Dynamic properties of polyurethane foam adhesive-reinforced gravels

Polyurethane foam adhesive (PFA) has been introduced as an alternative stabilizer in geotechnical applications because PFA can improve the engineering characteristics of soil by filling the pore space and generating adhesive bonding among the particles. However, the dynamic properties of PFA-reinforced soils are not well understood. To analyze the dynamic characteristics of PFA-reinforced gravels, a series of cyclic triaxial tests were carried out to investigate the shear modulus and damping ratio of PFA-reinforced gravels, and to determine the corresponding effects of the PFA content, confining pressure, consolidation stress ratio and loading frequency. The results showed that the shear modulus increased, and the damping ratio decreased as the PFA content, confining pressure and consolidation stress ratio increased. In contrast, the effect of the loading frequency, which ranged from 0.05 to 1 Hz, was negligible. A modified hyperbolic empirical model can consider the effect of the PFA content on the maximum shear modulus and predict the relationship between the normalized shear modulus and the normalized shear strain was proposed. Moreover, the upper and lower bounds of the damping ratio were also proposed.