The tensile strength of soil cores containing polyvinyl alcohol

Abstract

The indirect tensile strength (I.T.S.) of cores formed from a clay soil treated with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) solutions has been determined using the Brazilian core test. With increasing amounts of adsorbed PVA the I.T.S. values increased up to a maximum of about three times that of cores containing no PVA. Further amounts of adsorbed PVA then resulted in a decrease of I.T.S. Increasing the water content of the soil-PVA complexes resulted in a marked decrease in the I.T.S. values, although they did not decrease to the same extent as in untreated cores. PVA having various molecular characteristics produced different degrees of strengthening. The results are interpreted in terms of the strength of