the
accelerate the process of solidified soil reaching the maximum mechanical properties of soil.
strength and shorten the curing time by half. JF can also keep the Benzerara et al. (2021) studied the reinforcement of soil with
unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of solidified soil at a high two types of natural fibers (i.e. diss fiber and date palm tree fiber)
level during freeze-thaw cycles (Liu et al., 2009; Sarker and Khan, and XG, and the results showed that a combined addition of XG and
2011). However, the existing studies focus mainly on the use of natural fibers can create a synergistic effect that greatly improves
the strength of the solidified soil. Jumaidin et al. (2020) investigated
the effect of cogon grass fiber on the mechanical properties of
Table 1 thermoplastic cassava starch biocomposites, and found that the
Physico-chemical properties of the dredged soil. incorporation of cogon grass fiber can improve the tensile and
Property Unit Value flexural properties of the composites, while the impact strength
and elongation were reduced. Inspiringly, we can infer that the
Moisture content % 5.32
Specific gravity 2.66
pH value 8.64
Percentage of gravel % 2.35
Percentage of sand % 43.18
Percentage of silt % 49.56
Percentage of clay % 4.91
Liquid limit % 21
Plastic limit % 12
Plasticity index % 9
Maximum dry unit weight kN/m3 17.6
Optimum moisture content % 16.54
Mineral component SiO2 % 68.93
Al2O3 % 9.7
Fe2O3 % 1.63
CaO % 5.52
MgO % 1.74
K2O % 2.14
Na2O % 1.7
Mn3O4 % 0.06
P2O5 % 0.11
TiO2 % 0.5
SO3 % 1.91
LOI % 6.05 Fig. 2. JFs used in this study.
 D. Feng et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2147e2157 2149

Fig. 3. Morphology and structure of JF under an electron microscope: (a) Untreated and (b) Treated.

Table 2
Experimental design of this study.

Fiber length and JF contents Sample No.

XG0.5 XG1.0 XG1.5 XG2.0

L10 JF0.3 1 2 3 4
L10 JF0.6 5 6 7 8
L10 JF0.9 9 10 11 12
L10 JF1.2 13 14 15 16
L20 JF0.3 17 18 19 20
L20 JF0.6 21 22 23 24
L20 JF0.9 25 26 27 28
L20 JF1.2 29 30 31 32
JF0 33 34 35 36

Note: L refers to fiber lengths of 10 mm and 20 mm. XG is the content of XG and

ranges between 0.5% and 2% (weight ratio). JF is the dosage of JF and ranges between
0.3% and 1.2% (weight ratio). For example, the mixed-design L10XG1.5JF0.6 has an
addition of 10-mm long fibers at a weight content of 0.6% and contains 1.5% XG
(weight ratio). Fig. 5. Scenarios of the SDS sample at different experimental stages: (a) Curing, (b)
Fiber distribution, (c) Appearance after the STS test, and (d) Appearance after the UCS
test.
mechanical properties of the solidified soil under the synergistic
action of biopolymer and plant fiber differ from the mechanical
fibers represented by JF on the solidification of Yellow River sedi-
properties of the solidified soil under a single one. However, no
ment under different component ratios. The experimental inves-
studies seem to have been found on this topic. Therefore, this study
tigation presented here aims to prove the treatment of dredged soil
tried to blend JF into XG-solidified soil to overcome its shortcoming
solidified by XG and JF to be effective, and thus SDS can be used in
of unsatisfactory tensile strength and toughness, and at present, the
geotechnical engineering practice to reduce the adverse influence
related research work is still in its infancy.
on the environment.
The purpose of this study was to discuss the effects of the
biopolymer represented by XG combined with the natural plant

Fig. 4. Schematic diagrams of (a) unconfined compression test, and (b) splitting tension test.
2150 D. Feng et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2147e2157

Fig. 6. UCS of SDS samples with curing time considering different factors: (a) XG content with fiber length of 10 mm; (b) XG content with fiber length of 20 mm; (c) JF content with
fiber length of 10 mm; and (d) JF content with fiber length of 20 mm.

Fig. 7. Effects of JF and XG contents on UCS at different curing times with fiber lengths of (a) 10 mm and (b) 20 mm.

