Soil-Strength Enhancements from Polymer-Infused Roots

AbstractThis research investigates the use of polymer-infused roots for soil-improvement applications. By infusing polymer through the easily accessible above-surface plant stems, polymer-infused roots can be created without subsurface excavations. Evaluation of this technique involves identifying the improvements from polymer-infused roots by measuring in situ shear strength of soil using a vane shear apparatus and by measuring the tensile strength using split-tension tests in the laboratory. Roots of Ruellia squarrosa and Artemisia annua plants were infused with a mixture of epoxy resin and polyoxyalkylamine blend hardener. Compared with noninfused roots, polymer-infused roots provided an additional 22 kPa (28%) of shear strength for elastic silt and an additional 13.1 kPa (25%) of shear strength for low-plasticity clay with a corresponding 13.6-kPa (55%) increase in tensile strength for the low-plasticity clay. Acid hydrolysis testing was performed to ascertain the potential durability of the polymer-i...