Effective Void Ratio for Assessing the

Mechanical Properties of Cement-Clay

Admixtures at High Water Content
Pornkasem Jongpradist1; Sompote Youwai2; and Chai Jaturapitakkul, A.M.ASCE3

Abstract: Portland cement is widely used for the improvement of soft clay in many applications and construction methods. Because of the
high initial water content of in situ soft clay, the additional water in the cement slurry to be mixed, and the added air in some applications, the
mixtures have a high water content and void ratio in either almost-saturated or unsaturated conditions. The mechanical properties of cement-
clay admixtures—including cement-treated clay and air-cement-treated clay—are affected by several parameters, e.g., mixing proportions,
curing time, and the initial state of the mixture. To facilitate engineering decisions regarding mixing design and the development of a con-
stitutive model, a single parameter that can characterize the mechanical properties of such mixed materials is advantageous. This paper
recommends a parameter defined as the effective void ratio that could appropriately quantify the dependency of the mechanical properties
of cement-clay admixtures on the influencing parameters on the basis of the results of unconfined compression, oedometer, and triaxial
tests. The proposed parameter tends to capture the mechanical characteristics of cement-clay admixtures under different test conditions.
DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0000462. © 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
CE Database subject headings: Concrete admixtures; Mechanical properties; Cement; Clays; Voids; Water content; Foam.
Author keywords: Mechanical properties; Cement; Clays; Void ratio; Water content; Lightweight; Foam.

Introduction
Ground improvement by cement stabilization has been widely
adopted to enhance the mechanical properties of soils to meet en-
gineering requirements for design and construction. Broadly, it can
be divided into shallow and deep stabilization. Shallow stabiliza-
tion, which can be considered a low water content stabilization
method, generally employs low cement content. Applications in-
clude stabilization of subgrade for roadways, airfields, and other
similar structures. Deep stabilization, in contrast, includes the deep
mixing method (DMM) by using either slurry or cement powder to
form columns of improved soil in the ground. Recently, for expan-
sive subsoils of moderate-to-deep active depths, this method has
been effectively used with quality assessment and quality control
for swell-shrink mitigation (Madhyannapu et al. 2010). Generally,
in the installation of deep mixing columns by using cement slurry,
the mixing method is either by mechanical mixing blades or high-
pressure jet mixing. The jet mixing breaks up the soil matrix with a
high velocity grout or water jet with concurrent introduction of ce-
ment grout (Porbaha 1998). This could produce greater water con-
tent in cement-treated clay, when compared to the mechanical
mixing method. In addition, soft clay deposits normally have high
1
Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering Dept., King Mongkut’s Univ. of
Technology Thonburi, Trungkru District, Bangkok, Thailand (correspond-
ing author). E-mail: pornkasem.jon@kmutt.ac.th
2
Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering Dept., King Mongkut’s Univ. of
Technology Thonburi, Trungkru District, Bangkok, Thailand.
3
Professor, Civil Engineering Dept., King Mongkut’s Univ. of Technol-
ogy Thonburi, Trungkru District, Bangkok, Thailand.
Note. This manuscript was submitted on March 1, 2010; approved on
October 5, 2010; published online on October 20, 2010. Discussion period
open until November 1, 2011; separate discussions must be submitted for
individual papers. This paper is part of the Journal of Geotechnical and
Geoenvironmental Engineering, Vol. 137, No. 6, June 1, 2011. ©ASCE,
ISSN 1090-0241/2011/6-621–627/$25.00.
in situ water content. Thus, the clay-cement mixtures are in a sa-
turated or almost-saturated condition. The clay-cement mixtures
with cement slurry are referred to in this paper as “wet cement-
treated clay.”
In addition to the DMM, cement has been used as a lightweight
geomaterial in infrastructure rehabilitation, earth structures, and
construction of new facilities, to reduce overburden stress acting
on an underground structure (e.g., tunnel or buried pipe) and lateral
earth pressure acting on the retaining structure (e.g., quay wall, sea-
wall, or shore protection) (Horiuchi et al. 1996; Tsuchida et al.
1999, 2001). Air-cement-treated soil is more appropriate for ground
improvement than other lightweight geomaterials because of its
high stability, low deformation, low cost, and reduced construction
time. In this type of cement-clay admixture, the additional air foam
or air causes an extremely high void ratio in the mixture, which is in
an unsaturated condition. In this case, a high cement content is also
required to create adequate strength.