2. Materials and methods chemical properties are shown in Table 1. The specific gravity was
determined by AccuPyc 1330 (Micromeritics, USA) at an ambient
2.1. Materials temperature of 25
C and air pressure of 60 kPa. The pH value was
determined by the glass electrode method according to GB/T50123-
2.1.1. Dredged soil 19 (2019). The soil samples were obtained by drying at 105
C and
The soil was obtained from the Yellow River Basin in Wuhai, crushing through a 2-mm sieve. The initial moisture content of the
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China. The basic physico- soil is 5.32%. The particle size curve and the particle morphology of
 D. Feng et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2147e2157
Fig. 8. STS of SDS samples with curing time considering different factors: (a) XG content with fiber length of 10 mm; (b) XG content with fiber length of 20 mm; (c) JF content with
fiber length of 10 mm; and (d) JF content with fiber length of 20 mm.
the dredged soil under an optical microscope are shown in Fig. 1.
The main particle size is between 0.005 mm and 0.075 mm, and
there is about 5% of clay particles (<5 mm). The coefficients of non-
uniformity (Cu) and curvature (Cc) of the soil are 14.71 and 0.69,
respectively. The soil has the specific gravity of 2.66 and mean grain
size (D50) of 0.068 mm, and it was silt sands (SMs) according to the
unified soil classification system.
2.1.2. JFs
As shown in Fig. 2, the average diameter of JF used in the
experiment was 50e85 mm. The JF was first trimmed into lengths of
10 mm and 20 mm. The JF used in the test consisted of approxi-
mately 65% cellulose, 20% hemicellulose, 10% lignin and a small
amount of pectin and other chemical components. Chemical pre-
treatment of plant fiber can remove part of the lignin from the fiber
surface and increase the specific surface area of the fiber (Heise
et al., 2017). The trimmed JF was immersed in 5% (weight) so-
dium hydroxide solution for 6 h, thoroughly washed with deion-
ized water, and finally dried in an oven at 50
C and sealed for
further use. The longitudinal morphology of untreated and treated
JFs was observed under an electron microscope, as presented in
Fig. 3a and b. There is a layer of grease on the surface of the original
JF. The surface of fiber is smooth, and the groove structure is not
clear. However, the oil layer on the surface of treated JF was dis-
solved or eroded (Liu, 2013).
2151
2.1.3. Biopolymer
The XG used in the experiment, with ash in 5.5%e16% and a
drying loss of less than 15%, was produced by Shanghai Maclin
Biochemical Technology Co., Ltd. XG presents a white to light yel-
low powder, and its molecular formula is C35H49O29.
2.2. Methods
2.2.1. Mixing and sample preparation
According to Chang et al. (2015), the dry mixing method was used
in this study to mix soil with XG and JF. A referencing system was
chosen for the mix-design denomination. Due to the small number of
clay particles in the original dredged soil of the Yellow River, it was
difficult to compact the initial dredged soil into the specified cylin-
ders. In addition, the prepared specimens were loose and friable, and
the corresponding strength was almost zero. Therefore, this paper
does not consider the situation when the XG content is zero, and there
are a total of 36 mixing proportions in the experiment, as shown in
Table 2.
First, the dry dredged soil, XG and treated JF were put into a
blender. The mixture was transferred to the sample box in three
layers after stirring for 3 min, and distilled water was sprayed
evenly on each layer of the mixture. The total water content of the
mixture was controlled at 16%. Then, the mixture was wrapped in
plastic wrap and left to rest for 12 h to allow the moisture to
2152 D. Feng et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2147e2157

in Fig. 5b. Fig. 5c and d shows the failure modes of the SDS sample
after the splitting tension test and unconfined compression test,
respectively. After the splitting tension test, the SDS samples mostly
failed along the diameter direction, while after the uniaxial
compression test, the specimens failed in diagonal tension mode.

2.2.3. Microstructure test

The scanning electron microscope (SEM) tests were performed
on Merlin Compact (Zeiss, GeminiSEM300; Jena, Germany) to
capture the morphology of block samples. The samples were
sputter-coated with a thin layer of gold on their fresh surface to
avoid the potential charge effect. The small cubic samples for SEM
analysis were taken from the broken samples after the compression
test (He et al., 2021).

3. Results and discussion

3.1. UCS

Fig. 6 shows the change in UCS of SDS samples at 7 d and 28 d

with different XG and JF contents. It can be seen that the UCS value

Fig. 9. Effects of JF and XG contents on STS at different curing time with fiber lengths
of (a) 10 mm and (b) 20 mm.

disperse fully in the sample. The mixture was mixed again for
moisture equilibrium, and then the mixture was loaded into a
cylinder mold that is 39.1 mm in diameter and 80 mm in height.
Finally, the SDS sample was pressed into shape by a jack, and the
samples prepared at each ratio were controlled at the same weight.

