Cyclic Properties of Artificially Cemented Gravel-Silty Clay Mixed Soils

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to provide an insight into the effect of fine content (FC) on the artificially cemented gravel-silty clay mixed soils (CMS) in terms of strength, deformation, effective stress path and pore pressure response by undrained cyclic triaxial tests. In addition, some cyclic triaxial tests were also conducted on remolded gravel-silty clay mixed soils (RMS) under the same test conditions in order to evaluate the effect of cementation provided by the cementitious material. The corresponding cyclic responses, such as the generation and accumulation of axial strain, pore pressure and effective stress path, are compared across a range of CMS and RMS. A constant 5% percentage (by weight) of calcium oxide in mixed soils with four different ratios of fine content (13%, 30%, 50% and 70%) are tested under four types of confining pressures, 50 kPa, 100 kPa, 200 kPa and 300 kPa respectively. The results demonstrate that: an increase in fine content leads to decrease in both strength and liquefaction resistance, but accelerate the strain accumulation and pore pressure development. The cyclic responses of CMS exhibit “hysteresis” significantly compared with those of RMS due to the bonding strength between soil particles.