To facilitate engineering decisions regarding the mixing propor-
tions and curing periods for the specific target strength of cement-
treated soft clays, laboratory tests investigating and characterizing
the behaviors of soft clay with cement mixtures by the deep mixing
method have been conducted. In the past, only cement content and
curing time were used as parameters to control the behavior of the
mixture (Uddin et al. 1997). Cement content is defined as ratio of
the weight of cement powder to the weight of dry soil. However, the
amount of water in the clay-cement paste (C w ) was later demon-
strated to be crucial in the development of the strength of cured
cement-treated clay (Miura et al. 2001). Thus, a new parameter,
called the total clay-water content to cement ratio (C w =Aw ), was
proposed as a prime factor governing the engineering behavior
of cement-admixed clay (Horpibulsuk et al. 2005). In addition, a
new approach to characterize the strength and compressibility
behavior of cement-treated clay by essentially considering the ef-
fects of total clay-water content, cement content, and curing time,

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has been developed by Lorenzo and Bergado (2004). It was proven
that the fundamental parameter, the ratio of the after-curing void
ratio (eot ) to the cement content (Aw ), is sufficient to characterize
the strength and compressibility of cement-treated clay at high
water contents. However, as mentioned previously, in those studies
the high water content used was sufficient for the pores of samples
to be predominantly filled with water, so the water content would
reflect the number of voids. This also happens in concrete: the
amount of water reflects the number of voids in the mortar. There-
fore, when the volume of the voids is only partially filled by water
(as is true for lightweight geomaterials), the roles played by the
void ratio and the water content are different. To account for the
effects of both the water content and the void ratio, this paper fur-
ther develops a unique parameter for assessing the mechanical
properties of cement-clay admixtures, including wet cement-treated
clay and air-cement-treated clay, at high water content in saturated
and unsaturated conditions. The paper begins with the concept for
developing the parameter, followed by preliminary discussions of
available results of unconfined compression tests of cement-clay
admixtures from literature. After evaluating the test results in this
study, the necessity of a new parameter is pointed out, and it is
developed. The new parameter is then used to assess the mechani-
cal properties of several mixtures under different test conditions.
Concept for Development of the Effective Void Ratio
On the basis of the problem stated previously, the newly developed
parameter must assess the engineering properties of cement-clay
admixtures in saturated and unsaturated conditions. Therefore,
the influencing factors for both conditions are first reviewed to
understand the similarities and differences. Previous studies of deep
mixing clay-cement mixture indicate that its engineering behavior
is primarily affected by the physicochemical properties of clay, the
amount of cement, the water content, and the curing time (Uddin
et al. 1997; Miura et al. 2001; Lorenzo and Bergado 2004;
Horpibulsuk et al. 2005; Chew et al. 2004; Lee et al. 2005).
The factors controlling air-cement-treated clay behavior are the
amount of cement, the curing time, and the void ratio (Hayashi
and Suzuki 1999; Tsuchida et al. 2001; Hayashi et al. 2002; Watabe
et al. 2004). The physicochemical properties of clay depend on the
clay mineralogy and composition. It is difficult to include clay type
in the construction of a parameter. This study therefore aims to de-
velop the parameter from cement content, water content, curing
time, and void ratio. This new parameter must capture and combine
mechanical properties, such as strength and yield stress of both sa-
turated and unsaturated cement-clay mixtures having the same clay
type. Because a number of studies with comprehensive test data on
deep mixing wet cement-treated clay are available (Lorenzo and
Bergado 2004; Jongpradist et al. 2007, 2010, 2011), this study per-
forms only complementary tests on unsaturated cement-clay ad-
mixtures for the purpose of clarification. By principle, the void
ratio at the initial state before testing is one of the basic parameters
that influence the mechanical properties of soil. The use of the void-
to-cement ratio is proven to be appropriate to assess the unconfined
compressive strength of sandy soils stabilized by cement or lime
(Consoli et al. 2007, 2009). Therefore, the after-curing void-to-
cement ratio eot =Aw proposed by Lorenzo and Bergado (2004),
which combines the effects of curing time, clay-water content,
and cement content on the unconfined compressive strength of
cement-treated clay, is adopted for further development. The eot
can be directly calculated from the equation
ð1 þ wt ÞGst γw
eot ¼
1 ð1Þ
γt
where wt = after-curing water content; Gst = after-curing specific
gravity; γt = after-curing unit weight; and γw = unit weight of water.
