Laboratory assessment of capillary rising in cement- and lime-treated engineered loess

The capillary rising is one of the most common phenomena in fine-grained soils. However, research is limited for capillary actions in cementitiously treated engineered soils. In this study, a soil column test was performed for the free capillary rising in compacted loess and modified loess samples. Moisture content of compacted soil samples was measured and analyzed to determine capillary height and rising rate. Results indicated that there was a considerable capillary rising in loess and lime-modified loess, while the capillary rising in cement-treated loess was significantly restrained. Current models are not appropriate for the rate and height predictions of capillary rising in cementitiously treated loess, especially in early ages. Therefore, a logarithmic form correlation was suggested and validated. In addition, salt migration effect and microscopic properties of soils after capillary rising were evaluated. Overall, the paper presented an experimental study and prediction on the capillary rising behavior of treated and recompacted engineered loess.