Mechanical characteristics of lean-mixed cement-treated granular soil

Abstract

As an attempt to promote reuse of dredging materials for construction, cement-treated granular soil (CTGS), a coarse-grained granular material, can be produced from dredged marine clays by mixing them with appropriate amounts of cement and polymer. This study focused on lean-mixture designs of cement and polymer for cost reduction. To evaluate the applicability of the lean-mixed CTGS for construction, laboratory tests were conducted to investigate the fundamental mechanical characteristics of CTGS including its durability against degradation, compaction characteristics and strength deformation characteristics. The materials, the production method and the engineering properties of CTGS are also comprehensively presented. The test results showed that CTGS has lightweight, high-porosity properties and indicated beneficial uses for the granular materials. From the engineering properties obtained from the tests, CGTS shows high potential to be useful in reclamation, backfill and embankment fill materials. However, the CTGS particles exhibited a significant degree of crushing and deformation and the particle crushing and deformation properties of CTGS dominated its stress–strain behaviour.