Laboratory Model Test on Improving the Properties of Soft Clay by Electrokinetics

This experimental study was carried out in two test series to investigate the feasibility of decreasing the water content and increasing the shear strength and axial load capacity of laboratory-prepared soft clay by electrokinetic treatment. The focus of the investigations is the influence of pore fluid chemistry (fresh or highly saline water) on the gained improvement and on the energy consumption. The results showed that electrokinetics was effective in improving the properties of the soft clay with fresh and saline water. The degree of improvement, however, was superior in tests with freshwaters along with a lower energy consumption. The minimum water content and the maximum shear strength after the treatment were reported near the anode (28% ± 3.6 and 99.3 kPa ± 15.4 compared to 49.7% ± 3.1 and 12.1 kPa ± 1.7 in the control). The maximum axial load capacity of the foundation model after the treatment was 416 N compared to 28 N in the control. The energy consumption varied between 69.1 and 1994.6 Whr.