Effect of EN-1 Ionic Stabilizer on Moisture Characteristics of Loess Soil

Soil water holding capacity, effe ctive water, hydraulic conductivity and evaporation of loess soil were analyzed by indoor simulation tests. The results showed the relationship between moisture content and soil water suction of different treatments of loess soil could be described by the function of θ=a·S-b. The correlation coefficient of different treatments was highly significant(P 0.01)for loess soil. Compared to the control, EN-1 just slightly reduced the soil water holding capacity, while its influence on soil effective water was not significant. EN-1 could increase soil hydraulic conductivity capacity, while there was not a positive correlation between the capacity and soil stabilizer amendment amount. The saturated hydraulic conductivity was the highest when the stabilizer contents at 0.05%-0.10%. The soil saturated hydraulic conductivity decreased with increasing soil bulk density regardless of whether the stabilizer added in soil. Evaporation rate of soil water under the same soil bulk density in different treatments dramatically reduced in the beginning but slowly reduced subsequently. Effects of different stabilizer amendment amounts under the same soil bulk density on cumulative evaporation were not significant different, and there was not a positive correlation between the cumulative evaporation and the stabilizer content.