HAMZA HUSSAIN

1. Table of Contents
1. Introduction...................................................................................................................................3
2. Problem statement.........................................................................................................................4
3. Research objectives.......................................................................................................................5
4. Usage and application of research result ......................................................................................5
5. Research methodology and timeline.............................................................................................6
References ............................................................................................................................................7

2. 2
Ph.D. Research Proposal
List of Figures
Fig. 1 Flowchart of Methodology of Research ......................................................................................6
Fig. 2 Chart showing research timeline .................................................................................................6

3. 3
Ph.D. Research Proposal
Research title: Investigation of clayey soil stabilization using different types of
biopolymers
1. Introduction
Rapid population growth and urbanization often cause the need to build over soft and
unfavorable soil present in adverse surroundings. This further urges the need to improve the originally
non-favorable soil. Soil improvement technologies can be divided into three major groups: mechanical,
biological and chemical soil improvement technologies. The most common chemical stabilizing agents
that are used for chemical soil stabilization are cement and lime. However, their use raises many
environmental concerns such as CO2 emissions due to cement production (Andrew, 2018), prevention
of vegetation growth, groundwater contamination, and heat island creation, to name a few. In fact, in
2002, the production of cement contributed about six percent to the world’s CO2 emission (Metz et al.,
2005), and Andrew (Andrew, 2018) had pointed out the possible increase of that number in more recent
years. Therefore, the demand for sustainable and environmentally friendly solutions for ground
improvement is in high increase.
Biological approaches are emerging in the field of geotechnical engineering and techniques
like microbial induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) have shown to be an effective means of
effectively improving soil strength and the load-bearing capacity (Chang et al., 2016; Choi et al., 2016;
DeJong et al., 2010; Li et al., 2018; Umar et al., 2016). However, these biological approaches require
the introduction of a large microbial community and cementation reagents to the soil to create a highly
specialized growth environment for the bacteria which may result in the generation of effluent
ammonia. Furthermore, the MICP method is limited to the coarse-grained soils due to microbe
infiltration problems. This is because the pores of the fine-grained soils are too small to provide an
appropriate bacteria growth environment (Ashraf et al., 2017). Therefore, it is desirable to seek a non-
microbe, but still bio-inspired and sustainable ground improvement solution. An attractive alternative
to MICP is the soil improvement with biopolymers because it does not require microorganism’s
cultivation in the soil (Ashraf et al., 2017). Biopolymers are organic polymers that are produced by
different biological organisms (Chang et al., 2016). In nature, biopolymers can be found in large
amounts. They are biodegradable and have no negative effects on the environment; therefore, they
might be favorable soil-improvement material (Chang et al., 2016). Also, unlike MICP, biopolymer
treatment can be used for the improvement of fine-grained soil (Aguilar et al., 2016; Chang, Prasidhi,
et al., 2015). An additional reason why biopolymers have an advantage over MICP is the fact that they
do not require any nutrient injection and can be directly used for ground improvement.

4. 4
Ph.D. Research Proposal
According to the previous research, biopolymers, such as Guar Gum (GG), Xanthan Gum
(XG), Chitosan (CHI), and Beta 1,3/1,6 Glucan (BG), can significantly improve engineering properties
of soils (C. Chen et al., 2019; R. Chen et al., 2013; Hataf et al., 2018; Latifi et al., 2017; Toufigh &
Kianfar, 2019; Wiszniewski et al., 2017). The effect of XG on soil properties was investigated by
various researchers and it was found that XG can considerably increase the compressive and shear
strength of soils, especially of soils that contain a significant number of fine-grained aggregates
(Chang, Im, et al., 2015; R. Chen et al., 2013; Das et al., 2015). In addition, XG proved to decrease the
settlement of collapsible soils (Ayeldeen et al., 2017). GG, aside from soil strength improvement, can
also be used for sand stabilization, liquid shoring (Day et al., 1999; Gupta et al., 2009), and the
reduction of soil compressibility (Ayeldeen et al., 2017). Chang & Cho (Chang & Cho, 2012, 2014)
showed that BG can increase the compressibility of soil, as well as the plasticity index and the
compressive strength. CHI can improve soil strength, but its effect decreases with the reduction of
water (Hataf et al., 2018). Therefore, the additional strength that could be achieved with the addition
of CHI to the soil fades as the soil becomes dry. Alginate (ALG) is a biopolymer that was extensively
used in biomedical industries (Lee & Mooney, 2012), but its potential for soil improvement has not
been well investigated yet. Nevertheless, even though biopolymers show substantial environmental
and technological contributions to the improvement of soil engineering properties, biopolymers are
still underutilized in geotechnical engineering practice. Some of the main reasons are the lack of
adequate characterization of their engineering behavior and the lack of analysis methods that engineers
could use to incorporate biopolymers into their designs.
Therefore, the main objectives of this research proposal are to develop an eco-friendly,
biopolymer-based soil improvement and to investigate the effect of biopolymers on soil strength. In
this proposed study, 3-5 types of biopolymers (e.g., GG, XG, CHI, BG and ALG) with different
biopolymer concentrations will be investigated. Furthermore, since curing time and water content are
some of the key factors that influence the strength of soil, the relation between them and the strength
of the biopolymer-improved soil will also be observed.
2. Problem statement
Clayey soils are widely used for most of the construction projects. These are soft soils and have
good plastic properties so that increased moisture results in their decreased shear strength, compressive
strength and volume changes. Many issues have been reported over past, when structures were
constructed on weak and soft soils like problems of shear failure, excessive settlement, differential
settlement etc. One of the promising solutions is the usage of environmentally friendly biopolymers to