The methods of normalizing the parameters to obtain the empirical
equation proposed by Lorenzo and Bergado (2004) can be used to
calculate the after-curing parameters.
This parameter reflects the final condition of the cured, treated
soil. However, it does not represent the subsequent state before the
triaxial test, in which the sample is subjected to isotropic consoli-
dation before the shearing process. This is unlike the unconfined
compression and oedometer testing conditions. Therefore, under
triaxial testing conditions, the actual void ratio before the shearing
process must be considered. This preshear after-curing void ratio,
eps can be directly calculated as
ΔV
eps ¼ eot
ð1 þ eot Þ ð2Þ
V
where eot = after-curing void ratio before the consolidation process;
ΔV = volume change after the consolidation stage; and V = initial
volume for the ensuing consolidation stage. By using this ratio,
the effect of curing stress can be taken into account. However,
most data from previous studies do not consider this influence.
Therefore, the effect of curing stress will not be considered in
the current study. The modification of the curing stress consider-
ation can be made in the future by following previous works, such
as Jongpradist et al. (2011).
As mentioned previously, for unsaturated conditions, the role
played by the void ratio and the water content are different. In
addition to the after-curing void ratio, the water content in the mix-
tures should also be taken into account. To reflect the total amount
of water, the total clay-water content C w , which includes the water
from natural clay, added water before mixing, and water in cement
slurry, is employed in developing the new parameter.
Preliminary Investigation
The role played by the water content in assessing the mechanical
properties of cement-clay admixtures with various after-curing void
ratios (eot ) and cement contents (Aw ) is first observed. The results of
unconfined compression tests for wet cement-treated clay and air-
cement-treated clay from previous studies (Lorenzo and Bergado
2004; HGS Research Consortium 2005) are plotted as a function
Fig. 1. Relationship between parameter eot =Aw and unconfined com-
pressive strength of wet cement-treated Bangkok-AIT clay

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Table 1. Summary of the Mixing Combinations for Wet Cement-Treated
Bangkok-AIT Clay from Lorenzo (2005)
Water content (%) Cement content (%) Curing time (days)
100, 130, 160 5, 10, 15, 20 7, 14, 28
Fig. 2. Relationship between parameter eot =Aw and unconfined com-
pressive strength of air-cement-treated Tokyo clays: (a) clay from the
Ota ward; (b) clay from the Chuo ward
of eot =Aw in Figs. 1, 2(a), and 2(b), respectively. In Fig. 1, the small
figure in the right top corner shows a good correlation when char-
acterizing the unconfined compressive strength, qu , by the param-
eter eot =Aw as presented by Lorenzo and Bergado (2004). Those qu
data obtained from Lorenzo (2005) cover a range of cement con-
tents, water contents, and curing times, as shown in Table 1. Thus,
the parameter eot =Aw is proven to be sufficient to characterize the
strength of cement-treated clay. However, with further investigation
as illustrated in the main figure, the scattered data have different
tendencies for different remolding water contents, w , which does
not include water in cement slurry. The parameter w is selected to
represent the water content in this case because the mixing design
refers to this value. For the same eot =Aw ratio, the strength of a
Table 2. Summary of the Mixing Ratios and Conditions of Data for Air-Cement-Treated Tokyo Clays from the HGS Research Consortium (2005)
Clay Target density (g=cm3 )
Tokyo clay: Ota ward 0.8, 1.05, 1.20
Tokyo clay: Chuo ward 0.8, 1.0, 1.2
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mixture with greater water content tends to be less. The same ten-
dency for strength reduction with greater water content at the same
eot =Aw ratio can also be observed for air-cement-treated clays, as
shown in Figs. 2(a) and 2(b). These figures present the results of
air-cement-treated clay from the Ota ward of Tokyo with w from
138–194% and from the Chuo ward with w 300–400%, respec-
tively. The data was obtained after a curing time of 28 days and
covers mixtures with densities, water contents, and cement contents
tabulated in Table 2. This indicates that although the parameter
eot =Aw is effective for characterizing the strength of wet cement-
treated clay when the saturation degree approaches 100%, the
use of the parameter for air-cement-treated clay with lesser satura-
tion levels is unsatisfactory. The influence of a wide range of water
contents cannot be properly reflected. In subsequent sections, a new
parameter that can consider these effects will be proposed.
