Enhanced Engineering Characteristics of Soils by Electro-Osmotic Treatment: An Overview

The electro-osmotic treatment for stabilizing fine-grained soils is gaining importance in the field of geotechnical engineering. There is absolute evidence that during the electro-osmotic treatment, the basic index, physicochemical and engineering properties of the soils was found to be modified. A review of the enhanced engineering characteristics of soils due to electro-osmotic treatment is presented in this paper. In addition, a brief description of the critical factors that affect the efficiency of electro-osmotic treatment is presented. This review intends to summarize the results obtained from the several field-based case studies and laboratory-based experimental studies to understand the variation in the water content, Atterberg limits, permeability, seepage, consolidation, shear strength, mineralogical and physicochemical characteristics of the soil due to electro-osmotic treatment. Based on the review, it can be inferred that usage of electro-osmotic treatment for stabilizing the fine-grained soils is beneficial, and its higher efficiency can be obtained by selecting suitable electrodes and devising the scheme appropriately for the polarity reversal and current intermittences.