Soil Stabilization

with Cement
by

Dr. Neha Shrivastava,

Assistant Prof.,
Dept. of Civil Engineering

neha.ce@mnit.ac.in

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Lecture Notes: 'Soil Stabilization with Cement' by Dr. Neha Shrivastava (MNIT, Jaipur)
Definition:
Soil stabilization is the process of improving the engineering properties
of the soil and thus making it more stable. It is required when the soil
available for construction is not suitable for the intended purpose.

A cementing material or a chemical (admixture) is added to a natural

soil for the purpose of stabilization.
 Reduces permeability
 Reduces compressibility
 Increases shear strength

Basic Principles of Soil Stabilization

 Evaluating the properties of given soil
 Deciding the lacking property of soil and choose
 Effective and economical method of soil stabilization
 Designing the Stabilized soil mix for intended stability
 Durability values
Methods of Soil Stabilization
• Mechanical Stabilization
• Cement Stabilization
• Lime Stabilization
• Bitumen Stabilization
 Mechanical Stabilization
 This method is suitable for small volume of soil
 This method involves the correctly proportioning of
aggregates and soil, adequately compacted to get
mechanically stable layer
 The Basic Principles of Mechanical Stabilization are
Correct Proportioning and Effective Compaction
Desirable Properties of Soil-Aggregate Mix
 Adequate Strength
 Incompressibility
 Less Changes in Volume
 Stability with Variation in water content
 Good drainage, less frost Susceptibility
 Ease of Compaction.
Factors Affecting Mechanical Stabilization
 Mechanical Strength of aggregates
 Gradation
 Properties of the Soil
 Presence of Salts
 Compaction
Mechanical Strength
When the soil is used in small proportion to fill up the voids
the crushing strength of aggregates is important
Gradation
A well graded aggregate soil mix results in a mix with high dry
density and stability values
Properties of soil
A mix with high Plasticity Index, results poor stability under
soaking conditions. Hence it is desirable to limit the plasticity
index of the soil
Presence of Chemicals
Presence of Salts like Sulphates and mica are undesirable.
Presence of Calcium Chloride is Beneficial
Compaction
Effective Compaction is desirable to produce high density and
stability mix
 Cement Stabilization
 Soil Cement is an intimate mix of soil, cement and water,
compacted to form a strong base course
 Cement treated or cement modified soil refers to the
compacted mix when cement is used in small proportions
to impart some strength
 Soil Cement can be used as a sub-base or base course for
all types of Pavements
Factors affecting cement stabilization

 Physical properties of soil

 Cement
 Pulverisation and Mixing
 Compaction
 Curing
 Additives
Soil properties
 Particle Size Distribution
 Clay content
 Specific Surface
 Liquid limit and Plasticity Index
Cement
A increase in cement content generally causes increase in
strength and durability
Pulverisation and Mixing
Better the Pulverisation and degree of mixing, higher is the
strength. Presence of un-pulverised dry lumps reduces the
strength
Compaction
By increasing the amount of compaction dry density of the
mix, strength and durability also increases
Curing
Adequate Moisture content is to be retained in order to
accelerate the strength
Additives
There are some additives to improve properties
 Lime
 Sodium hydroxide
 Sodium Carbonate
 Calcium Chloride
 Application
• Stabilization using cement and other admixtures such
as fly ash, blast furnace slag has been adopted in
many geotechnical and highway engineering
projects. These applications include:-

(a)Shallow depth applications in the case of

improvement of subgrade, sub-base and base course of
highways and embankment material

(b) Stabilization of deep soil deposits such as soft

soils and peaty soils.
Lecture Notes: 'Soil Stabilization with Cement' by Dr. Neha Shrivastava (MNIT, Jaipur)
13
 Benefits
• Increased strength and stiffness
• Better volume stability
• Increased durability

Lecture Notes: 'Soil Stabilization with Cement' by Dr. Neha Shrivastava (MNIT, Jaipur) 14
 Factors influencing the strength and
stiffness improvement
• Cement content, water content combined into
water/cement(w/c) ratio.
• Method of compaction.
• Time elapsed between mixing and compaction.
• Length of curing.
• Temperature and humidity.

