Cite this article Research Article Keywords: geotechnical engineering/

Consoli NC, Carretta MS, Leon HB et al. (2020) Paper 1800243 granular materials/strength & testing of
Behaviour of cement-stabilised silty sands subjected to harsh environmental conditions. Received 03/12/2018; materials
Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers – Geotechnical Engineering 173(1): 40–48, Accepted 10/05/2019;
https://doi.org/10.1680/jgeen.18.00243 Published online 17/06/2019

ICE Publishing: All rights reserved

Geotechnical Engineering

Behaviour of cement-stabilised silty sands

subjected to harsh environmental conditions
&
1 Nilo Cesar Consoli PhD, PEng &
4 Maria Eduarda B. Schneider BSc
Professor, Graduate Programme in Civil Engineering, MSc student, Graduate Programme in Civil Engineering,
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
(corresponding author: consoli@ufrgs.br) &
5 Naiara C. Reginato MSc
(Orcid:0000-0002-6408-451X) PhD candidate, Graduate Programme in Civil Engineering,
&
2 Mariana S. Carretta MSc Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
PhD candidate, Graduate Programme in Civil Engineering, &
6 J. Antônio H. Carraro PhD
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil Senior Lecturer in Experimental Geotechnical Engineering,
&
3 Helena B. Leon MSc Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
PhD candidate, Graduate Programme in Civil Engineering, Imperial College London, London, UK
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil

1 2 3 4 5 6

This work evaluated the effect of three distinct amounts of fines, Portland cement and dry unit weights on the
accumulated loss of mass (ALM), maximum shear modulus at small strains (G0) and tensile strength (qt) of stabilised
sands subjected to wetting–drying cycles. Tensile strength test results showed that addition of fines to sand stabilised
with cement increased its tensile strength, irrespective of the dry unit weight (γd) and cement content in the mixture.
Increasing the amount of fines in compacted cement-stabilised silty sand specimens subjected to wetting–drying
cycles reduced the ALM and increased the G0 and qt of the mixtures. This may be due to the fact that specimens with
larger amounts of fines have more contact points among the particles, which provides better opportunities for the
cement to develop more efficient bonds within the soil fabric, thus improving its mechanical performance. An
increase in the cement content and γd of the compacted cement-stabilised silty sand specimens reduced their ALM and
increased G0 after each one of the 12 wetting–drying cycles. The G0 and qt of cement-stabilised silty sand specimens
with fines increased up to the sixth cycle, remaining practically constant after that, when these specimens were
subjected to wetting–drying cycles.

Notation η porosity
C cement content η/Civ porosity/cement index
Cc coefficient of curvature
Civ volumetric cement content (cement volume divided
by total volume of specimen) 1. Introduction
Cu coefficient of uniformity A dense layer of sandy soil stabilised with Portland cement
D10 equivalent particle diameter (at which 10% of the superimposed on weak soils is a widespread technique used
material weight is finer) to enhance the bearing capacity of spread footings. Similar
D30 particle diameter (at which 30% of the material approaches are used to improve base/subbase layers in pave-
weight is finer) ments and the foundation layers for pipelines. In these appli-
D50 mean particle diameter (at which 50% of the cations, failure typically starts with the development of tensile
material weight is finer) strains at the bottom of the improved layer (Consoli et al.,
D60 particle diameter (at which 60% of the material 2008, 2009; Dormon and Metcalf, 1965). To understand the
weight is finer) variations in durability, small-strain shear stiffness and tensile
G0 maximum shear modulus at small strains strength of sandy soils stabilised with early-strength Portland
mc mass of cement cement exposed to harsh environmental conditions (through
ms dry mass of soil the use of wetting–drying cycles), the assessment of their long-
qt splitting tensile strength term performance is required. However, previous studies have
R2 coefficient of determination mainly focused on clayey soils and have tried to assess whether
γd dry unit weight the improvements caused by Portland cement/lime stabilisation

