Surface erosion behavior of biopolymer-treated river sand

The resistance of soil to the tractive force of flowing water is one of the essential parameters for the stability of the soil when directly exposed to the movement of water such as in rivers and ocean beds. Biopolymers, which are new to sustainable geotechnical engineering practices, are known to enhance the mechanical properties of soil. This study addresses the surface erosion resistance of river-sand treated with several biopolymers that originated from micro-organisms, plants, and dairy products. We used a state-of-the-art erosion function apparatus with P-wave reflection monitoring. Experimental results have shown that biopolymers significantly improve the erosion resistance of soil surfaces. Specifically, the critical shear stress (i.e., the minimum shear stress needed to detach individual soil grains) of biopolymer-treated soils increased by 2 to 500 times. The erodibility coefficient (i.e., the rate of increase in erodibility as the shear stress increases) decreased following biopolymer treatment from 1 x 10-2 to 1 x 10-6 times compared to that of untreated river-sands. The scour prediction calculated using the SRICOS-EFA program has shown that a height of 14 m of an untreated surface is eroded during the ten years flow of the Nakdong River, while biopolymer treatment reduced this height to less than 2.5 m. The result of this study has demonstrated the possibility of cross-linked biopolymers for river-bed stabilization agents.