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Lecture Notes: 'Soil Stabilization with Cement' by Dr. Neha Shrivastava (MNIT, Jaipur)
 Amount of Cement
• Soil-Cement has been made with cement content
varying from 5 to 20% for satisfactory stabilization.
The following amounts of cement are usually
required:-

• For Gravels :- 5 to 10 % by weight

• For sands :- 7 to 12 % by weight
• For silts :- 12 to 15 % by weight
• For clays :- 12 to 20 % by weight

Lecture Notes: 'Soil Stabilization with Cement' by Dr. Neha Shrivastava (MNIT, Jaipur) 16
 Mixing and Moisture Content
• It is observed that mixtures made in the field
have 50 to 70 % lower strength and durability
than the similar mixtures made in the
laboratory.
• The moisture content plays two roles in soil-
cement :-
(1)It influences the compaction characteristics
(2)It furnishes water for cement hydration

Lecture Notes: 'Soil Stabilization with

Cement' by Dr. Neha Shrivastava (MNIT, 17
Jaipur)
 Construction of Soil-Cement
• Construction of soil-cement usually involves the
following operations:-
(i) Shaping the soil to be treated
(ii) Pulverizing the soil
(iii) Adding water and cement
(iv) Mixing
(v) Compacting
(vi) Finishing
(vii)curing
Lecture Notes: 'Soil Stabilization with
Cement' by Dr. Neha Shrivastava (MNIT, 18
Jaipur)
Strength gain is given by:-

Where:-
qu(t) = the UCC (unconfined compression) strength at (t) days
qu(t0) = the UCC strength at (t0)days
k = 480C for granular soils; 70C for fine grained soils
C = Cement content by weight

Lecture Notes: 'Soil Stabilization with Cement' by Dr. Neha Shrivastava (MNIT, Jaipur) 19
Effect of adding cement and blast furnace slag leads
to the following chemical reactions:-

• Hydration of cement produces Ca(OH)2. The

calcium hydroxide generated is upto 25% of the
weight of cement.
• Adsorption of Ca(OH)2 by the clay, cation
exchange reaction.
• If the clay is saturated with Ca(OH) 2, a pozzolonic
reaction between the components occurs.
Lecture Notes: 'Soil Stabilization with
Cement' by Dr. Neha Shrivastava (MNIT, 20
Jaipur)
Chemical reaction between soil and hardening agents

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Lecture Notes: 'Soil Stabilization with Cement' by Dr. Neha Shrivastava (MNIT, Jaipur)
 Case Study
(1)Results of Bergado et al (1996):-
• Results showed that mixing of 10% cement for the
soft soil of Bangkok indicated that the UC
strength and the pre-consolidation pressure are
improved by ten to twenty times and two to four
times respectively.
• The coefficient of consolidation improved by 10 to
40 times.
• Hence they considered about 10 to 15 % of
cement content as optimum content.
Lecture Notes: 'Soil Stabilization with Cement' by Dr. Neha Shrivastava (MNIT, Jaipur) 22
Influence of cement content on unconfined compression
strength Bergado et al (1996)
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Lecture Notes: 'Soil Stabilization with Cement' by Dr. Neha Shrivastava (MNIT, Jaipur)
(2) Deep soil mixing at the Jackson Lake Dam:-
• The Jackson Lake Dam was constructed in 1917 in
Wyoming.
• The dam was a hydraulic fill placed on a natural
alluvium and outwash foundation.
• The Bureau of Reclamation determined that the
dam and its foundation would be susceptible to
liquefaction and failure during a potential
earthquake.
• After considering a number of options, the Bureau
selected deep soil mixing (DSM) as the method to
improve the subsoil's and to install an upstream
cut-off wall.
Lecture Notes: 'Soil Stabilization with
Cement' by Dr. Neha Shrivastava (MNIT, 24
Jaipur)
Results obtained from the testing program showed
that:-
• DSM samples continue to increase in strength for at
least 112 days after placement.
• Water cement ratio is the key determining factor in
final strength, even more important than cement
content.
• Laboratory results run before the project
conservatively predicted field results.
• Wet mix samples generally have lower strengths
than cores taken after the column set.

Lecture Notes: 'Soil Stabilization with Cement' by Dr. Neha Shrivastava (MNIT, Jaipur) 25
• Shear strength was determined using tri-
axial and direct shear test and results
showed that there was a gain in strength by
implementing DSM technique.
• High quality and high strength columns can
be constructed using this technique.
• At the Jackson Lake project, deep soil mixing
provided an economical, reliable way of
satisfying a difficult set of technical
parameters and meeting a tight project work
schedule.
Lecture Notes: 'Soil Stabilization with
Cement' by Dr. Neha Shrivastava (MNIT, 26
Jaipur)
 Lecture Notes: 'Soil Stabilization with
Cement' by Dr. Neha Shrivastava (MNIT, 27
Jaipur)