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 Geotechnical Engineering
Volume 173 Issue 1
could be undermined by exposure to harsh environmental con-
ditions such as those imparted by freezing–thawing (Consoli
et al., 2017) or water circulation (Le Runigo et al., 2009). The
advantages of lime/cement stabilisation of clayey soils have
been shown to be partially lost when the stabilised soil is
exposed to harsh environmental conditions (Chittoori, 2008;
Chittoori et al., 2018; Consoli et al., 2018; Stoltz et al., 2014).
Thus, it is critical to understand the role of consecutive
drying–wetting cycles and their probable influence on
the behaviour of sandy soils stabilised with Portland cement.
Another variable that has been shown to be important in
sandy soils is the content of fines. Carraro et al. (2009) tested
various mixtures of sands with either plastic or non-plastic
fines and showed that all aspects of the mechanical behaviour
investigated in their study were affected by the amount of
fines present in the sand. They found that the addition of
non-plastic silt to the host sand increased both the peak and
critical-state friction angles. In addition, the maximum shear
modulus at small strain (G0) is affected (reduced) by the
amount of fines. Phan et al. (2016) studied the influence of
low-plasticity fines content on sand–fines specimens at a given
relative density and found that, as the fines content increased,
the internal friction angle decreased and the cohesion intercept
increased. Regarding the liquefaction of sandy soils, Wang
and Wang (2010) showed that, for a constant dry density, an
increase in fines content in sand up to 30% decreased the soil
liquefaction resistance. Eseller-Bayat et al. (2017) also showed
that clean sand specimens have a higher liquefaction resistance
than sands with up to 10% fines content. Looking at the effect
of fines content in stabilised sands, Hataf and Jamali (2018)
found that a considerable increase in the cohesion intercept of
stabilised soils can be achieved for sand specimens with up to
10% fines content.
100
90
80
Percent finer by weight: %
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0·001
Figure 1. Particle size distributions of the five samples used in this study
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Behaviour of cement-stabilised silty sands
subjected to harsh environmental
conditions
Consoli, Carretta, Leon et al.
In this study, the authors systematically evaluated the effect of
fines content (10, 20 and 30%), Portland cement content (5, 8
and 11%) and dry unit weight (14·5, 15·5 and 14·5 kN/m3) on
the accumulated loss of mass (ALM) (sum of dry mass lost
due to brushing up to a certain cycle divided by the initial
mass of the specimen), the maximum shear modulus at small
strains (G0) and the tensile strength (qt) of compacted sandy
soils stabilised with an early-strength Portland cement sub-
jected to wetting–drying cycles to emulate exposure to harsh
environmental conditions.
2. Experimental methods
2.1 Materials
High-early-strength Portland cement (PC III) (ASTM, 2016)
was used in this study to stabilise three non-plastic silty sands.
The non-plastic silty sands were obtained by adding three dis-
tinct amounts of non-plastic fines (10, 20 or 30%) to Osório
sand. Osório sand is a uniform fine silica sand with rounded
particles and a specific gravity of 2·63. A mineralogical analy-
sis conducted on the sample suggested that quartz was the pre-
dominant constituent present in the sand particles. Osório
sand is classified as SP according to the Unified Soil
Classification System (USCS) (ASTM, 2017a). Rice husk ash,
obtained from a rice company that incinerates rice husk for
power generation, was used as fines. The specific gravity of rice
husk ash was determined to be 2·20. X-ray diffraction analysis
of the rice husk ash showed the presence of cristobalite (SiO2)
as the dominant mineral and X-ray fluorescence tests revealed
that the studied ash was mainly composed of silica (91%).
Rice husk ash is classified as ML (ASTM, 2017a). The particle
size distributions of all the materials tested are presented in
Figure 1. Their physical properties are summarised in Table 1.
Osório sand
Fines (rice husk ash)
Sand plus 10% fines
Sand plus 20% fines
Sand plus 30% fines
0·01 0·1 1
Particle size: mm
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 Geotechnical Engineering Behaviour of cement-stabilised silty sands
Volume 173 Issue 1 subjected to harsh environmental
conditions
Consoli, Carretta, Leon et al.

