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Effects of Cement–Sodium Silicate System Grout on Tropical Organic Soils

Article  in  ARABIAN JOURNAL FOR SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING · December 2012

DOI: 10.1007/s13369-012-0315-1

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 R E S E A R C H A RT I C L E - C I V I L E N G I N E E R I N G
Arab J Sci Eng (2012) 37:2137–2148
DOI 10.1007/s13369-012-0315-1

Sina Kazemian · Arun Prasad · Bujang B. K. Huat ·

Vahed Ghiasi · Soheil Ghareh

Received: 16 May 2010 / Accepted: 13 March 2011 / Published online: 20 June 2012
© King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals 2012

Abstract Tropical organic soils, generally formed in a natural environment and accumulates wherever the
conditions are suitable, that is, the area with excess rainfall and the ground is poorly drained, irrespective of
latitude or altitude. These soils commonly occur as extremely soft, unconsolidated superficial deposits with
very low shear strength. Cement, sometimes with other industrial binders, is widely used for the stabilization of
these soils by deep mixing method. However, these soils lack a favorable structure for the chemical reactions,
coupled with a high moisture content which is acidic in nature, the efficiency of the binders is low or making
it an expensive option. This paper investigates the effect of different components of cement–sodium silicate
grout system on the strength and moisture content of organic soils by carrying out vane shear test and scanning
electron microscopy test on samples treated and cured for up to 90 days. The study showed that cement and
sodium silicate (in specific ratios) were highly effective in improvement of the shear strength along with a
reduction in the moisture content of the treated soil. Further, with an increase in calcium chloride concentra-
tion in the confection, the shear strength and moisture content were observed to vacillate. The organic content
present in these soils was found to have an adverse effect on the stabilization process.

Keywords Organic soil · Organic content · Sodium silicate · Cement · Calcium chloride · Grouting

S. Kazemian (B)
Department of Civil Engineering, Bojnourd Branch,
Islamic Azad University, Bojnourd, Iran
E-mail: sina.kazemian@gmail.com

A. Prasad
Department of Civi, Banaras Hindu University,
Varanasi, India

B. B. K. Huat
Department of Civil Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia,
Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

V. Ghiasi
Department of Civil Engineering, Universtyyyyyy

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2138 Arab J Sci Eng (2012) 37:2137–2148

