Effect of Pore Structure Changes on Cyclic Swell-Shrink Behavior of Nanomaterial Treated Expansive Soil

Effect of Pore Structure Changes on Cyclic Swell-Shrink Behavior of Nanomaterial Treated Expansive Soil | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Effect of Pore Structure Changes on Cyclic Swell-Shrink Behavior of Nanomaterial Treated Expansive Soil Niraj Janardhan Sahare, Raheena Moozhikkal This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7323472/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract In an effort to mitigate the volumetric instability of Black Cotton soil, this study explores the effectiveness of Nano Rice Husk Ash (NRHA) treatment. The research focuses on evaluating the cyclic swell-shrink response of NRHA-treated soil through multiple wetting-drying cycles. To assess the impact of NRHA, the pore structure was analyzed using the Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) test along with the Barrett, Joyner and Halenda (BJH) method. The results demonstrate that NRHA significantly modifies the pore structure of Black Cotton Soil. Among the tested samples, soil treated with 0.4% NRHA exhibited the lowest specific surface area and pore size distribution compared to untreated soil and soil treated with 1% NRHA. Adsorption isotherms confirmed a transformation in soil microstructure, characterized by a reduction in mesopore and macropore volumes, which contributed to improved soil stability. After fifth cycle, the pore size distribution analysis showed a decline in mesopore and macropore volume for the 0.4% NRHA-treated soil, corresponding to the lowest specific surface area. This reduction is likely responsible for the overall decrease in swell-shrink potential compared to untreated Black Cotton Soil. The findings confirm that NRHA is a durable and effective stabilizer for enhancing the swelling-shrinkage characteristics of Black Cotton Soil. Swell-Shrink Pore structure Wetting-drying Microstructural analysis Nanomaterial Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7323472","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":504085422,"identity":"4e361c58-67a7-40fa-95e9-ae2f85eef5de","order_by":0,"name":"Niraj Janardhan Sahare","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Indian Institute of Technology Ropar","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Niraj","middleName":"Janardhan","lastName":"Sahare","suffix":""},{"id":504085424,"identity":"efdf2dec-77f5-4acc-a4c2-607bb10b402c","order_by":1,"name":"Raheena Moozhikkal","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA0ElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFACHjApx8YMF2FsIEqLMRszXA+RWhIbGJgJKIQB8/azBx983GGX3sfOf+xz4R4Gef4G5rYH+LTInMlLNpx5Jjm3jZmZefaMZwyGMw4wthvg0yLBkGMmzdvGDNbCzHOAgXEDA2ObBF4t/G/Mf/9tq09ng2qxJ6xFIseMmbHtcAJMSyIRWt4YS/a2HTcEOsyYecYBieQZhwk6LMfww8+2ann5/oOPmQsO2Nj2t7c/w6sFBTCDgoPo+IFpGQWjYBSMglGACQAcKjnKyBhXxwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Indian Institute of Technology Ropar","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Raheena","middleName":"","lastName":"Moozhikkal","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-08-08 04:53:20","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7323472/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7323472/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":94988508,"identity":"056a3a94-b5e2-47df-940c-5a0a18d7362b","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-11-03 07:09:35","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":818881,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ManuscriptIGE.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7323472/v1_covered_7a083ed0-a6af-4534-9459-b142163fde68.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Effect of Pore Structure Changes on Cyclic Swell-Shrink Behavior of Nanomaterial Treated Expansive Soil","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Swell-Shrink, Pore structure, Wetting-drying, Microstructural analysis, Nanomaterial","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7323472/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7323472/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eIn an effort to mitigate the volumetric instability of Black Cotton soil, this study explores the effectiveness of Nano Rice Husk Ash (NRHA) treatment. 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This reduction is likely responsible for the overall decrease in swell-shrink potential compared to untreated Black Cotton Soil. 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