5. 5
Ph.D. Research Proposal
increase the engineering properties of weak soil and so different types of biopolymers will be used in
this study for soil stabilization purpose.
3. Research objectives
The main objectives of this research include:
• To explore the soil stabilizing potential of biopolymers through laboratory soil testing like
Atterberg limits, compaction tests, unconfined compression test, California bearing ratio test,
swell-consolidation test, x-ray diffraction (XRD) test and optical & scanning electron
microscopy (SEM) tests.
• To investigate the effect of prolonged aging periods on the engineering properties of
biopolymer-improved soil samples.
• To examine the microscopic mechanism of soil stabilization through scanning electron
microscopic studies.
4. Usage and application of research result
This research will help to establish physical and engineering characteristics of locally available
clayey soil and its improvement by different types of biopolymers for geo-engineering works. The
research result may be used directly in the field to make the best use of weak clayey soils for geo-
engineering purposes especially for subgrade preparation of highways, motorways, railways etc.

6. 6
Ph.D. Research Proposal
5. Research methodology and timeline
The flowchart of methodology of research is given below in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1 Flowchart of Methodology of Research
The chart of research timeline is given below in Fig. 2.
Fig. 2 Chart showing research timeline
Activity
Year 2021
Month-1 Month-2 Month-3 Month-4 Month-5 Month-6
Weeks 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Literature Review
Sample Collection &
Preparation
Experimentation
Evaluation of Results and
Computations
Thesis write up
Submission of Thesis
Viva & Presentation

7. 7
Ph.D. Research Proposal
References
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San-Martin, L. (2016). The potential use of chitosan as a biopolymer additive for enhanced
mechanical properties and water resistance of earthen construction. Construction and Building
Materials, 114, 625–637.
Andrew, R. M. (2018). Global CO 2 emissions from cement production. Earth System Science Data,
10(1), 195–217.
Ashraf, M. S., Azahar, S. B., & Yusof, N. Z. (2017). Soil improvement using MICP and biopolymers:
A review. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 226(1), 012058.
Ayeldeen, M., Negm, A., El-Sawwaf, M., & Kitazume, M. (2017). Enhancing mechanical behaviors
of collapsible soil using two biopolymers. Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical
Engineering, 9(2), 329–339.
Chang, I., & Cho, G.-C. (2012). Strengthening of Korean residual soil with β-1, 3/1, 6-glucan
biopolymer. Construction and Building Materials, 30, 30–35.
Chang, I., & Cho, G.-C. (2014). Geotechnical behavior of a beta-1, 3/1, 6-glucan biopolymer-treated
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Chang, I., Im, J., & Cho, G.-C. (2016). Introduction of microbial biopolymers in soil treatment for
future environmentally-friendly and sustainable geotechnical engineering. Sustainability, 8(3),
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Chang, I., Im, J., Prasidhi, A. K., & Cho, G.-C. (2015). Effects of Xanthan gum biopolymer on soil
strengthening. Construction and Building Materials, 74, 65–72.
Chang, I., Prasidhi, A. K., Im, J., & Cho, G.-C. (2015). Soil strengthening using thermo-gelation
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