Experimental Investigation
Test data under diverse loading conditions for wet cement-treated
clays are comprehensively available. Therefore, only data for air-
cement-treated clay for the same type of clay is required to dem-
onstrate the effectiveness of the proposed parameter. In this paper,
unconfined compression and oedometer tests are conducted on air-
cement-treated clay at high water content from the Asian Institute
of Technology (AIT) site in Bangkok, and the results are compared
with the cement-treated clay results presented in Lorenzo (2005).
Materials
Three kinds of materials, soft clay, cement, and foam, were used in
this research. The soft clay used in this study was typical soft Bang-
kok clay from the AIT located in the northern part of Bangkok,
Thailand. Sampling was performed at a depth of 3–5 m in the soft
clay layer. The physical properties of the Bangkok clay are sum-
marized in Table 3 with those of clays from other sites where the
test data were collected. The AIT clay’s unconfined compressive
strength, qu , obtained from unconfined compression tests, ranged
from 32–34 kPa.
The cement used in this study was ordinary portland cement
with a specific gravity (Gs ) of 3.14. The major chemical compo-
nents of cement are CaO (65.4%), SiO2 (20.9%), Al2 O3 (4.8%),
and Fe2 O3 (3.6%). The amount of cement used in this study ranged
from 100–200 kg=m3 of the final mixture, which is in accordance
with current practice for air-cement-treated soils.
The foaming material was made by diluting the foaming agent
with water. In this study, the foaming agent used was a nontoxic
organic polymer type of foaming agent, which is the same as was
used in HGS Research Consortium (2005). The foam was made by
mixing the foaming material and air together in an air-foam gen-
erator. The required unit weight of air-foam is 0:49 kN=m3
(Hayashi et al. 1998). The proportion of the foaming agent to water
was 1∶19, as suggested by the Public Works Research Institute
(PWRI), Japan (HGS Research Consortium 2005).
Preparation of Specimens
To clearly distinguish the results from the available data for
wet cement-treated clay with water content in the range of
100–160%, specimens used in this study were prepared by using
Water content (%) Cement content (kg=m3 ) Curing time (days)
138, 160, 194 75, 150, 200 28
300, 400 40, 80, 120, 160 28
Table 3. Index and Physical Properties of Clay
Bangkok clay—AIT Bangkok clay—KMUTT Tokyo clay—Ota/Chuo
Properties (from this study and Lorenzo 2005) (Jongpradist et al. 2010) (HGS Research Consortium 2005)
Liquid limit, LL (%) 103 117 55/104
Plastic limit, PL (%) 43 39 33/51
Water content, w (%) 76–84 84 59/96
Specific gravity, GS 2.61 2.65 2.70/2.64
Total unit weight, γt (kN=m3 ) 14.3 14.6 16.2/14.4
Dry unit weight, γd (kN=m3 ) 7.73 7.92 10.21/7.32
Initial void ratio, ei 2.31 2.28 1.59/2.53
Soil classification (USCS) CH CH MH/MH

a greater water content. Moreover, to increase the workability and Table 4. Summary of the Program for Unconfined Compression and One-
flowability of the mixture and to prevent the bleeding of water, re- Dimensional Oedometer Test Samples as Mixing Ratio of the Air-Cement-
molding water contents ranging from 1.5–3.0 LL were used. There- Treated Clay
fore, a constant remolding water content of 300% was selected for
Controlled unit Cement Remolding water Foaming Curing
this study. The procedure of specimen preparation described sub- weight (γt ) content (Aw ) content (w ) material timea
sequently follows that in HGS Research Consortium (2005).
Before the addition of cement and foam, the natural clay was (kN=m3 ) (kN=m3 ) (%) Agent∶water (days)
mixed with additional water. The remolding clay-water content 8 100, 150, 200 300 1∶19 7, 14, 28
(w ) is defined as the water content of the remolded clay before 10 100, 150, 200 300 1∶19 7, 14, 28
the addition of cement content and foam. Calculations were per- 12 100, 150, 200 300 1∶19 7, 14, 28
formed for the amount of water added to a wet clay sample to ob- a
tain the desired remolding water content by using the following Only a curing time of 28 days was used for the one-dimensional
oedometer tests.
equation:
WT and humidity of 97%. To accommodate shrinkage of the air foam
ΔW W ¼ ðw
w0 Þ ð3Þ
1 þ w0 before hardening, a 35-mm-diameter, 80-mm-high mold was used.
