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Application of New Polymer Soil Amendment in Ecological Restoration of High-Steep Rocky Slope in Seasonally Frozen Soil Areas

Authors :
Zengkang Lu
Chenglong Yu
Huanan Liu
Jiquan Zhang
Yichen Zhang
Jie Wang
Yancheng Chen
Source :
Polymers, Vol 16, Iss 13, p 1821 (2024)
Publication Year :
2024
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2024.

Abstract

In seasonally frozen soil areas, high-steep rocky slopes resulting from open-pit mining and slope cutting during road construction undergo slow natural restoration, making ecological restoration generally challenging. In order to improve the problems of external soil attachment and long-term vegetation growth in the ecological restoration of high-steep rocky slopes in seasonally frozen areas, this study conducted a series of experiments through the combined application of polyacrylamide (PAM) and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) to assess the effects of soil amendments on soil shear strength, water stability, freeze–thaw resistance, erosion resistance, and vegetation growth. This study showed that the addition of PAM-CMC significantly increased the shear resistance and cohesion of the soil, as well as improving the water stability, freeze–thaw resistance, and erosion resistance, but the internal friction angle of the soil was not significantly increased after reaching a certain content. Moderate amounts of PAM-CMC can extend the survival of vegetation, but overuse may cause soil hardening and inhibit vegetation growth by limiting air permeability. It was observed by a scanning electron microscope (SEM) that the gel membrane formed by PAM-CMC helped to “bridge” and bind the soil particles. After discussion and analysis, the optimum application rate of PAM-CMC was 3%, which not only improved the soil structure but also ensured the growth of vegetation in the later stage under the optimum application rate. Field application studies have shown that 3% PAM-CMC-amended soil stably attaches to high-steep rocky slopes, with stable vegetation growth, and continues to grow after five months of freeze–thaw action, with no need for manual maintenance after one year.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
20734360
Volume :
16
Issue :
13
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Polymers
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.4133b8ad1bfc4071ad152aaeb000b542
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16131821