eprintid: 10197714 rev_number: 7 eprint_status: archive userid: 699 dir: disk0/10/19/77/14 datestamp: 2024-09-30 10:56:51 lastmod: 2024-09-30 10:56:51 status_changed: 2024-09-30 10:56:51 type: article metadata_visibility: show sword_depositor: 699 creators_name: Shen, Y creators_name: Liu, R creators_name: Fan, K creators_name: Xu, Q creators_name: Lai, Z creators_name: Cheng, YPH title: Microstructure and dynamic behaviours of polyurethane-cured sea sand under traffic–load–induced stress path ispublished: inpress divisions: UCL divisions: B04 divisions: F44 keywords: Science & Technology, Technology, Construction & Building Technology, Engineering, Civil, Materials Science, Multidisciplinary, Engineering, Materials Science, Sea Sand, Polyurethane, Traffic load, Microstructure, Dynamic behaviours, ROTATION, TRACK note: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. abstract: Employing sea sand as fill material for roadbeds presents significant challenges due to its naturally high dispersibility and low bearing capacity, which contribute to substantial settlement deformations under traffic load impacts. In this investigation, a two-component polyurethane was applied to enhance mechanical properties of sea sand. Alterations in the microstructure and dynamic behaviours of the polyurethane-cured sea sand were observed via Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and hollow cylindrical torsional shear testing. It was found that polyurethane is incorporated into the sea sand as adhesives between particles, attachments on the particles and floating adhesives. With an increase in polyurethane content, a transition from a granular to a solid state in the sand was noted, accompanied by a progressive improvement in structural integrity. This resulted in an enhanced bonding effect at interparticle contacts with diminishing relative particle movements during shearing, leading to an increase in the critical dynamic stress ratio and a decrease in the maximum damping ratio, with both ratios being higher in cured sea sand with lower polyurethane content compared to that with higher content. Additionally, high polyurethane content induced strain hardening in the cured sea sand, resulting in a higher maximum dynamic shear modulus in low-content cured sea sand compared to high-content. Furthermore, the dynamic shear modulus ratio in sea sand with high polyurethane content was found to increase with the number of vibrations. date: 2024-10-11 date_type: published publisher: ELSEVIER SCI LTD official_url: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2024.138153 full_text_type: other language: eng verified: verified_manual elements_id: 2311575 doi: 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2024.138153 lyricists_name: Cheng, Yi lyricists_id: YPCHE61 actors_name: Cheng, Yi actors_id: YPCHE61 actors_role: owner funding_acknowledgements: 51979087 [National Natural Science Foundation of China]; 232300421065 [Excellent Youth Science Fund of Henan Province]; 2023ZB828 [Excellent Post-doctoral Program of Jiangsu Province] full_text_status: restricted publication: Construction and Building Materials volume: 447 article_number: 138153 pages: 11 issn: 0950-0618 citation: Shen, Y; Liu, R; Fan, K; Xu, Q; Lai, Z; Cheng, YPH; (2024) Microstructure and dynamic behaviours of polyurethane-cured sea sand under traffic–load–induced stress path. Construction and Building Materials , 447 , Article 138153. 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2024.138153 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2024.138153>. (In press). document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10197714/1/Fan%20et%20al%202024%20polyurethane-cured%20sea%20sand%20_%20accepted%20manuscript.pdf