Table 1. Physical properties of the five materials used in this study

Sand + Sand + Sand +
Sand 10% fines 20% fines 30% fines Fines

Plastic index Non-plastic Non-plastic Non-plastic Non-plastic Non-plastic

Specific gravity 2·65 2·56 2·52 2·44 2·20
Gravel (75 mm < diameter < 4·75 mm): % 0 0 0 0 0
Coarse sand (4·75 mm < diameter < 2 mm): % 0 0 0 0 0
Medium sand (2 mm < diameter < 0·425 mm): % 0 0 0 0 0
Fine sand (0·075 mm < diameter < 0·425 mm): % 97 87 77 67 0
Silt (0·002 mm < diameter < 0·075 mm): % 3 12 21 30 91
Clay (diameter < 0·002 mm): % 0 1 2 3 9
D60: mm 0·16 0·15 0·14 0·12 0·03
Mean particle diameter, D50: mm 0·14 0·13 0·12 0·10 0·023
D30: mm 0·11 0·10 0·08 0·06 0·019
Equivalent particle diameter, D10: mm 0·08 0·07 0·02 0·016 0·006
Cc 0·9 1·0 2·8 2·0 2·2
Cu 1·9 2·2 7·3 7·7 4·3
USCS classification (ASTM, 2017a) Poorly graded sand (SP) Silty sand (SM) Silty sand (SM) Silty sand (SM) Silt (ML)

According to the USCS, mixtures of Osório sand with 10,
20 or 30% of rice husk ash are classified as silty sands (SM).
The specific gravity of the Portland cement grains was 3·15.
Distilled water was employed in all stages of the testing
programme.
2.2 Specimen preparation and curing
Sample preparation started by dry mixing the sand with the
required amount of Portland cement until mixture homo-
geneity was visually observed. For all the mixtures tested, the
mass of cement (mc) used was determined based on the target
cement content (C ) and the dry mass of soil (ms) required to
prepare each specimen so that C = mc/(mc + ms). Distilled water
was then added to the mixture until mixture uniformity was
achieved. Each specimen was statically compressed in three
layers inside a cylindrical mould. Sample mixing and specimen
preparation was completed in less than 60 min. The specimen
diameter, length and mass were determined immediately after
the specimen was removed from the mould. Prior to any of the
testing procedures, all the specimens were cured for 7 d inside
a room with humidity and temperature controlled at 95% and
22° ± 2°C, respectively. Cylindrical specimens of 50 mm dia-
meter and 100 mm height were used in the splitting tensile
conducted in accordance with ASTM (2017b) using a 10 kN
loading cell with resolution of 0·005 kN. All splitting tensile
strength test specimens were submerged in water for 24 h
before testing to minimise suction effects (if suction is not
reduced to the smallest possible value (preferably zero) it can
have an undesirable strong impact on tensile strength).
This testing programme was specifically developed to evaluate
the effects of the porosity–cement ratio (by systematically
varying the dry unit weight and Portland cement content of
the specimens) and the number of wetting–drying cycles on the
tensile strength of the three artificially cemented silty sands
tested. The target compaction parameters used for specimen
preparation were selected based on the standard Proctor com-
paction curve of silty sand containing 10% fines (Figure 2).
As shown in Figure 2, three target dry unit weights (γd = 16·5,
15·5 and 14·5 kN/m3) and a single target water content of
14% were selected and used to prepare the test specimens.
17·0
16·5
Dry unit weight: kN/m3

strength testing programme. Changes in the durability and 16·0

small-strain stiffness of specimens subjected to wetting–drying
cycles were assessed using specimens of 100 mm diameter and 15·5
127 mm height (ASTM, 2015).
15·0 Sand plus 10% fines

