Cement stabilization effect on mechanical and hygric properties of compacted earth

Abstract

Experimental investigations were carried out in this work to evaluate the impact of stabilisation on the mechanical and hygric properties of a reference soil-cement couple. Unstabilized and stabilized soils with two amounts of cement were examined. Compacted earth samples were prepared at their optimum water content and dry density. The effectiveness of stabilisation were verified by simple compressive strength tests conducted on cylindrical samples at different ages of curing. In a second step, the water vapour resistance factor was determined following the so-called "wetcup" method at the age of 28 and 90 days. Then the moisture buffering value was measured according to the Nordtest protocol. On one hand, compressive strength had been shown a dependency on the cement amount and the curing age. On the other hand, it has been found that increasing cement amount increase the vapour resistance, but it has a limited impact on the measured MBV.