1 Introduction

A soil with less than 75 % organic content (or more than 25 % ash content) is classified as muck or organic
soil in American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standard [1]. ISO [2,3] use organic content, fiber
content, type of botanical matter and degree of decomposition for characterizing organic soils. Organic soils
cover extensive area of tropical regions, particularly near the coastal plains and are generally formed in natural
environments that do not allow for the rapid decaying of materials [4]. Soils with high organic content are
generally associated with high compressibility; high rates of creep, unsatisfactory strength characteristics, and
increases the risk of inadmissible settlement and/or foundation failure. Furthermore, their engineering prop-
erties are inferior to those of other soft soils, and that their behavior may deviate from traditional rules of soil
behavior [5–7].
The diffuse double layer, cation exchange capacity (CEC) and the charge distribution in the fluid adjacent
to soil surface play key roles in determining the flow of pore fluid. Volarovich and Churaev [8] classified the
pore fluid in organic soils to consist of three parts: (i) mechanically entrained, (ii) capillary water, and (iii)
chemically bound water; of which the chemically bound water is around 30–50 % of total weight of soil and
water. A very small quantity of the chemically bound water is held by colloid osmotic pressure uptake and
cannot be removed by normal methods. Hence, being a very small quantity, it does not influence the energetic
of its removal. Helmholtz [9] and Smoluchowski [10] assumed that the pore radii are relatively large compared
to the thickness of the diffuse double layer and all of the mobile ions are concentrated near the soil–water
interface. Valence of cations, ion size, and their relative amount affect the cation replaceability and coagulation
of the humic matter [11].
Deep mixing method is the widely used method for stabilizing organic soils. This method, originally devel-
oped in Sweden and Japan more than 30 years ago, is becoming well established in an increasing number of
countries. The introduction of cement has made it possible to stabilize “problematic soils” with high organic
contents and high water:soil ratios [12,13]. Comprehensive trials and field works have been carried out in
which a portion of the cement, and cement with different industrial binders have shown positive results in the
stabilization of organic soils [14,15].
It should be mentioned that, the organic materials in organic soil contain substances, such as humus and
humic acids which act as retarding materials during hydration and other chemical reactions with cement.
During stabilization with cement, the humic acids react with Ca(OH)2 (from burnt cement) to form insoluble
reaction products which precipitate out on the clay particles, thus inhabiting the strength gain via pozzolanic
reactions. Second, the acids also cause the soil pH to drop and hinder the cementation. Third, since organic
soils contain fewer solid particles to stabilize, and it is the solid particles that provide a definite structure, a
greater quantity of stabilizer needs to be added. Furthermore, organic soils have considerably higher water:soil
ratio than clay, hence a large amount of water in the soil implies larger voids, thus requiring more stabilizers
which is not cost-effective [13,14,16]. As Müller-Vonmoos [17] emphasized that in soils with high organic
contents, the quantity of binder needs to exceed a “threshold”. As long as the quantity of binder is below the
threshold the soil will remain un-stabilized. These factors affect the reaction rate of the binders, resulting in a
slower strength gain or higher cost of stabilizing organic soil than clay.
Grouting and chemical grouting technologies have grown and owed its separation as one of the important
ground improvement techniques in geotechnical engineering practice over the last few decades. There are a lot

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of project reports concerning grouting and chemical grouting having been applied for stabilization of mineral
soils, but very few concerning organic soils.
Sodium silicates have been developed into a variety of different grout systems and are widely using as a
chemical grout. The sodium silicate systems consist of sodium silicate and a reactor/accelerator (i.e. calcium
chloride) which can be compatible with cement to get strong bonding properties in two-compound system.
Two-compound system has been used in grouting in the soil, below a water table or with high moisture content,
and produces a high-strength permanent grout if not allowed to dry out [18–20].
This paper attempts to overcome the difficulties in using cement alone for the stabilization of organic
soils by using cement–sodium silicate system. The advantages of using cement–sodium silicate system to
stabilize organic soils, in terms of increase in shear strength and a reduction in moisture content are evaluated
by performing vane shear test and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) test on samples mixed with different
amounts of the components of the grout system.

2 Materials and Methodology

2.1 Materials

Organic soils were collected from various locations in Serdang (Selangor) and Kampung Jawa (Kelang) near
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The physico-chemical properties of organic soils are presented in Table 1.
Ordinary Portland cement (hereinafter called cement), used as the first binding agent, was obtained from
Anuza Enterprise Company, Serdang, Malaysia and its chemical composition (provided by the manufacturer)
is presented in Table 2.
Hydrous sodium silicate (syrupy liquid), which is less alkaline than metasilicates, was used as the second
binding agent. Its chemical composition (provided by the manufacturer) is summarized in Table 3. Further-
more, calcium chloride anhydrous powder (CaCl2 ) was used as a reactor/accelerator. The minimum assay
content of this substance was 96 %. Other impurities were free alkalinity [Ca(OH)2 ] 0.04 %, sulphate (SO4 )
0.02 %, and magnesium and alkalis (sulphate) 0.6 %. Sodium silicate and calcium chloridewere obtained from
Merck Sdn. Bhd., Petaling Jaya, and Bendosen Company, Selangor, Malaysia, respectively.