2.3 Splitting tensile strength tests 14·5 Molding points

Sandy soil–cement layers used as a pavement base layer or a
stabilised base for spread footings usually collapse once the 14·0
tensile strength at the bottom of the stabilised layer is reached 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22
(Consoli et al., 2011; Dormon and Metcalf, 1965). As a result, Water content: %
splitting tensile strength tests have been conveniently used to
Figure 2. Standard energy compaction curve of Osório sand with
demonstrate the efficiency of Portland cement stabilisation 10% fines
for sandy soils. In this study, splitting tensile strength tests were

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 Geotechnical Engineering Behaviour of cement-stabilised silty sands
Volume 173 Issue 1 subjected to harsh environmental
conditions
Consoli, Carretta, Leon et al.

Table 2. Characteristics of specimens used in durability tests described above. These measurements were carried out before
Characteristic Value the first cycle and after 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12 cycles.
3
Dry unit weight: kN/m 15·5 16·5 3. Results and analysis
Fines content: % 30 10, 20, 30
Cement content: % 11 5, 8, 11 3.1 Tensile strength
Figure 3(a) shows the variation of the splitting tensile strength
(qt) as a function of the porosity–cement index (η/Civ), defined
as the porosity (η) divided by the volumetric cement content
These three target compaction levels were also adopted for the (Civ), the latter expressed as a percentage of cement volume
other two percentages of Portland cement used (5% and 11%), in terms of the total volume, which is raised to the adjusted
leading to a total of 27 combinations among soil type, amount exponent of 0·28 (Consoli et al., 2007, 2016) for fitting pur-
of cement and dry unit weights. poses. Best-fit trend lines (Equations 1, 2 and 3) are also
plotted in Figure 3(a), which yielded coefficients of determi-
nations (R 2) of 0·92, 0·89 and 0·92 for sands with 10, 20
2.4 Durability tests after wetting–drying cycles and 30% fines, respectively. The experimental data shown in
Durability tests following wetting and drying cycles were Figure 3(a) include measurements obtained for the three silty
carried out following ASTM (2015) on all mixtures of the sands stabilised with Portland cement after 7 d of curing. For
non-plastic silty sands stabilised with Portland cement tested each silty sand dataset shown in Figure 3, the corresponding
in this study. This allowed assessment of the loss of mass of trend line fits data that includes all three Portland cement con-
specimens due to repeated (12) wetting–drying cycles followed tents (5, 8 and 11%) and dry unit weights (14·5, 15·5 and
by brushing strokes. Each cycle started by oven drying the 16·5 kN/m3) used in the experiments.
specimen at 71° ± 2°C for 42 h. The specimens were then
brushed several times by applying a force of 13·3 N. At the !360
η
end of each cycle, the specimens were submerged in water at 1: 10% fines : qt ðMPaÞ ¼ 395  104
23° ± 2°C for 5 h. Civ028

In the test programme, the target variables used to prepare the

specimens were similar to those used for the splitting tensile !360
strength tests (i.e. sandy soil type, cement content, dry unit η
2: 20% fines : qt ðMPaÞ ¼ 511  10 4
weight and water content). However, a reduced number of Civ028
levels were used, as summarised in Table 2, leading to a total
of six combinations of soil type, amount of cement and dry
unit weight. Two specimens were prepared for each combi-
nation tested. The first specimen was submitted to the regular !360
η
brushing stroke procedure whereas the second specimen (not 3: 30% fines : qt ðMPaÞ ¼ 618  10 4
Civ028
brushed) was used to obtain the maximum shear modulus at
small strains (G0) through ultrasonic pulse velocity testing, as
described in the next section.

