Investigation on the Electrical Resistivity of Biopolymer Treated Sand and its Influencing Factors

The primary objective of this study was to examine the electrical resistivity of the biopolymer-treated sand (Agar and casein) and relate it to the unconfined compressive strength (UCS). The controllable factors used in this study are the degree of compaction or relative density, the kind and content of the biopolymer, dehydration duration, water content, and porosity. Utilizing scanning electronic microscopic techniques, mercury intrusion porosity, and connections with electrical resistivity, the dispersion and the structure of biopolymer inside the sand were examined. The outcomes demonstrated that electrical resistance decreases as biopolymer content and dehydration duration rise. The electrical resistance rises as the porosity and initial water content decrease. An empirical formula for electrical resistance was proposed, combining the effects of porosity, biopolymer content, and dehydration time. The electrical resistivity of sand treated with casein was shown to be correlated linearly with UCS, but the electrical resistivity of sand treated with Agar was found to be correlated second-degree polynomially with UCS. In order to predict electrical resistivity and identify the factors that have an excessively great impact on the electrical resistivity of soil treated with biopolymers, artificial neural networks were lastly built.