Optical and Physical Properties of Laponite for Use as Clay Surrogate in Geotechnical Models

Laponite has emerged as a particularly promising material for use as a soft clay surrogate in geotechnical modeling, as it provides a relevant range of transparency, plasticity, and overall geotechnical behavior. This paper presents an investigation of the significant factors affecting the transparency of laponite for its use in physical geotechnical models. Image analysis techniques and complementary optical tests were conducted to gain an...