After curing for three days, the specimens were then extruded from
where ΔW w = additional weight of water to be added; W T = total
the molds and wrapped in polyethylene film for additional curing in
weight of the prepared original untreated clay sample; w = re-
the humid room until the target curing period (7, 14, and 28 days) of
quired remolding clay-water content; and w0 = natural water con-
the sample was reached. The specimens were then trimmed to a
tent of the clay sample.
70 mm height. For the oedometer test samples, the mixture was
The prepared remolded clay sample was then mixed with dry
placed into the oedometer rings. Any friction between the oedom-
powder cement inside a soil mixer until the mixture was a homo-
eter ring and the specimen was reduced by smearing silicone grease
geneous slurry, in approximately 6 min. Subsequently, air foam was
on the inner periphery of the oedometer ring and then placing an
added and mixed with the slurry. The desired density of the air-
encircled plastic sheet (Fang et al. 2004) on the smeared grease
cement-treated soil was adjusted to achieve the target unit weight
layer. They were cured for 28 days in the humid room.
within a range of 0:29 kN=m3 by controlling the flowability
value of the flow test in the range of 16–20 cm. Since the foam Testing Program
contained water, the overall water content of the clay-water-
cement-foam mixture just after the time of mixing was the total The unit weight of the specimen was measured before testing.
remolding water plus the water in the foam. The total clay-water The rate of shearing for the unconfined compression tests was
content (C w ) is defined as follows: maintained at 1.14% per minute as used by Lorenzo (2005).
One-dimensional compression tests with stage loading were carried
C w ¼ w þ ðw=wF ÞF w ðair-cement-treated clayÞ ð4Þ out on oedometer specimens cured 28 days. Because the air-
cement-treated clay was significantly unsaturated (Watabe et al.
where w=wF = water-foam material ratio; and F w = desired foam
2004), it took a relatively short time for consolidation. The com-
content (%), defined as the percentage ratio of the weight of foam to
pression pressure from 40–2,560 kPa was applied in seven stages of
the dry weight of soil. The total clay-water content (C w ) of wet
12 h loading with an incremental loading ratio Δp=p of 1.0. Then it
cement-treated clay is defined as
was unloaded to 40 kPa. After the tests, the specimen with the ring
C w ¼ w þ ðw=cÞAw ðwet cement-treated clayÞ ð5Þ was removed from the consolidometer and weighed. The sample
was dried in the oven overnight to obtain the final water content
where Aw = desired cement content (%), defined as the percentage and to recheck the final void ratio. The test program is summarized
ratio of the weight of cement to the dry weight of soil; and w=c = in Table 4.
water-to-cement ratio of the cement slurry to be mixed with the
prepared clay slurry, which is one in all previous studies.
The overall air-cement-treated soil preparation for the entire Results and Discussions
program consisted of 300% remolding water content at the initial
state in all mixtures, and controlled unit weights of 8, 10, and
Effect of Water Content on Strength of Wet
12 kN=m3 . For the unconfined compression tests, the mixture
Cement-Treated Clay
was tamped into polyvinylchloride molds and capped to prevent
moisture loss. The prepared specimens were then cured inside a The plot of unconfined compressive strength, qu , versus the ratio of
humid room with a maintained ambient temperature of 25°C the after-curing void ratio to cement content (eot =Aw ) is shown in

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Fig. 3. Relationship between parameter eot =Aw and unconfined com-
pressive strength of air-cement-treated Bangkok-AIT clay compared
with wet cement-treated Bangkok-AIT clay

Fig. 3. The data for the wet cement-treated clay and the air-cement-
treated clay from the AIT site in Bangkok are compared. The trend
line of the air-cement-treated clay from the Chuo ward of Tokyo
with w = 300% is also included in the figure. The results of
the treated Bangkok clays in Fig. 3 are for similar mixtures pre-
pared from the same clay. Both mixtures are composed of soil,
water, and cement, but the wet cement-treated clay has a smaller
void ratio in the almost-saturated condition, and the air-cement-
treated clay has a greater void ratio in the unsaturated condition.
