ORIGINAL PAPER Improving Properties of Sand Using Epoxy Resin and Electrokinetics Costas A. Anagnostopoulos • Panagiotis Kandiliotis • Malvina Lola • Sarafianos Karavatos Received: 6 August 2012 / Accepted: 23 April 2014 Ó Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014 Abstract The use of new materials for soil strength- ening is crucial for geotechnical engineering, espe- cially in foundation construction. The main objective of this study was to investigate the potential use of two-component water-soluble epoxy resin to improve the physical and mechanical properties of medium sand, because the efficacy of these resins on soil strengthening has not yet been properly investigated. The experiments were conducted using resins with different epoxy resin-to-water ratios. The results of this study indicate that the epoxy resins improve the physical and mechanical properties of the sand significantly, and if successfully grouted into a formation, the resins could provide a suitable solution for the stabilization of the foundation material. In separate experiments, electroosmotic treatment of sand/resin mixtures was conducted with the aim of identifying the effectiveness of electro kinetic method on the early strength development of sand/resin mixtures. From the results it was observed that the electroosmotically treated specimens appeared to have much greater strength enhancement than the one of the untreated specimens. Keywords Chemical grouting  Epoxy resin  Electroosmosis 1 Introduction Grouting is a common technical method with numer- ous applications (Cambefort 1977). For example, it is used for stabilizing and strengthening the foundation soil, especially in the case of coastal engineering structures, for reducing the ingress of water to underground facilities, or leakage through a dam site. Cement suspensions and chemical solutions are the two main types of materials that are utilized for grouting purposes. Cement suspensions have been used successfully in granular soils with large voids or in fractured rock with wide crack openings, because they penetrate easily into soil pores, propagate large distances under low pressure, completely fill the voids, maintain the required properties in the hardened state, and are inexpensive (Widmann 1996). According to the previous experience, microfine cement is expected to flow sufficiently through soils with coefficient of permeability (k) [ 10 -5 m/s. As a result, the use of chemical grouts is restricted to soils with very small void size or rock mass with narrow joints, where cement suspensions cannot be injectable or their penetration is very limited. Various materials are used for chemical grouting depending on the purpose of grouting and the properties of ground. The most common are calcium chloride in C. A. Anagnostopoulos (&)  P. Kandiliotis  M. Lola  S. Karavatos Department of Civil Infrastructure Engineering, School of Technological Applications, Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki, 57400 Thessaloniki, Greece e-mail: kanagnos@cie.teithe.gr 123 Geotech Geol Eng DOI 10.1007/s10706-014-9763-6