A study of the effect of various curing techniques on the strength of stabilized peat

Abstract

This article describes a laboratory study on the effects of various curing techniques adopted for the stabilization of peat with cement. The change in the strength of the samples was evaluated using the Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) test. Cement at 15%, 30%, and 50% weight was added to stabilize the peat samples. The peat samples were then cured using three different methods. The methods of curing used in the study were: air curing, moist curing, and moist curing with surcharge load. The UCS test was conducted on stabilized samples of peat after curing for 28, 90 and 180 days. It was observed from the test results that samples stabilized with 15% OPC (Ordinary Portland Cement) showed a much lower UCS value. With air curing, although samples with 50% OPC showed the highest UCS values, there was not much increase in UCS values compared to samples with 30% OPC. With moist curing, the samples showed an increase in strength with an increase in OPC content. Also, the percent increase in UCS values is the most with 50% OPC. For the samples stabilized with moist curing together with surcharge load, the highest UCS values were obtained with 50% OPC. The use of the moist curing technique for all the samples, regardless of OPC content or curing periods provides the lowest UCS values when compared with the same type of samples used in the other two curing techniques. 50% OPC and moist curing with surcharge load technique shows the highest percent increase in UCS values.