Evaluation of Pozzolanic Activity for Effective Utilization of Dredged Sea Soil

Abstract

In this work, pozzolanic activities of dredged sea soil from two different sources (South Harbor at Busan and Jangsaengpo Harbor at Ulsan) in Republic of Korea were investigated. Dredged sea soil used for this work has passed through a patented purification process, and particle size distribution, X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction, and thermogravimetry/differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA) were utilized to understand its chemical and mineralogical characteristics. Temperature for heat treatment of dredged sea soil were determined using data obtained from TG/DTA, and pozzolanic activities of dredged sea soil samples were investigated by tracking the amount of calcium hydroxide spent for pozzolanic reaction as well as by monitoring the enhancement on 28 day compressive strength. According to the results, dredged sea soil samples from Jangsaengpo Harbor, which contains some amount of silt sized minerals, showed clear pozzolanic activity after heat treatment at 500 °C. However, dredged sea soil samples from South Harbor did not exhibit strong pozzolanic reaction due to its larger particle size. At least, it was found that dredged sea soil samples have possibility to be used as a pozzolanic material after proper heat treatment if the size distribution of the particle contains certain amount of silt.