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Soil Stabilization and Geotechnical Engineering Sustainability
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Soil Stabilization and Geotechnical Engineering Sustainability

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Resources and Sustainable Utilization".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2026 | Viewed by 1559

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Kewei Fan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, China
Interests: soil mechanics; soil stabilization; geosynthetic; expansive soil; retaining wall
Dr. Yi Pik Helen Cheng

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
Interests: soil mechanics; geosynthetic; discrete element modeling; granular geomechanics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Yanhao Zheng

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
Interests: geomechanics; clay microstructure; micromechanics; levee engineering
Dr. Yuefu Zhou

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
Interests: soft soil; green materials; solidified soil; vacuum preloading; resilience theory; resilience technology
Dr. Yonggang Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Key Laboratory of Geotechnical and Underground Engineering of Ministry of Education, and Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
Interests: geotechnical engineering; geological hazards; geosynthetic materials; foundation treatment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The sustainability of geotechnical engineering practices is crucial to ensuring safe, efficient, and adaptive solutions for modern infrastructure needs. Soil stabilization, a key area of geotechnical engineering, plays a vital role in enhancing the mechanical properties of soil, improving its load-bearing capacity, and reducing environmental impacts. Sustainable soil stabilization techniques can significantly contribute to reducing resource consumption, lowering carbon emissions, and enhancing the resilience of geotechnical systems against natural hazards.

Traditional soil stabilization methods often rely on cement and lime, which are associated with high carbon footprints. To promote sustainability, recent advancements have focused on utilizing alternative materials, such as geosynthetics, waste materials, polymers, and innovative additives, that can enhance soil properties while reducing environmental impacts. These new techniques offer a promising approach to achieve sustainable ground improvement, thereby contributing to the overall resilience and adaptability of infrastructure in the face of changing climatic conditions.

This Special Issue aims to collect original research articles and reviews that address various aspects of soil stabilization and its role in sustainable geotechnical engineering. We welcome contributions that explore innovative soil stabilization techniques, material characterization, modeling approaches, and case studies demonstrating sustainable practices. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Sustainable soil stabilization techniques using sustainable materials;
  • The impact assessment of soil stabilization practices;
  • The behavior of stabilized soils under various loading conditions;
  • The performance of stabilized soils under extreme weather conditions;
  • Advances in the modeling and simulation of soil stabilization processes;
  • The application of stabilized soils in infrastructure development;
  • Field applications and case studies of sustainable soil stabilization;
  • The long-term performance and durability of stabilized soils.

Dr. Kewei Fan
Dr. Yi Pik Helen Cheng
Dr. Yanhao Zheng
Dr. Yuefu Zhou
Dr. Yonggang Zhang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainability
  • soil stabilization
  • sustainable materials
  • soil mechanics
  • geotechnical design
  • environmental assessment

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 9124 KB  
Article
Enhancing the Compressibility of Seasonally Frozen Subgrade Clay Subjected to Freeze-Thaw Cycles Using Lignin Fibers
by Yi Tao, Zhibin Li and Siyuan Xu
Sustainability 2025, 17(16), 7303; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17167303 - 13 Aug 2025
Viewed by 339
Abstract
Repeated freeze-thaw cycles in seasonally frozen regions significantly degrade the mechanical properties of clay, posing serious challenges to geotechnical infrastructure stability. This study investigates the compressibility behavior of lignin fiber-reinforced clay under freeze-thaw conditions through one-dimensional consolidation tests and microstructural analysis. Clay specimens [...] Read more.
Repeated freeze-thaw cycles in seasonally frozen regions significantly degrade the mechanical properties of clay, posing serious challenges to geotechnical infrastructure stability. This study investigates the compressibility behavior of lignin fiber-reinforced clay under freeze-thaw conditions through one-dimensional consolidation tests and microstructural analysis. Clay specimens containing 0.0%, 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, and 2.0% lignin fibers by mass were subjected to 0, 1, 4, and 10 freeze-thaw cycles to simulate typical seasonal variations. The results indicate that reinforcement with lignin fibers markedly enhances the soil’s resistance to freeze-thaw-induced degradation. Specifically, in unreinforced clay, 10 freeze-thaw cycles reduced the pre-consolidation pressure from 139 kPa to 97 kPa. With 2.0% lignin fiber, the pressure increased to 186 kPa under unfrozen conditions and remained at 120 kPa after 10 cycles. SEM and MIP analyses revealed that lignin fibers form interconnected networks that inhibit the formation and expansion of strip pores and constrained pore coarsening caused by freeze-thaw action, effectively stabilizing the soil structure. A model incorporating both fiber content and freeze-thaw cycle effects was proposed to predict compression behavior, and the model accurately captured the experimental compression curves across all test conditions. This study provides a theoretical and experimental basis for the application of natural fiber-reinforced clay in cold-region geotechnical engineering, offering a sustainable and effective alternative to traditional stabilization methods. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Stabilization and Geotechnical Engineering Sustainability)
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19 pages, 23865 KB  
Article
Optimization of Technical Parameters for the Vacuum Preloading-Flocculation-Solidification Combined Method for Sustainable Sludge Utilization
by Chao Han, Hongwu Li, Kun Duan, Rongjun Zhang, Qian Peng, Liang Liu, Yimu Guo, Ke Sun and Peng Tu
Sustainability 2025, 17(6), 2710; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17062710 - 19 Mar 2025
Viewed by 387
Abstract
High-water content dredged sludge from waterways, with potential for sustainable use as high-performance fillers, was effectively treated using the vacuum preloading-flocculation-solidification combined method (denoted as the VP-FSCM). This study investigated the effect of flocculant and curing agent dosages on the solidification of sludge [...] Read more.
High-water content dredged sludge from waterways, with potential for sustainable use as high-performance fillers, was effectively treated using the vacuum preloading-flocculation-solidification combined method (denoted as the VP-FSCM). This study investigated the effect of flocculant and curing agent dosages on the solidification of sludge with initially poor mechanical properties. Ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS) and ordinary Portland cement (OPC) were selected as composite curing agents, while anionic polyacrylamide (APAM) and slaked lime were used as a mixed flocculant. Laboratory experiments were conducted to examine the effects of different dosages of curing agents and flocculants on deposition dehydration, strength characteristics, water content after curing, as well as the spatial distribution of them under the combined method. Additionally, the conventional sludge solidified method treated by GGBS and OPC (denoted as the GCSM) was also investigated and compared. The results indicate that increasing the dosage of curing agent from 4.5% to 10.5% enhances the shear strength of samples treated with VP-FSCM by up to 3–5 times compared to those treated with GCSM. The optimal ratio for the composite curing agent is GGBS/OPC = 1, with optimum dosages for the composite flocculant composed of APAM at 0.125% and slaked lime at 1.5%. When admixture dosage is optimal, it allows for better utilization of the advantages from coupling effects such as flocculation dehydration, vacuum preloading, and chemical curing, thereby significantly improving mechanical properties of the sludge. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Stabilization and Geotechnical Engineering Sustainability)
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