This study aims to quantify the influence of the amount of cement and chloride salt on the unconfined compression strength (UCS) of Lianyungang marine clay. The clays with various sodium chloride salt concentrations were prepared artificially and stabilized by ordinary Portland cement with various contents. A series of UCS tests of cement stabilized clay specimen after 28 d curing were carried out. The results indicate that the increase of salt concentration results in the decrease in the UCS of cement-treated soil. The negative effect of salt concentration on the strength of cement stabilized clay directly relates to the cement content and salt concentration. The porosity-salt concentration/cement content ratio is a fundamental parameter for assessing the UCS of cement-treated salt-rich clay. An empirical prediction model of UCS is also proposed to take into account the effect of salt concentration. The findings of this study can be referenced for the stabilization improvement of chloride slat- rich soft clay.
The improvement of question soils with cement shows great technical, economic and environmental advantages. And interest in introducing electrical resistivity measurement to assess the quality of cement treated soils has increased markedly recently due to its economical, non-destructive, and relatively non-invasive advantages. This work aims to quantify the effect of cement content (aw), porosity (nt), and curing time(T) on the electrical resistivity (p) and unconfined compression strength (UCS) of cement treated soil. A series of electrical resistivity tests and UCS tests of cement treated soil specimen after various curing periods were carried out. A modified Archie empirical law was proposed taking into account the effect of cement content and curing period on the electrical resistivity of cement treated soil. The results show that nt/(aw·T) and nt/(aw·T^1/2) ratio are appropriate parameters to assess electrical resistivity and UCS of cement treated soil, respectively. Finally, the relationship between UCS and electrical resistivity was also established.
In order to assess the performance of the embankment soil under various climate conditions during the period of service, the modulus behaviour of an unsaturated compacted soil is evaluated using the constant water content triaxial test. Since the water content measurement method is simple and economical and it is used widely in engineering, the soil suction is replaced by the water content and the relationship between the water content and the modulus is developed. The compacted samples are prepared with different compacted water contents, and samples with a similar water content subjected to drying or wetting procedures prior to the triaxial test are also investigated. The effect of the water content and the confining pressure on the modulus is analyzed. The results show that the modulus decreases with the increase in the water content and a power function can be proposed to quantitatively describe the relationship between the modulus and the water content in the range of the measured water content. The modulus increases with the increase in the confining pressure of the compacted soil. However, the effect of the water content on the modulus is more pronounced than that of the confining pressure. This research can be referenced for the compacted embankment soil assessment in-service period.