Study on the capillary water barrier effect of organosilicon on red-bed mudstone

Soil erosion due to capillary water will have a great impact on the stability of engineering structures nearshore or offshore. The surface hydrophobic modification of water-sensitive red-bed mudstone was carried out with green organosilicon and characterized by a series of water stability tests and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The experimental results show that the addition of organosilicon can greatly reduce the surface free energy of red-bed mudstone and improve its hydrophobic performance. The capillary water barrier effect increases with the increase of organosilicon concentration. 2% is the optimal organosilicon concentration with both economic and capillary water barrier effect. Up to one week, the capillary water rising height is no more than 5mm, the water content is less than 1%, and no disintegration occurs after immersion. Film formation, K+ adsorption in pores and -Si-O-Si- bond agglomeration together improve the compactness and capillary water barrier effect of red-bed mudstone. The research results can provide reference for Marine geotechnical engineering to prevent soil erosion due to capillary water.