Although the strength characteristics of the two mixtures can be
reasonably captured by the parameter eot =Aw, different relation-
ships between qu and eot =Aw are observed. The trend lines of both
mixtures indicate a strength reduction with water content at the
same eot =Aw . This confirms the after-curing void-to-cement content
ratio alone is insufficient to characterize the strength of cement-clay
admixtures with a wide range of saturation levels or water content.
Comparing the trend lines of air-cement-treated Bangkok and
Tokyo clays having the same w = 300% emphasizes that clay type
has a strong influence on the strength of cement-treated clay. Since
clay type is not included in the development of the parameter in the
next section, a specific relation for characterization of each type of
clay must therefore be employed.
Development of the Effective Void Ratio, e st
On the basis of the results of the preceding investigation, an in-
crease in water content leads to a decrease of qu at the same ratio
eot =Aw . In a similar manner, an increase of the parameter eot =Aw
leads to a decrease of qu as well. By the concept that the values
of mechanical characteristics tend to be larger with an increasing
cement content and a decreasing after-curing void ratio and water
content, a new parameter, the effective void ratio, est is postulated
as
est ¼ C w × lnðeot =Aw Þ
The effectiveness of this new parameter for characterizing the
mechanical properties of wet and air-cement-treated clays under
different loading conditions is further demonstrated in the next
section.
Assessment of the Effective Void Ratio on Mechanical
Properties of Cement-Treated Clays
Under Different Water Contents for Unsaturated Conditions
The qu values of air-cement-treated Tokyo clays (previously shown
in Fig. 2) are replotted with the parameter est in Figs. 4(a) and 4(b).
Fig. 4. Relationship between parameter est and unconfined compres-
sive strength of air-cement-treated Tokyo clays: (a) clay from the Ota
ward; (b) clay from the Chuo ward
Fig. 4(a) illustrates the results of clay from the Ota ward, and those
from the Chuo ward are presented in Fig. 4(b). Although there is
some scattering, a fitted relationship could be obtained for each
clay. The coefficients of determination obtained from fitting with
the parameter est are obviously improved from those obtained by
using the parameter eot =Aw in the previous section for both clays.
This implies the parameter est does include the effect of water con-
tent in such mixtures under unsaturated conditions.
Under Different Saturation Conditions with the Same Clay
Type
The qu values of cement-treated clay and air-cement-treated
clay from the AIT site in Bangkok (shown in Fig. 3) are replotted
ð6Þ with the new parameter est in Fig. 5. The qu values of both kinds
of mixtures can be characterized by this parameter with a high
coefficient of determination. This demonstrates that the factor
C w × lnðeot =Aw Þ, or est , combines the effects of the water content,
void ratio, cement content, and curing time on the qu of air-cement-
treated clay and cement-treated clay prepared from the same type of
clay. The regressions of each data set are shown in the legend of the
figure. Similar regression results by using exponential functions
can be obtained with coefficients of determination, R2 , of 0.763
and 0.941 for wet cement-treated and air-cement-treated clays, re-
spectively. The R2 value of the regression result of the entire data
set is 0.856.

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Fig. 5. Relationships between parameter est and unconfined compres-
sive strength and yield stress of air-cement-treated Bangkok-AIT clay
compared with wet cement-treated Bangkok-AIT clay
Fig. 6. Relationships between parameter est and elastic modulus E50 of
air-cement-treated Bangkok-AIT clay compared with wet cement-
treated Bangkok-AIT clay
The relationship between the parameter est and the yield stress,
P0y , from one-dimensional compression tests of both kinds of
mixtures with various mixing components and curing times is also
shown in the figure. Separate regressions of data sets from each
mixture are shown in the legend as well. The new parameter could
appropriately characterize the yield stress of both kinds of mixtures.
When the regression results of the two grouped data are compared,
the correlation of the air-cement-treated clay data is better.
In addition to the strength properties, the deformation character-
istics were also investigated. Because of the current application as
bearing resistance and the design method of a cement column,
which uses 50% strength, the modulus of elasticity by secant
(50% qu ) modulus E50 was selected to be investigated in this study.
Fig. 6 depicts the relationship between the elastic modulus values
of cement-treated clay and air-cement-treated clay and the param-
eter est. The data include the various cement contents, water con-
tent, void ratios, and curing times. The values of both mixtures can
be well characterized by using the parameter est. The relation with
R2 = 0.900 can be fitted to data of both mixtures. The regressions of
each mixture data are shown in the legend of the figure. Similar
regression results by using an exponential function are obtained
with high correlations. This suggests the validity of using the
parameter est to access the engineering properties of cement-clay
admixtures prepared in different conditions.
