Improvement of the bearing capacity of confined and unconfined cement-stabilized aeolian sand

Abstract

The improvement reached on the compaction and bearing capacity of aeolian sand collected in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) after its stabilization with Portland cement is evaluated, comparing the behavior for both treated and untreated samples. With the aim of using this type of soil in the construction of embankments for road or railway applications, the results obtained have been evaluated in terms of maximum dry density, optimum moisture content (compaction test) and bearing capacity (CBR). Special attention has been paid to the influence of the confining conditions on the results, scarcely analyzed in the literature, by comparing the load-displacement curves during penetration stage in the CBR tests for both confined and unconfined specimens. Different contents of Portland cement have been explored (out of 6% of dry soil weight) to stabilize this material. The results obtained show a clear linear correlation between of compaction characteristics and CBR respect to the percentage of cement, obtaining, as expected, higher improvement for treated-material with higher content of cement, also strongly influenced by the confinement state. Thanks to this treatment, it is possible to employ this material in applications with low-confinement support, which is impossible without a previous proper stabilization. Finally, two practical indices have been defined to measure the degree of improvement reached, involving both cement content and confinement.

Mechanical Properties and Environmental Evaluation of Ultra-High-Performance Concrete with Aeolian Sand

“…The compressive strength-ECI correlation of UHPC is expressed by the following exponential function: ECI = 11.55178 × . (8) where ECI is the embedded CO2 index of UHPC, and is the compressive strength of UHPC in MPa. The R-square of the above equation was 0.8610, which suggested that the exponential fitting was reliable.…”

“…Lopez-Querol et al [ 8 ] investigated the carrying capacity of cement-stabilized aeolian sand under confined and unconfined conditions with the purpose of using this type of sand in the construction of roads or railways. They concluded that the application of aeolian sand in roads or railways was feasible.…”

A Review of Road Embankment Stability on Soft Ground: Problems and Future Perspective

“…It clearly showed that particle size contributes to higher bearing capacity, and it is noted that each type of soil has different strengths. Another study was performed with various strengths of soil stabilized by Portland cement [33]. The results found that the higher the percentage of cement mixture, the higher the maximum dry density and bearing capacity.…”

Effect of polymer emulsion on the bearing capacity of aeolian sand under extreme confinement conditions

“…Unlike for most natural soils, in addition to the maximum dry density, it is also possible to find a minimum The stabilization techniques of granular materials are well-known in the geotechnical engineering field, cement and bitumen being the most frequently employed additives for this purpose. Plenty of successful experiences on stabilization of aeolian sand with cement have been reported in the literature [13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. However, this additive sometimes presents several drawbacks, like its high cost, lack of availability in some regions, or conferring brittle performance with low flexural strength to the treated samples, as well as being not very much environmentally friendly.…”