In addition to specimens subjected to regular durability tests, a
few well-performing specimens of silty sands containing either
10% or 30% fines stabilised with the highest Portland cement
content (11%) and dry unit weight (16·5 kN/m3) were also pre-
pared. These specimens were subjected to additional splitting
tensile strength tests after being exposed to 0, 6 and 12
wetting–drying cycles carried out using the regular durability
testing protocol, except for the brushing stage.
2.5 Ultrasonic pulse velocity tests
The measurement of ultrasonic pulse velocity followed the pro-
cedure in ASTM (2008) and was used to assess the maximum
shear modulus at small strains (G0) for the second set of
(unbrushed) specimens prepared for the ten combinations of
testing variables used in the regular durability tests, as
Consoli et al. (2011) proposed a possible expression to specify
the general relationship between qt and η/Civ for sandy soils
stabilised with Portland cement, given by
 Z
η
4: qt ¼ Y
CivD
where Y, Z and D are empirical scalar parameters that must be
determined experimentally for a given stabilised sand.
In an attempt to provide physical significance to the existing
empirical database, Diambra et al. (2018) proposed a theoreti-
cal model based on the concept of superposition of the failure
strength contributions of the sand and cement phases to estab-
lish a link between the inherent properties of sandy soil and

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 Geotechnical Engineering Behaviour of cement-stabilised silty sands
Volume 173 Issue 1 subjected to harsh environmental
conditions
Consoli, Carretta, Leon et al.

Sand plus 30% fines plus PC III → qt = 4·86 (η /Civ )–1·00, R2 = 0·80
1·0 Sand plus 20% fines plus PC III → qt = 3·90 (η /Civ )–1·00, R2 = 0·72
0·9 Sand plus 10% fines plus PC III → qt = 2·73 (η /Civ )–1·00, R2 = 0·75
Splitting tensile strength, qt: MPa

0·8 30% fines

20% fines
0·7 10% fines

0·6
0·5
0·4
0·3
0·2
0·1
0
4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
η/Civ
(a)

Sand plus 30% fines plus PC III → qt = 6·18 × 104 (η /Civ0·28 )–3·60, R2 = 0·92
1·0 Sand plus 20% fines plus PC III → qt = 5·11 × 104 (η /Civ0·28 )–3·60, R2 = 0·89
Sand plus 10% fines plus PC III → qt = 3·95 × 104 (η /Civ0·28 )–3·60, R2 = 0·92
0·9
Splitting tensile strength, qt: MPa

30% fines
0·8 20% fines
10% fines
0·7
0·6
0·5
0·4
0·3
0·2
0·1
0
20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40
η/Civ0·28
(b)

Figure 3. (a) Splitting tensile strength qt plotted against η=Civ028 for 5, 8 and 11% Portland cement and γd = 14·5, 15·5 and 16·5 kN/m3.
(b) Splitting tensile strength qt plotted against η/Civ for 5, 8 and 11% Portland cement and γd = 14·5, 15·5 and 16·5 kN/m3

Portland cement grains and the empirical coefficients of value of 3·60 derived from the experiments and used to fit
Equation 4. In summary, their analysis yields Equations 1–3.

!b
Alternatively, Equation 5 may be simply rewritten as
η
5: qt ¼ k 1=b
Civ Civ
6: qt ¼ k
ηb

where k and b are also empirical scalar parameters that

need to be determined for a given stabilised soil mixture. By
comparing the empirical and theoretically derived equations
(Equations 4 and 5, respectively) it becomes apparent that
Z (= b) and D (= 1/b) are not independent parameters. Thus,
if D = 0·28 is used (e.g. Consoli et al., 2007, 2016), then b
must be equal to 3·57, which is similar to the empirical
If no attempt is made to optimise the fitting between the
experimental data and Equation 6, resulting in qt ¼ KðCiv =ηÞ,
it can be seen from Figure 3(b) that the use of the reciprocal of
the porosity–cement index as the independent variable already
leads to coefficients of determination above 0·70. This may
have several advantages. First, the tensile strength is shown to

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 Geotechnical Engineering Behaviour of cement-stabilised silty sands
Volume 173 Issue 1 subjected to harsh environmental
conditions
Consoli, Carretta, Leon et al.

