Abstract:

The environmental effect of soil contamination recently has aroused considerable public concern since the increasing soil pollution, however, less attention was given to engineering properties of contamination laden soil. Therefore, the influences of sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate on the mechanical characteristics of loess have been investigated by the authors. It has been proved that the pollution can weaken the loess, reducing cohesion, compression strain and permeability, as well as limiting collapsibility. Moreover, the contamination mechanism towards soil mechanical characteristics was discussed with the assistance of scanning electron microscope in junction with the soil water characteristic curve. It is necessary to prevent the deteriorated effect of anionic surfactants on the loess in the engineering in future. Simultaneously it could be applied to reducing the collapsibility of loess.

Key words: surfactant, loess, mechanical characteristics, soil water characteristic curve