Effect of water/cement ratio on properties of cement-stabilized Singapore soft marine clay for wet deep mixing application

Abstract

ABSTRACT Water/cement (w/c) ratio is a critical parameter for the wet deep mixing method. In Singapore, a relatively high w/c ratio of 1.0–1.2 is typically used , which may reduce the performance of the cement-stabilized clay. Hence, effect of w/c ratios on geotechnical properties of cement-stabilized clay is investigated. The results indicate that as the w/c ratio increases, physical properties of stabilized clay change nearly linearly . Compared with the w/c ratio of 1.2, the UCS and permeability of stabilized clays with w/c ratios of 0.6–0.8 are 65–105% higher and 77–90% lower, respectively. Although the viscosity of cement slurry increases with the w/c ratio, the change is insignificant for w/c ratio ranging from 0.8 to 1.2. It is recommended that a low w/c ratio of 0.6–0.8 is used for wet deep mixing for stabilizing soft clay if the cement slurry can be pumped to the designated ground.