2.2.2. Mechanical test

After 7 d and 28 d of curing, the UCS of the SDS samples was
tested with a universal tester following ASTM D1633-17 (2017). STS
was tested following ASTM C496 (2004), which was calculated by
Eq. (1). The strips of mild steel were used with dimensions of
5 mm  5 mm  80 mm (height  width  length), as shown in
Fig. 4. During the tests above, the vertical load was applied to the
sample at a constant displacement rate of 1 mm/min until failure.

2P
ft ¼ (1)
pld
where P is the load at failure, l is the length of the sample, and d is
the diameter of the sample.
The scenarios of different experimental stages of SDS samples are
shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 5a shows SDS samples cured at room temper-
ature (25
C). After the SDS sample was cut along the diameter, JF Fig. 10. Linear relationships between UCS and STS for SDS samples after curing for (a)
was observed to be uniformly dispersed in the SDS sample, as shown 7 d and (b) 28 d.
 D. Feng et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2147e2157
Fig. 11. Characteristics of stress-strain curves of SDS samples under different loading conditions: (a) UCS with 7 d of curing time; (b) UCS with 28 d of curing time; (c) STS with 28 d
of curing time; and (d) STS with 28 d of curing time.
of all samples after curing for 28 d is 10e27 times the UCS value
after curing for 7 d, and the fiber length of 20 mm is more
conducive to improving the strength of SDS. As shown in Fig. 6a and
b, the UCS of SDS samples at both 7 d and 28 d increases with XG
content, and the increasing trend is slowed down when the XG
content exceeds 1.5%. Fig. 6c and d indicates that the UCS value of
SDS samples increases with JF content after curing for 7 d. The UCS
at 28 d tends to increase when the JF content increases from 0.3% to
0.6% and then gradually decreases when the JF content exceeds
0.6%. This is possibly because that the higher JF content forms more
pores in SDS samples, which prevents the soil particles from being
added to the pores and thus greatly reduces the cementation of XG
on soil particles, and this result is consistent with the result ob-
tained by Qu and Zhu (2021).
To comprehensively analyze the influence of XG content and JF
content on the UCS of SDS samples, the 3D surface diagrams of the
UCS of the SDS samples with fiber lengths of 10 mm and 20 mm are
presented in Fig. 7a and b, respectively. The larger UCS values of SDS
samples at 7 d are in the range of XG  1.5% and JF  0.9%, while the
larger UCS values at 28 d are in the range of XG  1.5% and JF  0.6%.
This is because that a greater number of fibers within the soil lead
to larger frictional resistance between the soil particles and the
fibers, which results in increased UCS values (Zhang et al., 2021). To
determine the optimal ratio combination, the change in the
2153
strength value at 28 d is considered as the basis because the
strength value at this time tends to be more stable. In the selection
of the optimal XG content, the contribution value of XG to the
strength improvement of SDS samples is mainly considered, and
the key issue involved is the economic usage of XG. As Figs. 6 and 7
show, when the XG content exceeds 1.5%, the increase in strength
slows down significantly. In addition, the optimal JF content is
mainly concerned with the influence of the strength value and
whether the soil sample can be mixed evenly during sample
preparation if the JF content is high. When the fiber content ex-
ceeds 0.6%, the UCS of SDS samples decreases. The addition of 0.6%
of fiber content is more dominant than that of 0.3% in strength
improvement. According to the above analysis, the optimal ratio
combination of SDS samples is L20 þ XG1.5 þ JF0.6, and a high UCS
value can reach 2.83 MPa.
3.2. STS
Fig. 8 shows the change in STS of SDS samples at 7 d and 28 d
with different XG and JF contents. The STS of the SDS samples
gradually increases with increasing XG and JF contents at an early
curing time, and a larger fiber length of 20 mm is conducive to
improving the tensile strength of the SDS sample, especially at 28 d.
The calculated STS of all samples after curing for 28 d is 8e25 times
2154 D. Feng et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2147e2157

Fig. 12. Microstructures of SDS samples at (a) low XG content, (b) high XG content, (c) low JF content, and (d) high JF content. Microstructures of (e) the observed XG film and (f)
bunched fibers.