Table 1 Physico-chemical characteristics of untreated organic soils

Parameters Method Soil (I) Soil (II) Soil (III)

Moisture content (%) BS 1377: Part 2, Clause 3 [21] 54.01 119.2 192
Liquid limit BS 1377: Part 2, Clause 4.3 [21] 69.31 134.1 171.8
Specific gravity BS 1377: Part 2, Clause 8.4 [21] 2.11 1.83 1.36
Organic content (%) BS 1377: Part 3, Clause 4 [21] 26 46.4 83.31
Bulk unit weight (Mg/m3 ) BS 1377: Part 2, Clause 7 [21] 1.58 1.38 1.07
Shear strength (kPa) BS 1377: Part 7, Clause 3 [21] 28.4 19.1 10.5
pH BS 1377: Part 3, Clause 9 [21] 6.1 5.8 5.8
CEC (meq/100 g) Gillman and Sumpter [24] 20 64 82
Surface area (m2 /g) BET technique [25] 55 73 93

Table 2 Chemical composition of cement

Constituent %
SiO2 21.0
Al2 O3 5.3
Fe2 O3 3.3
CaO 65.6
MgO 1.1
SO3 2.7
Na2 O 1.0
Loss on ignition 0.9

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Table 3 Physico-chemical parameters of liquid sodium silicate

Constituent Value
SiO2 (%) 28.7
Na2 O (%) 8.9
Silica ratio (SiO2 /Na2 O) 3.22
Density (kN/m3 ) 13.8
pH 11.3

Table 4 Different concentrations of compounds used for preparing grouts (formulae and its notations by weight of wet soil, %)

Grout formula (%)

0Na 2Ca 20Ce 3Na 0Ca 20Ce 5Na 2Ca 20Ce
3Na 2Ca 30Ce 3Na 1Ca 20Ce 3Na 2Ca 10Ce
1Na 2Ca 20Ce 3Na 2Ca 20Ce 3Na 2Ca 20Ce
3Na 4Ca 20Ce 3Na 2Ca 0Ce
Na sodium silicate, Ca calcium chloride, Ce cement

Table 5 Grouts formulae according their group number (by weight of wet soil, %)

Grout no. Grout formula (%)

1 3Na 0Ca 20Ce
3Na 1Ca 20Ce
3Na 2Ca 20Ce
3Na 4Ca 20Ce
2 0Na 2Ca 20Ce
1Na 2Ca 20Ce
3Na 2Ca 20Ce
5Na 2Ca 20Ce
3 3Na 2Ca 0Ce
3Na 2Ca 10Ce
3Na 2Ca 20Ce
3Na 2Ca 30Ce
Na sodium silicate, Ca calcium chloride, Ce cement

2.2 Methodology

2.2.1 Sample Preparation

In order to investigate the influence of cement–sodium silicate grout and calcium chloride on organic soil, dif-
ferent ratios of calcium chloride (0.5 mol/L), sodium silicate and cement were admixed with specific amounts
of wet soil (by weight of wet soil) and are shown in Table 4.
For preparing samples, the soil was first thoroughly homogenized by household mixer and then the desired
amount of cement, calcium chloride, and sodium silicate were added to it in the ratio as mentioned in Table 4.
Before the confection was transferred to a cylindrical container kept in a tray for curing, sodium silicate was
added and mixed rapidly due to the very rapid reaction taking place between sodium silicate and cement. Vane
shear tests were performed on the samples at the end of 90 days of curing. For getting a good reproducibility
and repeatability of the tests, three samples were prepared with each grout formulae and the results obtained
were averaged. It was observed that the difference in the results for the three samples was very small, and hence
the samples can be said to have high reproducibility and repeatability. It should be noted that the accuracy of
shear strength values higher than 125 kPa is limited because this represents the upper limit of accuracy of this
testing apparatus. This implies that values higher than 125 kPa must be considered only for indicating how
the samples are comparable together. The combinations are arranged according to the increasing component
in the confection for easy readability and are shown in Table 5.

