Chemical Improvement of Clay Soils in situ Using Electrokinetic Processes

been widely researched as surface and deep soil treatment techniques (Figure 1). For certain practical situations, such as house foundations on expansive soil, mixing is not possible. Current research has shown that chemical treatment using a potential difference to transport chemical ions between bespoke electrodes can overcome such problems, whilst achieving the desired results. However, a major problem this technique has to overcome is metallic electrode corrosion, because this can cause ions detrimental to the reaction process to be introduced into the clay-water-stabiliser system. This study aims to explore the science, and thereby 'prove the concept' and establish the practical possibilities, of recreating the classical chemical modification and stabilisation reactions in situ using such a technique, while overcoming any problems caused by electrode degradation. Figure 1: Deep clay-reagent mixing (After Bachy Environmental advertisement video of ICI Explosives site remediation project, 1995)