the STS after curing for 7 d. A combined addition of XG and natural
fibers creates a synergic effect that leads to higher tensile strengths
and better ductile properties (Benzerara et al., 2021). With the in-
crease in XG content from 0.5% to 2%, the STS strength value
gradually increases. However, when the XG content is greater than
1.5%, the STS strength value decreases significantly, and the STS
value of some samples even shows a downward trend. With the
increase in JF content, the STS value shows a trend of first increasing
and then decreasing, and the STS reachs the maximum value when
the JF content is 0.9%. Both STS and UCS values are related to the
state of cementation of soil particles. The number of cemented
bonds in the cured body increases with increasing XG content, and
thus the STS of SDS samples increases. With increasing JF content,
the reinforcing effect of the fibers also leads to an increase in STS.
 D. Feng et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2147e2157
To visually analyze the influences of XG and JF contents on the
tensile strength of the SDS samples, Fig. 9a and b shows the vari-
ations of the SDS samples with fiber lengths of 10 mm and 20 mm,
respectively. Overall, the improvement in the tensile strength of
SDS samples depends mainly on the JF content. Similar to the
analysis in the existing studies (Song et al., 2021), the JF with a
longer length and higher content is found to play a key role in
improving the STS of the SDS samples after a comparison between
Figs. 8 and 9. The STS value reaches the maximum when the JF
content is 0.9%. For a better splitting tensile performance of solid-
ified soil, the optimal ratio combination is L20 þ XG1.5 þ JF0.9, and
the STS value can reach 0.763 MPa.
3.3. Correlation between UCS and STS
The STS is an indicator that can better evaluate the effect of
using fibers to solidify the soil, and numerous studies have also
shown that there is a linear relationship between the STS and the
UCS. For example, Festugato et al. (2018) proposed a theoretical
model for predicting the STS/UCS ratio of fiber-reinforced cemented
soils, and the results confirmed the existence of a rather constant
STS/UCS ratio with moulding density, cement and fiber contents.
Dhar and Hussain (2018) established a good correlation between
UCS with STS in researching the strength behavior of lime-
stabilized plastic fiber-reinforced clayey soil. The results of the
linear fits between UCS and STS for SDS samples corresponding to
different curing times are given in Fig. 10. For SDS samples curing
for 7 d, STS/UCS ¼ 0.412 and R2 ¼ 0.936, while for SDS samples
curing for 28 d, STS/UCS ¼ 0.269 and R2 ¼ 0.954. It can be concluded
that there is a good linear relationship between the UCS and STS for
SDS samples, and the ratio of STS/UCS decreases significantly with
the increase of curing time.
3.4. Characteristics of stress-strain curve
The stress-strain relartionship of 4 typical groups of samples (i.e.
#11 L10XG1.5JF0.9, #25 L20XG0.5JF0.9, #27 L20XG1.5JF0.9 and #35
L20XG1.5JF0) at different curing times was analyzed in Fig. 11. It can
be found that in the compression test, the addition of JF can
effectively transform the failure mode from brittle to ductile. The
axial strain corresponding to the peak strength increases signifi-
cantly after adding JF and the samples at high dosage levels show a
certain strain-hardening behavior after the peak strength, which is
consistent with the results of existing study (Mirzababaei et al.,
2013). In addition, JF can significantly improve the splitting ten-
sile properties of the specimen. Even after reaching the peak
Fig. 13. Mechanism of different compositions in the solidification system: SDS samples
with fiber length of (a) 10 mm and (b) 20 mm.
2155
strength, the sample can still maintain certain degree of integrity
and not lead to brittle failure. The higher XG content can effectively
improve the mechanical properties of SDS samples, but has less
effect on the peak strain of SDS samples. The peak strain of the SDS
samples decreases with increasing curing time, which is related to
the gradual evaporation and loss of its internal moisture. Bozyigit
et al. (2021) also reported that in biopolymer- and fiber-
reinforced soils, the stress-strain behavior is predominantly
affected by water content rather than by the additives.
3.5. Microscopic analysis
Fig. 12a and b shows the microstructure of SDS samples with XG
contents of 0.5% and 2%, respectively. Insufficient XG content makes
it difficult to connect larger soil particles, resulting in more pores in
the samples. Fig. 12c and d shows the microstructure of SDS sam-
ples with JF contents of 0.3% and 1.2%, respectively. The fibers are
staggered and overlapped in SDS samples with a higher JF content,
thus reducing the pore volume in the sample. The strength of the
samples can be greatly improved only when the contents of XG and
JF is appropriate, and the same conclusion has been demonstrated
in several studies (Zak et al., 2016; Hataf et al., 2018).
One of the main features of XG is the ease of modification to
improve its performance by cross-linking various materials, and
related studies using XG to improve the anti-fouling, anti-bacterial
