TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of biochar on shear strength of completely decomposed granite
AU - Ng, Charles Wang Wai
AU - Cai, Weiling
AU - So, Pui San
AU - Liao, Jiaxin
AU - Lau, Sze Yu
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2022/7
Y1 - 2022/7
N2 - Biochar has a great potential to sustainably improve the performance of bio-engineered slope due to its ability to retain water and to supply nutrients. Existing studies mainly focus on hydrological properties of biochar-amended soil. However, the effects of biochar on shear strength of soil are not well studied. This study aims to assess the shearing behaviour of biochar-amended completely decomposed granite (CDG). Soil specimens were prepared by mixing CDG with two types of biochar at a mass ratio of 5% and compacted at 95% of the maximum dry density. Although the peak shear strength of biochar-amended CDG is reduced by up to 20% because of lower initial dry density of the soil and crushing of biochar particles during shearing, both types of biochar have negligible effects on the ultimate shear strength, which is governed by friction between soil particles. This highlights that the ultimate friction angle can be adopted for designing bio-engineered slopes using biochar-amended soils.
AB - Biochar has a great potential to sustainably improve the performance of bio-engineered slope due to its ability to retain water and to supply nutrients. Existing studies mainly focus on hydrological properties of biochar-amended soil. However, the effects of biochar on shear strength of soil are not well studied. This study aims to assess the shearing behaviour of biochar-amended completely decomposed granite (CDG). Soil specimens were prepared by mixing CDG with two types of biochar at a mass ratio of 5% and compacted at 95% of the maximum dry density. Although the peak shear strength of biochar-amended CDG is reduced by up to 20% because of lower initial dry density of the soil and crushing of biochar particles during shearing, both types of biochar have negligible effects on the ultimate shear strength, which is governed by friction between soil particles. This highlights that the ultimate friction angle can be adopted for designing bio-engineered slopes using biochar-amended soils.
KW - Bio-engineered slope
KW - Biochar amendment
KW - Biochar type
KW - Completely decomposed granite
KW - Grain crushing
KW - Shear strength
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85129793442&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11356-022-20707-y
DO - 10.1007/s11356-022-20707-y
M3 - Article
C2 - 35554808
AN - SCOPUS:85129793442
SN - 0944-1344
VL - 29
SP - 49422
EP - 49428
JO - Environmental Science and Pollution Research
JF - Environmental Science and Pollution Research
IS - 32
ER -