Simulation of Cement-Treated Soils Considering Softening Behavior

Abstract

The cement-treated soil is one of the soft soil treatment methods, improving engineering properties of soft soils. However, the treated soil becomes brittle and the strength reduces significantly in post-peak stress. The Concrete model (CM), which can capture hardening and softening behaviours for both compression and tension, was used to simulate the cement-treated soil in this study. The model was calibrated based on the results of the unconfined compression tests of the treated soil, then used for the analysis of an excavation using the cement-soil column as the retaining wall. The comparison of the model using the CM and Mohr-Coulomb model (MCM) were also conducted. The results have shown a good agreement between the simulation of the CM and the test result. It is also seen that the crack pattern of the cement-soil column is more realistic for the CM than MCM due to the consideration of the softening behaviour. The collapse of the model using the CM is seen while the model using MCM is stable. Therefore, using the MCM may overestimate the stability of the cement-treated soil in practice.