2.2.2 Experimental Programs

Organic content, water content, liquid limit and specific gravity of the samples were obtained in accordance
with BS 1377-3-4 [21], BS 1377-2-3 [21], BS 1377-2-4.3 [21] and BS 1377-2-8.4 [21], respectively. The bulk

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Fig. 1 Influence of calcium chloride concentrations on shear strength for grout no. 1

Fig. 2 Influence of calcium chloride concentrations on moisture content for grout no. 1

unit weight and pH were determined based on BS 1377-2-7 [21] and BS 1377-3-9 [21], respectively. Similar
findings were reported by Huat [22] and Rankine et al. [23]. Further, CEC and surface area were determined
as suggested by Gillman and Sumpter [24] and BET technique [25], respectively, and the results are also pre-
sented in Table 1. The effectiveness of calcium chloride, sodium silicate, and cement were evaluated in terms
of shear strength, moisture content, and microstructural changes of the treated samples. The shear strength was
evaluated by performing vane shear test in accordance with BS 1377-7-3 [21], and the microstructural changes
were studied from the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results. For this, the samples were carefully cut
with a sharp knife to make about 3–5 mm long sticks that were coated with a thin layer of gold-platinum
prior to SEM analysis. The coating time was two minutes with a specific electric current, producing a layer of
around 30–50 nm thick on the samples.

3 Results and Discussion

3.1 Influence of Calcium Chloride

The influence of calcium chloride was studied by preparing samples with different calcium chloride concen-
trations (0, 1, 2, and 4 % by weight of wet soil) as per grout no. 1 (Table 5) and evaluating the shear strength
and moisture content of each sample. The effect of amount of calcium chloride (grout no. 1) on shear strength
and moisture content of the samples after 90 days of curing are presented in Figs. 1 and 2.
It was observed that (Fig. 1) by increasing calcium chloride concentration (grout no. 1) in soil (I) from 0
to 2 %, the shear strength of the samples increased by 18.7 % (123–146 kPa) and the moisture content (Fig. 2)
decreased by 22.9 % (37.5–28.9 %) after 90 days of curing. Furthermore, by increasing calcium chloride from
2 to 4 %, the trend of shear strength and moisture content values showed a reversal, i.e., the shear strength
decreased by 6.8 % (146–136 kPa) and the moisture content increased by 17.7 % (28.9–34.02 %). Similar
variations in shear strength and moisture content were also observed for soils (II) and (III).

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Fig. 3 Influence of sodium silicate concentrations on shear strength for grout no. 2

Fig. 4 Influence of sodium silicate concentrations on moisture content for grout no. 2

It should be mentioned that when water comes in contact with cement, three phenomena take place; (i)
cement reacting with water called hydration, (ii) pozzolanic reactions between Ca(OH)2 from burnt cement
and pozzolanic minerals in the soil, and (iii) ion exchange between calcium ions (from cement and additives)
with ions present in the clay, which leads to an improvement in the strength of the treated soil strength (the
first two reactions will be discussed here).
The colloidal particles can affect the mechanical and rheological properties of the mixture [26–29]. By
adding calcium cation to the mixture (from calcium chloride and cement), it affected the colloids present in
the organic soil (active clay minerals and colloid parts from organic part). Calcium cations were absorbed
by soil colloids due to their high CEC (Table 1) and the charge distribution in the fluid. The reason for the
increase in shear strength and a decrease in the moisture content of the samples is due to the reason that when
the net charge on soil particles tend to be zero, they will not repel each other, rather aggregate and form larger
particles. Conversely, with the addition of extra calcium cation (more than 2 %) the charge balance is disturbed
towards a net positive charge on the soil particles and thereby leading to re-stabilization of colloidal fraction
and deflocculating of the larger particles. This is the reason for the large reduction in moisture content of soil
(III) from 126.7 to 95.6 %, as it has higher organic content and higher CEC than soil (I), for which the reduction
in moisture content was from 37.5 to 28.9 %.

