Stabilization of soils with nanoclay subjected to freeze-thaw cycles

As the size of the soil particles varies from 4.75 mm to 1 nm, void spaces form at the nanolevel. Due to more void spaces impacting a higher plasticity index, more settlement, less stability, and soil structure affect soil properties, including shear strength, compaction, and consolidation. The establishment of nanotechnology, a novel stabilizing technique, was made due to the need to restore the structure to all qualities. Nanotechnology describes nanoparticles and weak natural soil, even in bad weather conditions, as a new means of filling gaps at the nanoscale, i.e., 1 to 100 nm, and enhancing all geotechnical features. The key benefit of this new technology is nanomaterials, which are filled with particles in void spaces ranging in size from 15 to 80 nm. This paper deals with stabilizing soft soils with nanoclay subjected to durability characteristics (F-T cycles) and characterized by microstructural analysis. Soil parameters such as specific gravity and compaction are examined to determine the optimal dosage of nanoclay needed to achieve the desired results. There were no empty spaces when the optimal dosage of nanoclay was used for the permeability test. A nanomaterial like nanoclay was used in this work to increase specific gravity, the plasticity index, compaction, permeability, and shear strength. EDAX and SEM are used to characterize the stabilized soils with optimal dosage. These experiments show that nanoclay is well stabilized by soil and in an amorphous condition. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.