6 K = 0·1065 × Fines content + 1·70 Number of cycles

R2 = 0·99 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
5 0
0·2
4
0·4
K: MPa

3 0·6
0·8

ALM: %
2
1·0
1 1·2
1·4 γd = 16·5, 30% fines, 11% PC III
0
0 10 20 30 40 1·6 γd = 16·5, 20% fines, 11% PC lll
Fines content: % 1·8 γd = 16·5, 10% fines, 11% PC III
2·0
Figure 4. Parameter K plotted against fines content (a)

Number of cycles
be directly proportional to the volumetric cement content and 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
inversely proportional to the porosity of the mixtures, as 0
expected. Second, the resulting expression is simple and 0·2
requires evaluation of a single empirical parameter (K ). The
0·4
physical meaning of this single empirical parameter K requires
further analysis and additional knowledge of the inherent 0·6
fabric characteristics of the mixtures tested, which are outside 0·8
ALM: %

the scope of the present paper. However, the existing data 1·0
clearly show that K has a strong correlation, linearly increasing
1·2
with the amount of fines present in the mixtures tested γd = 16·5, 30% fines, 11% PC III
(Figure 4). Other fabric characteristics such as the coordi- 1·4
γd = 16·5, 30% fines, 8% PC lll
nation number (Z ) (Thornton, 2000) may be related to K as 1·6
γd = 16·5, 30% fines, 5% PC III
well, but this is out of the scope of the present study and will 1·8
need to be verified in future studies. Nevertheless, an increase
2·0 (b)
in the non-plastic fines content of the tested sands from 10 to
20% and from 10 to 30% increased the tensile strength of the Number of cycles
cement-treated silty sands by about 28 and 60% respectively, 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
irrespective of the amount of cement and dry unit weight
0
present in the mixture. A possible reason for the increase in qt
0·2
with increasing fines content is that specimens with larger
amounts of fines will have more contact points among the 0·4
particles (or a higher coordination number). This allows 0·6
greater opportunities for the Portland cement to develop more
0·8
ALM: %

efficient bonds, increasing the tensile strength of the mixture,

1·0
as suggested by Chang and Woods (1992).
1·2
3.2 Durability 1·4
Figure 5(a) shows the variation of the ALM with the number γd = 16·5, 30% fines, 11% PC lll
1·6
of wetting–drying cycles for compacted sands with 10, 20 γd = 15·5, 30% fines, 11% PC III
1·8
and 30% fines stabilised with 11% Portland cement. All speci-
mens shown in this figure were compacted to γd = 16·5 kN/m3. 2·0 (c)
Increasing the amount of fines in the compacted sandy
Figure 5. ALM plotted against number of wetting–drying cycles
soil–cement mixture reduced the ALM of the specimen after
for sands with: (a) 10, 20 and 30% fines, γd = 16·5 kN/m3 and
each of the 12 wetting–drying cycles. The reason for this 11% Portland cement; (b) 30% fines, γd = 16·5 kN/m3 and 5, 8
reduction in ALM is that specimens with greater amounts of and 11% Portland cement; (c) 30% fines, γd = 15·5 or 16·5 kN/m3
fines will have a larger number of particle contacts, which pro- and 11% Portland cement
vides better opportunities for particle bonding following

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 Geotechnical Engineering Behaviour of cement-stabilised silty sands
Volume 173 Issue 1 subjected to harsh environmental
conditions
Consoli, Carretta, Leon et al.