3.2 Influence of Cement and Sodium Silicates

The effects of sodium silicate (grout no. 2) on organic soils were investigated by adding 0, 1, 3, and 5 % sodium
silicate by weight of wet soil (Table 5) and the results are presented in Figs. 3 and 4. Similarly, the effects of
cement (grout no. 3) were investigated by adding 0, 10, 20, and 30 % cement by weight of wet soil (Table 5)
and the results are presented in Figs. 5 and 6.
As observed from the Fig. 3, by increasing the concentration of sodium silicate (grout no. 2) from 0 to
3 % in the samples of soil (I), the shear strength increased by 71.6 % (85.1–146 kPa) and the moisture content

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Fig. 5 Influence of cement concentrations on shear strength for grout no. 3

Fig. 6 Influence of cement concentrations on moisture content for grout no. 3

(Fig. 4) decreased by 19.4 % (36–29 %). Similar variations in the shear strength and moisture content were
also observed for soils (II) and (III).
Similarly, with the increase in cement content (grout no. 3) from 0 to 30 % in soil (I), similar variations
in shear strength and the moisture content were observed. The shear strength (Fig. 5) increased by 222.2 %
(66.1–213.0 kPa) and the moisture content (Fig. 6) decreased by 19.28 % (30.6–24.7 %). Similar variations in
shear strength and the moisture content were also observed for soils (II) and (III).
The above finding tallies well with the fact that (as mentioned earlier), cement initiates chemical reaction
with water called hydration and utilizes water. When tricalcium silicate (C3 S) and dicalcium silicate (C2 S) are
mixed with water, calcium ions are quickly released into the solution with the formation of hydroxide ions.
When the concentration of calcium and hydroxide ions reaches a certain threshold value, calcium hydroxides
crystallizes out of solutions and finally leads to the production of calcium silicate hydrate (C–S–H) and thus,
an increase in the shear strength.
According to Figs. 5 and 6, due to an increase in the organic content, the shear strength of confection
decreased, while the moisture content increased. This behavior, as stated above, is due to the reaction taking
place among cement, water, and mineral parts of soils, i.e., pozzolanic reaction. The pozzolanic reaction takes
place with the mineral parts of the soil; since organic soils with low organic content usually contain aluminous
and siliceous minerals. Some of these possess pozzolanic properties, i.e. under certain conditions they can
react with Ca(OH)2 to form calcium aluminate silicate hydrate (C–A–S–H), which leads to an increase in the
shear strength together with a reduction in the moisture content [13]. Hence, it can be said that an increase
in the mineral part of the soil, or by the addition of mineral soils as filler to the grout, can improve the shear
strength of the organic soils. The effect of cement and mineral parts of organic soils on microstructure of the
confection will be discussed later.
Karol [30] and Yonekura and Kaga [31] observed that when sodium silicate solution and an appropri-
ate solution of alkali metals salt (sodium and potassium) are mixed, the reaction forming a gel is virtually
instantaneous. If the silicate solution has not been moved away (by groundwater or gravitational forces), it is

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penetrated by thin fingers and lenses of chloride solution. Because the reaction is so rapid, not all the solution
can reach the contact surfaces of the particles; however, the unstable interface generally ensures that sufficient
contact is available to provide a continuous gel network through the stabilized soil. Almost all systems are
based on reaction of silicate solution to form a colloid which polymerizes further to form a gel that binds soil
or sediment particles together and fills voids. That is why the shear strength increased and moisture content
decreased upon adding sodium silicate (up to 3 %). Further, it was observed by Yonekura and Kaga [31] that
if an alkaline solution with sodium silicate (sodium silicate solutions are alkaline) concentration of above 1 or
2 % (by volume) is neutralized by reactants (calcium chloride), colloidal silica will aggregate to form a gel.
During this period, C–S–H is formed both via precipitation of silicate ions of the additive and via release of
silicate and aluminate ions from the cement [32]. This depolymerization significantly increases the pH and
particularly neutralizes the humic acid in the organic soil as mentioned before.
Finally, the role of sodium silicate (above 3 %) in the improvement in strength of organic soil with cement
will be well-defined by comparison of different grouts with same calcium chloride and cement ratio [i.e. two
grout strengths (3Na2Ca20Ce) and (5Na2Ca20Ce)]. The shear strength of the confection after 90 days of
curing was observed to be 146 kPa with the first grout and 132 kPa with the second grout. This decrease in
shear strength is because of the charge balance in the mixture, giving the negative charge to soil particles. This
leads to re-stabilization and prohibits an increase in the shear strength of the mixture with a corresponding
increase in the moisture content. The effect of sodium silicate on microstructure of the confection will be
discussed later.

