Application of Grey Taguchi Method to optimize the internal erosion parameters of stabilized soil

Surface erosion and sub-surface erosion play a major role in the failure of the water-retained structures. The main aim of the present work is to optimize the erosion parameters of the stabilized soil simultaneously during internal erosion of the soil stabilized with a bio polymer-Xanthan gum by Taguchi-based grey relational analysis. In this study, three parameters namely Xanthan gum content, relative density of soil, hole diameter and inlet pressure each of the three levels was considered to know their erosion parameters on the stabilized soil. Taguchi’s L9 orthogonal array was considered to perform the hole erosion experiments. Based on the results obtained from the hole erosion test, grey relational grades were calculated. Moreover, ANOVA was carried out on the three responses namely erosion rate, critical hydraulic stress and final hole diameter to know the influencing factors on the aforementioned responses. SEM analysis was carried out on treated samples to know their bonding behaviour among soil particles.