Abstract
Seismic liquefaction mitigation based on nanomaterial is a new method different from traditional chemical grouting, and its basic concept is that nanoparticles suspensions are slowly injected from the edge of the liquable site and transported through the groundwater flow into target position to improve the liquefaction resistance of liquable sand. The properties of the nanoparticles have important connections with the effects and mechanism of nanoparticles for liquefaction mitigation. Different from primary research on macroscopic geotechnical properties, this paper focuses on the microscopic characteristics of nanoparticles. The microscopic test, Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), was conducted to build up the microstructural characterization description of the nanoparticles for treating liquefiable soils, using laponite as representative nanoparticle. The morphology, size and internal microstructure of laponite particle in dry state were obtained by TEM test. Then the relationship between microscopic characteristics and seismic liquefaction mitigation are discussed. The specific objectives of the work are including providing the direct micrograph for the size and microstructure characteristics of laponite and analyzing the microscopic characteristics of nanoparticles related with liquefaction mitigation. This work can help establish structure characterization description of laponite applied to liquefaction mitigation and explore the microscopic nature of nanoparticles liquefaction resistance characteristics.
