A critical appraisal on some geotechnical properties of soil stabilised with nano-additives

Soft clays are susceptible to uneven settlement due to its higher tendency of swelling and shrinkage which could damage the structures. To prevent such damages various soil stabilisation techniques have been used. Now day’s many researchers have entered in geotechnical field to modify the geotechnical properties of problematic soils with nano-additives. Nanomaterials such as nano-silica, nano-clay, nano-lime, nano-carbons etc. were utilised in past studies to adjust geotechnical properties of problematic soils. In this review article, the impact of nano-additives on Atterberg’s limit, compaction, consolidation, permeability, swelling and shrinkage of soil reported by various researchers is presented. An increment in dry unit weight and decrement in optimum moisture content of low plasticity soils was seen with incorporation of nano-additives whereas, vice versa effect was displayed with fine grained soil. The lower dosage of nano-additives provided equivalent consistency limits as compared to higher dosage of conventional additives. Up to certain amount, the incorporation of nano-additives led to reduction in consolidation parameter, permeability, swelling, and shrinkage of soil. From the detailed review of literature, it can be concluded that it is advantageous to incorporate nano-additives to improve the geotechnical properties of problematic soils.