Unconfined Compression Behavior of Cement-Treated Sample Composed of Various Strength Parts

Abstract

It is well known that strength of cement-treated soil column by deep mixing method varies greatly, even at a single column, owing to the variability of in situ soil properties, the variability of mixing effectiveness and other factors. Such variability of strength should affect the overall behavior of the cement-treated soil column. This study presents the investigation on strength of cement-treated soil samples composed of various strength parts. Unconfined compression tests were conducted to reveal the strength of cement-treated soil with spatial variability. Cement-treated samples composed of two different strength parts were prepared in the tests. The experimental results showed that the strengths of the composite sample do not correspond to the mean strength of the composing parts. The different distribution of the composition causes the different unconfined compression behavior of the cement-treated soil samples, even though the mean strength of the parts composing the sample is the same. Moreover, finite element analysis was conducted to valid that the numerical analysis can describe the behavior of the composite samples. The simulation results agreed reasonably with the experimental results, indicating that the finite element analysis used in this study can appropriately describe the strength of the cement-treated soils composed of various strength parts.