3.3 Microstructural Study

The microstructure of a material has interdependence with the physical and mechanical properties such as,
water retention, compressive and tensile strength, Young’s modulus, and Poisson’s ratio [33]. The micro-
structure of cement-based materials is complex due to: (i) the presence of several hydrated phases, with the
composition and microstructure characteristics varying locally; (ii) the presence of an aqueous phase of var-
iable composition in a pore net with sizes varying over a large range; (iii) the change of the microstructure
with the passing of time and with the environmental conditions (relative humidity, temperature), and (iv) the
physical and mechanical behavior of the material being often controlled by zones with special microstructures,
that occur in specific places in the system, instead of the prevalent general microstructure [34].
Taylor [35] and Malhotra and Mehta [36] have classified three types of C–S–H morphologies of Port-
land cement mortars based on their configuration; fibrous-acicular form (type I), reticule or honeycomb form
(type II), and denser-almost sphere form (type III). The explanation of these microstructural changes has been
attributed to the chemistry between these sodium silicate–cement and additive systems. Thin slices of air-dried
samples were tested after soaking in distilled water for 90 days and the changes in the microstructure were
studied to further validate the results obtained from the tests discussed in the previous sections.
Figure 7a, b shows the SEM micrograph of untreated organic with a large number of mesopores and mac-
ropores particularly for organic soil III (Fig. 7b). The influence of sodium silicate and cement on microstructure
of the treated organic soil I and III samples was investigated by preparing the samples based on compositions
mentioned in Table 6.
As mentioned earlier, the samples were prepared with the additives by keeping two components of the grout
as constant and the third component was varied. The SEM micrograph results showing the microstructure of
each sample prepared as per grout Nos. 4 to 6 are presented in Figs. 8, 9, and 10, for both organic soils I and
III.
The effects of cement on the microstructure of samples were examined by increasing the cement from
10 % in grout No. 4 to 20 % in grout No. 6 (by weight of wet organic soil). The SEM micrographs are shown
in Figs. 8 and 10. It was observed that (Fig. 8) there were very few spherical C–S–H particles or other types of
C–S–H morphologies of cement that exhibited nominal hydration in grout No. 4. Furthermore, there was an
abundance of massive and spherical or coralloid aggregation of the particles in the samples (Fig. 10). It appears
that more C–S–H gel (type III) were produced in grout No. 6 (denser-almost sphere form) and it combined
with the gels from sodium silicate to make a more denser confection in comparison with grout No. 4 which
seemed to have only neutralized the gel of sodium silicate, which validate the results of vane shear test.
It was observed that (Figs. 9 and 10) by increasing the sodium silicate in grout Nos. 5 and 6 from 1 to
3 % (by weight of wet organic soil), the density of the confection increased after 90 days of curing and the
multitude of voids decreased, due to the production of more hydrated calcium silicates and formation of gel
from sodium silicate by neutralization.

