VOLTAGE | 2019

WHAT IS THE INFLUENCE OF ELECTRIC FIELDS ON THE STRUCTURE, PROPERTIES AND BEHAVIOR OF SOILS?

Geomaterials, such as soils and rocks, are instrumental in maintaining the structural integrity of natural and built environments. However, due to environmental and human perturbations, such materials undergo degradations of their engineering qualities over time (i.e., properties and behavior), often leading to natural hazards and structural failures.

The ability to tailor and improve the structure of soils for preventing natural hazards and retrofitting damages caused by degradations of such materials is paramount for the resilient development of natural and built environments.

Electric fields represent a novel and environmentally friendly means to engineer the properties and behavior of soils in an effective and durable manner.
Electric fields induce a variety of multiphysical phenomena in soils, such as the migration of ions and pore water, as well as electrochemical reactions. Such reactions can be controlled to improve the properties and behavior of soils via structural modifications. This project develops experimental, analytical, and computational investigations to study of the effect of low-voltage direct current electric fields on the properties and behavior of soils for potential disruptive uses in earth surface engineering.