Shear strength behavior of cement treated marine clay

The in-situ deep cement mixing method is an established technique for improving the strength and reducing settlement of soft soil deposits. In practice, upon completion of the cement treatment, the improved ground will be left for curing over a specific period of time, before commencement of construction activities. In the case of deep mixing, curing takes place under the overburden pressures, at deeper depths. Studies on the influence of curing stress on the stress-strain and strength characteristics of cement stabilized clays are limited. The role of curing stress on the strength behavior of the cement treated soil is studied in this paper. Consolidated undrained triaxial compression tests performed on cement treated samples cured with and without stress are mainly focused. Marine clay from Ennore, near Chennai, India, excavated at a depth of 1.5 m was selected for the study. The range of cement contents selected were 10%, 15% and 20% with curing time of 28 days. The curing stresses adopted were 0, 50, 100 and 200 kPa. Additional tests were also conducted to study the effect of lower cement content of 5% and the effect of higher confining pressures.