Studying Leaching of Gypseous Soil Improved with Nanomaterials

This study provides a comprehensive overview of the characteristics of nano-silica and nano-clay and their impact on preventing dissolved salt of gypseous soil containing high gypsum of 80.4% during the leaching process. The investigation evaluates the impact of several proportions (1, 3, and 5%) on the behavior of gypseous soil. The leaching test was performed using a physical model with a steel box (70×70×70) cm. During this leaching stress, settlement due to the leaching process, and total dissolved salts were measured. Also, after the end of the test, the remaining concentration of gypsum salt in the soil was measured. Nanomaterials exert a beneficial influence in reducing soil leaching settlement, especially for silica percentages of 4 and 5 %. All the percentages used decreased both soil settlements at range (10.49- 47.9) % and (15.26-63.23) % for soil samples improved with nano-silica and nano-clay, respectively. It also demonstrates that the utilization of nanomaterials leads to a decrease in the total dissolved salts in drainage water at a percentage of (11.65-42.89) % when using nano-silica and (10.72-57.59) % when using nano-clay. The soil's ability to resist loading and to retain the gypsum salts increased as the percentage of nanomaterials increased.