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Fig. 7 SEM micrograph of untreated organic soils: a Soil I, and b Soil III

Table 6 Grout formulae and their notations

Grout no. Grout formula Curing time
(by weight of wet soil, %) (days)
4 3Na 2Ca 10Ce 90
5 1Na 2Ca 20Ce 90
6 3Na 2Ca 20Ce 90
Na sodium silicate, Ca calcium chloride, Ce cement

Fig. 8 SEM micrographs of organic soils treated with grout No. 4: a Soil I, and b Soil III

In addition, the influence of organic content on the microstructural changes of the samples was studied
by preparing samples with different amounts of organic content (by mixing grouts in organic soil I and III)
according Table 6 grout formula. It was observed from the SEM micrographs (Figs. 8a, b–10a, b) that there

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Fig. 9 SEM micrographs of organic soils treated with grout No. 5: a Soil I, and b Soil III

Fig. 10 SEM micrographs of organic soils treated with grout No. 6: a Soil I, and b Soil III

were marked reductions in the porosity of the samples with different grouts, as there was an apparent reduction
in the size of the voids in organic soil (I) more than organic soil (III). It is for the reason that due to the mineral
parts of organic soil (I) is more than organic soil (III) (or its organic content is less than organic soil III), a
continuous link developed with the sodium silicate gel and C–S–H gel accompanied by their reactions that
linked all together. This contributed to a stronger filling effect of the cement and sodium silicate in samples
treated by grout No. 6, relative to other treated samples, and this explains the effect of cement and sodium
silicate in the confection for the changes occurring in the micropores of the stabilized organic soil, which
validate the results of vane shear test as well.
Based on the results obtained from this study, it can be concluded that the negative impact of using cement
alone, as stated earlier (which is used as the traditional binder in stabilization of soft tropical organic soils),
can be removed by using a small percentage of sodium silicate system grout. Sodium silicate system (less than
3 % by the weight of wet soil) lead to an increase in the shear strength and a corresponding decrease in the
moisture content of the soil treated by cement due to its specific reaction with cement, calcium chloride, water
and soil particles.
In summary, sodium silicate grout system has resulted in a large increase in the shear strength of tropical
organic soils. Since the presently discussed grout system is not expensive, it can be concluded that this grout
system is more convenient and economical considering all aspects of stabilization.

4 Conclusions

This study was carried out to investigate the influence of the various components in the cement–sodium sili-
cate system, i.e., calcium chloride, cement, and sodium silicate for the stabilization of the organic soils. The
following conclusions are drawn based on this study:

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Arab J Sci Eng (2012) 37:2137–2148 2147

1. The trend of gain in shear strength of the organic soils changed with an increase in calcium chloride content.
It increased until the net charge of the sample became zero. Thereafter, it decreased with an increase in
calcium chloride as deflocculation of the larger size particles took place. These phenomena are responsible
for the reversal in the trend of the change in moisture content of the samples. The effect of calcium chloride
is more pronounced on soil (III) as it had higher CEC compared with soils (I) and (II).
2. The shear strength of the samples was observed to increase with a corresponding decrease in the moisture
content by increasing the concentration of sodium silicate (<3 %). This behavior is due to the hydration
and pozzolanic reactions of cement with water and the rapid reaction between cement, sodium silicate, and
calcium chloride. These reactions form a colloid which polymerizes further to form a gel that binds soil
particles and produced more C–S–H gel. However, upon increasing the concentration of sodium silicate
(>3 %), the strength of mixture was observed to decrease with a corresponding increase in the moisture
content due to the re-stabilization which prohibits an increase in the shear strength of the mixture and a
corresponding increase in the moisture content.
3. The mineral content in an organic soil had a marked effect on the shear strength and moisture content of the
treated soil. The shear strength of the samples increased and moisture content decreased with an increase
in the mineral content of the organic soil (reducing organic content of the soil) due to pozzolanic reactions
with cement and chemical reactions with sodium silicate. The addition of mineral filler into binder for
stabilizing organic soils with high organic content was very effective.
4. The organic content present in the soil had an adverse effect on the stabilization of soils, and SEM results
were consistent with the vane shear results.

Acknowledgments The authors wish to express their gratitude to the Ministry of Science, Technology Innovation, Malaysia
(Project No. 03-01-04-SF0889) for the financial support to the research group.

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