Portland cement hydration (Chang and Woods, 1992), thus 10 000

increasing the durability of the mixture. Figure 5(b) shows the
variation in ALM with the number of wetting–drying cycles 9000
for the sand containing 30% fines stabilised with 5, 8 or 11%
8000
Portland cement and compacted to γd = 16·5 kN/m3. As shown
in the figure, increasing the cement content of the compacted 7000

G0: MPa
sandy soil–cement mixtures reduced the ALM after each of the
12 wetting–drying cycles. Increasing the Portland cement 6000
content of a mixture leads to the development of stronger
5000
cementitious bonds among the soil particles, thus reducing the
γd = 16·5, 30% fines, 11% PC III
ALM. Finally, Figure 5(c) shows that increasing the com- 4000 γd = 16·5, 20% fines, 11% PC lll
pacted dry unit weight of the sand with 30% fines stabilised γd = 16·5, 10% fines, 11% PC III
with 11% Portland cement from 15·5 to 16·5 kN/m3 reduced
0 3 6 9 12
the ALM of the specimens by about half. The larger the γd, Number of cycles
the smaller the porosity, thus leading to an increase in the (a)
coordination number and the potential for more effective
bonding at the same cement content. γd = 16·5, 30% fines, 11% PC III
γd = 16·5, 30% fines, 8% PC lll
10 000 γd = 16·5, 30% fines, 5% PC III
3.3 Maximum shear modulus at small strains
The overall variation of the maximum shear modulus at small 9000
strains (G0) with the number of wetting–drying cycles is shown
8000
in Figure 6. As these measurements were carried out on the
second set of (unbrushed) specimens, as described earlier in the 7000
G0: MPa

paper, Figures 6(a)–6(c) refer to the same set of testing con-

ditions as in Figures 5(a)–5(c) (i.e. analyses of the effects of 6000
fines content, cement content and dry unit weight, respectively).
Thus, the graphs in Figure 6 may be thought of as mirror 5000
images of the trends shown in Figure 5, if the plots are flipped
4000
around the horizontal axis (i.e. the same factors that would lead
to an increase in ALM should cause a decrease in G0).
0 3 6 9 12
Number of cycles
Figure 6(a) shows that increasing the amount of fines in the
(b)
compacted sandy soil–cement mixture increased G0 after each
10 000
of the 12 wetting–drying cycles. As discussed earlier, this
increase in stiffness is due to the higher coordination number 9000
(or number of particle contacts), which provides better opportu-
nities for bonding development following Portland cement 8000
hydration (Chang and Woods, 1992). Interestingly, for the
7000
G0: MPa

mixture containing only 10% fines, G0 increased only up to the

end of the first cycle, remaining constant afterwards. Conversely,
6000
the G0 of the mixtures containing 20 and 30% fines continued
to increase up to about the end of the sixth cycle, remaining 5000
constant thereafter. A possible reason for this is that, for γd = 16·5, 30% fines, 11% PC III
higher fines contents, pozzolanic reactions among the Ca++ 4000 γd = 15·5, 30% fines, 11% PC lll
freed during Portland cement hydration and the excess fines
present in the mixture continue to occur for a longer period 0 3 6 9 12
(i.e. increased number of cycles). It may also be due to the more Number of cycles
effective bonding that can develop in sands containing fines (c)
with a higher coordination number/fines content as a result of
Figure 6. Maximum shear modulus at small strains G0 plotted
the more efficiently packed fabric that arises as the threshold against number of wetting–drying cycles for sands with:
fines content (Kuerbis et al., 1988) is approached. Figure 6(b) is (a) 10, 20 and 30% fines, γd = 16·5 kN/m3 and 11% Portland
equivalent to Figure 5(b) in that the effect of the Portland cement; (b) 30% fines, γd = 16·5 kN/m3 and 5, 8 and 11%
cement content is considered for silty sand with 30% fines com- Portland cement; (c) 30% fines, γd = 15·5 kN/m3 or 16·5 kN/m3
pacted to γd = 16·5 kN/m3. Increasing the cement content of the and 11% Portland cement
compacted silty sand proportionally increased the G0 of the