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Fig. 7. Relationships between parameter est and mechanical character-
istics of wet cement-treated Bangkok-KMUTT clay
Under Various Testing Conditions
The mechanical characteristic values of cement-treated Bangkok
clay tested under various loading conditions from literature are
characterized by the parameter est in Fig. 7. The clay samples in
those studies were taken from King Mongkut’s University of
Technology Thonburi (KMUTT) located in the southern part of
Bangkok, Thailand. These data include the qu from unconfined
compression tests (Jongpradist et al. 2010), the yield stress P0y from
one-dimensional compression tests (Jongpradist et al. 2011), and
the peak undrained shear strength qmax from consolidated un-
drained triaxial compression tests (Jongpradist et al. 2007).
The results of the peak undrained shear strength are normalized
with the confining pressure in the figure. Calculation of the param-
eter est for triaxial conditions must use the after-curing void ratio
with the adjusting consolidation process as indicated in Eq. (2).
The figure indicates that, for various mixing components and cur-
ing times, the parameter est has been found sufficient to character-
ize the qu and one-dimensional yield stress. The parameter est has
also been proven to characterize the normalized undrained shear
strength under triaxial compression conditions at a specific confin-
ing pressure for various mixing components. However, unlike other
mechanical properties, the linear relationship between the param-
eter est and the normalized undrained shear strength cannot be ob-
tained in the semilog space. In future developments, the stress level
may be regarded as a second parameter, which, in combination with
the parameter developed in this study, will allow a better descrip-
tion of the behavior of cement-treated clay under triaxial loading
conditions.
On the basis of limited data from only a few clay layers and a
few types of experiments in this study, the following relationship
has been derived to describe the mechanical characteristics of any
cement-treated clay:
q0 ¼ AeBest ð7Þ
where q0 = any normalized mechanical characteristics, such as
qu =pa , P0y =pa , and E=pa ; A and B are dimensionless constants;
and pa = atmospheric pressure. On the basis of the results pre-
sented, the constants A and B for different mechanical character-
istics and different clays are tabulated in Table 5. They depend
on the type of cement and the index and properties of clay, which,
in turn, depend on the clay mineralogy and composition. The
stress-level-dependent mechanical property at a specific stress level
also has a relationship with the parameter, but not in the form
of Eq. (7).
Table 5. Summary of Constants A and B for Different Clays and
Mechanical Properties
Clay Mechanical property A B
Bangkok clay—AIT qu =pa 22.3
P0y =pa 73.4
E=pa 5,339
Bangkok clay—KMUTT qu =pa 40.8
P0y =pa 41.8
Tokyo clay—Ota ward qu =pa 25.4
Tokyo clay—Chuo ward qu =pa 12.4
Conclusions
The saturation condition of cement-clay admixtures under different
applications or construction techniques is emphasized, and the role
played by water content in such mixtures is discussed. The existing
fundamental or key parameters for assessing the mechanical
properties of cement-treated clay are then reviewed. With the
results from previous studies, the additional laboratory tests on
air-cement-treated clay in this study indicate that to work with a
wide range of water contents and unsaturated conditions, both
the water content and the void ratio must be taken into account.
A new parameter, the effective void ratio, est , is developed as
C w × lnðeot =Aw Þ. Results from different test conditions on samples
with different saturation conditions, curing times, and mixing com-
ponents show the effective void ratio is an efficient parameter to
characterize the mechanical properties of wet and air-admixed ce-
ment-clay mixtures. However, the proposed parameter is developed
on the basis of limited data for specific soils and ranges of water
contents, and a broader set of studies are needed to enhance the
reliability of this parameter.
Acknowledgments
The writers gratefully acknowledge the financial support of
the Thailand Research fund (TRF) under TRF Senior Research
Scholar Contract No. RTA5380002 and King Mongkut’s Univer-
sity of Technology Thonburi under a National Research University
(NRU) project. They are also indebted to the Department of
Highways, the Ministry of Transport, and Mr. Tapakorn Sittibun
for providing facilities for the preparation of samples and assistance
in carrying out the experiments.
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