Equations controlling the strength of sedimentary silty soil–cement blends: influence of voids/cement ratio and types of cement

This paper presents the elaboration of equations controlling the unconfined compression strength (qu) of a silty soil treated with three types of cement. The equations were created under influence of the ratio between porosity and volumetric cement content (η/Civ), also called voids/cement ratio, and it was also possible to measure cement content and the influence of water/cement ratio. Results demonstrate the following: (i) addition of cement increases linearly the strength of soil-cement mixture; (ii) qu increases with increase in the molding dry unit weight (γd); (iii) qu increases with decrease in porosity; and (iv) decrease in η/Civ ratio causes increase in qu. Three general equations of qu estimate were developed for each type of cement with a 28-day curing period, and a normalized general equation was proposed with the three types of cement. Equations demonstrate that it is possible to estimate qu of the treated soil within γd range, cement amount and curing period employed in this work.