and separation properties of composites (Koyuncu et al., 2022). The
XG linkages in the SDS sample effectively adhere to smaller soil
particles, and the woven network structure built by JF can better fix
larger soil particles, thereby improving the strength of the SDS
sample. Fig. 12e shows the exposed part of the biofilm of XG and the
morphology of the soil particles wrapped by XG. In addition, the JF
cluster phenomenon was observed in SDS samples with high JF
content (especially with a length of 10 mm), as shown in Fig. 12f.
This is mainly because that the fibers of 10 mm have difficulty in
forming the interwoven network structure in the SDS samples. The
short fibers in the SDS samples are easily affected by the soil par-
ticles during the extrusion process, which causes bedding slip in
the soil particles. Thus, the fibers tend to be parallel in the same
direction. In samples with higher fiber content, fibers can confine
the soil particles and increase the stability of the soil mass.
Therefore, fibers can influence the likelihood of sudden displace-
ment behavior of soil particles under axial loading (Mirzababaei
et al., 2013).
Furthermore, the interaction diagrams of various factors are
given in Fig. 13a and b, which explain the solidification principle of
SDS samples combined with XG and JF, corresponding to fiber
lengths of 10 mm and 20 mm, respectively. The solidification
principle can be summarized into three aspects:
(1) XG forms a colloidal solution when encountering water,
which permeates and distributes between soil particles
while wrapping the soil particles. With the evaporation of
water, the cementation of XG becomes so strong that soil
particles are firmly gathered together.
(2) Grooves and other structures on JF easily combine with XG,
and small sandy soil particles are first adhered and fixed.
When the cementation provided by XG cannot fix large
particles, JF and small particles are fixed first, and as a whole,
a certain mechanical friction with large particles is generated
to ensure the stability of large particles.
(3) An appropriate amount of JF can effectively form a network
structure in SDS samples by self-winding and overlapping,
and can provide excellent material toughness, which im-
proves the strength of solidified soil, especially the splitting
tensile properties. Compared to the samples with a fiber
2156 D. Feng et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2147e2157
length of 10 mm, the ones with 20 mm are more effective in
forming the internal space grid and improving the strength.
4. Conclusions
In terms of eco-friendliness, biopolymer-reinforced treatment
has great advantages over conventional cement treatment. The use
of XG and JF for the dredged soil treatment shows viable results,
reflecting that it can be used to increase the strength of soil. The
following conclusions can be drawn:
(1) Both the UCS and STS of SDS samples increase with XG
content, and the increasing trend at 28 d slows down when
the XG content exceeds 1.5%. The obtained certain strength
indicates that the reinforcement by XG and JF on the dredged
soils is effective and has great potential for further
application.
(2) To obtain a higher compressive strength and considering the
cost of XG addition and the difficulty of fiber treatment, the
optimal ratio combination is L20 þ XG1.5 þ JF0.6, and UCS
value can reach 2.83 MPa. From the perspective of improving
the tensile strength, the optimal combination is
L20 þ XG1.5 þ JF0.9, with a higher STS value of 0.763 MPa.
The results show that there is a good linear relationship
between the UCS and STS of the dredged soils reinforced by
XG and JF.
(3) The higher XG content can effectively improve the me-
chanical properties of SDS samples, but has no significant
effect on increasing the strain at peak strength of SDS sam-
ples. In addition, an appropriate amount of JF can help
change the failure mode of SDS samples from brittle to
ductile.
(4) Microanalysis shows that a fiber length of 20 mm is more
effective in improving the strength of SDS samples than that
of 10 mm. The strength of SDS samples is improved mainly
by the cementation of XG and the network structure formed
by JF and soil particles.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing
financial interests or personal relationships that could have
appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support
provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China
(Grant Nos. 51979267 and 52074143) and the Major Science and
Technology Program of Inner Mongolia, China (Grant No.
2021ZD0007).
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Dr. Dianzhi Feng obtained his BSc and MSc degrees in Civil
Engineering from Liaoning Technical University, China in
2017 and 2020, respectively. At present, he is a PhD
candidate majored in Mechanics at the same university
since 2020 and currently enrolled in a joint training pro-
gram at Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese
Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China since 2021. His
research interests include: (1) resource utilization of solid
waste, (2) ecological rehabilitation of mines, and (3)
development of eco-friendly building materials.