Effect of anionic polyacrylamide on the soil parameters influencing shallow soil mass stability

The experimental study presented in this thesis delves into the critical evaluation of the effects of polyacrylamide (PAM) on soil stability, particularly in the context of mitigating shallow landslides along with changes. It focuses on identifying the optimum dose of an anionic polyacrylamide to be mixed with the kaolin and silty sand using a series of batch experiments. The effect of polyacrylamide is analysed by examining the atterberg limits for kaolin. The study utilizes different soil water characteristic curves for silty sand with and without different concentrations of polyacrylamide to study the change in pore pressure at different suctions. Later the thesis focuses on conducting direct shear experiments for kaolin without polyacrylamide and with an optimum dose of 0.03% polyacrylamide along with experiments for silty sand without polyacrylamide and with 0.3% polyacrylamide. In the end, a sensitivity analysis is conducted to check the effect of polyacrylamide on the factor of safety using the Lu and Godt model. The entire aim of the study focuses on mitigating shallow landslides by modifying the parameters responsible for soil mass stability.