Experimental study on soft clay stabilized with cement-based stabilizer

Abstract

The eco-friendly sodium silicate and promoters which are compatible with OPC to get super properties have been developed into a variety of soil stabilizers. In this paper, the development of mechanical properties of specimens stabilized with CSCN, which consists of OPC, sodium silicate and composite promoter, is investigated by unconfined compressive strength (UCS) test and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The failure strain and secant modulus are also obtained in UCS tests. The testing results indicate that the compressive strength and secant modulus of CSCN stabilized specimens increase as increasing the CSCN content at different curing ages. The strength of the CSCN stabilized specimens is much higher than that of specimens stabilized with the same content of OPC. Compared with samples stabilized with 8% OPC, the strengths of samples with 8% CSCN consisting of only 5% OPC at 7 and 60 days are 86 and 221 kPa respectively, which are almost equivalent to the strengths of samples with 12% OPC. The types and amounts of new minerals in stabilized clays are the possible mechanisms controlling the enhancement of mechanical properties.