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 Geotechnical Engineering
Volume 173 Issue 1
Unconfined tensile strength, qt: MPa
2·00 Sand plus 10% fines
Sand plus 30% fines
1·50
1·00
0·50
0
0 3 6 9 12
Number of cycles
Figure 7. Variation of splitting tensile strength qt with number of
wetting–drying cycles for sands with 10 and 30% fines,
γd = 16·5 kN/m3 and 11% Portland cement
specimens after each of the 12 wetting–drying cycles. The
reason for this is that greater amounts of Portland cement will
develop more bonds. However, the increases in G0 stopped after
the first, third and sixth wetting–drying cycles for the specimens
with cement contents of 5, 8 and 11%, respectively. Lastly,
Figure 6(c) shows that, for the same compacted silty sand with
30% fines, an increase in γd from 15·5 to 16·5 kN/m3 increased
G0 by about 50%. This is due to the lower porosity and higher
coordination number (thus particle contacts) that allows the
Portland cement to develop more efficient bonds (Chang and
Woods, 1992), as discussed earlier.
3.4 Post-durability tensile strength
Figure 7 shows the variation in qt with the number of wetting–
drying cycles for compacted (γd = 16·5 kN/m3) silty sands with
10% and 30% fines stabilised with 11% Portland cement.
Increasing the amount of fines from 10 to 30% for these stabil-
ised silty sands increased the qt of the specimens after 0, 6 and
12 wetting–drying cycles. Similarly to previous observations,
the higher coordination number (i.e. particle contacts) and the
larger amount of fines in the silty sand with 30% fines favour-
ably increased its qt, as also shown by Chang and Woods
(1992) through scanning electron microscopy on various
cemented sands. Oven drying at 71° ± 2°C for 42 h throughout
the drying stages of the wetting–drying cycles may also have
helped to accelerate the chemical reactions induced by the
Portland cement, increasing the qt of the compacted silty sands
with 10 and 30% fines in the early cycles. As shown in
Figure 7, subsequent cycles (after the sixth cycle) did not seem
to continue to affect qt, which is consistent with the stiffness
trends shown in Figure 6(a).
4. Conclusions
The following conclusions can be made based on the results of
this study.
& Increasing the non-plastic fines content of the sands tested
from 10 to 20% and from 10 to 30% increased the tensile
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Behaviour of cement-stabilised silty sands
subjected to harsh environmental
conditions
Consoli, Carretta, Leon et al.
strength of the cement-treated silty sands by about 28 and
60%, respectively, irrespective of the cement content and
the dry unit weight of the mixture. This might be due to
the fact that specimens with greater fines content have
more contact points among the particles (i.e. a higher
coordination number), thus providing better opportunities
for the Portland cement to develop more efficient bonds.
& The relationship qt ¼ kðη=Civ028 Þ360 was found to be valid
for all of the compacted cement-stabilised silty sands tested
(with fines content ranging from 10 to 30%), where the
scalar k is proportional to the fines content of the sand.
A simpler, more fundamental form of this relationship
was shown to be qt = K(Civ/η), where K is directly related
to the fines content and/or the coordination number of
the mixture
& Increasing the fines content (from 10 to 30%) of the
compacted cement-stabilised silty sand specimens subjected
to 12 wetting–drying cycles reduced the ALM and
increased G0 and qt.
& An increase in cement content (from 5 to 11%) and γd of
the compacted cement-stabilised silty sands proportionally
decreased the ALM and increased the G0 of the specimens
after each of the 12 wetting–drying cycles.
& When subjected to wetting–drying cycles, the G0 and qt of
the cement-stabilised silty sands with 10–30% fines
increased up to the sixth cycle and remained practically
constant thereafter.
& The addition of rice husk ash fines to uniform clean silica
sand improved the overall performance of the resulting
Portland cement-stabilised silty sands subjected to harsh
environmental conditions.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank PRONEX FAPERGS/CNPq
(16/2551-0000469-2), CAPES-PROEX and CNPq (INCT-
REAGEO, Universal and Produtividade em Pesquisa) for
funding the research group.
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