Experimental Study on Mechanical Properties of Cement-Stabilized Soil Blended with Crushed Stone Waste

Abstract

Waste generated by the processing of natural stone poses environmental and economic problems. One promising use for stone waste is soil stabilization. In this paper, a number of tests including unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and California bearing ratio (CBR) of crushed stone were performed to study the effect of curing time, soaked and unsoaked conditions and freeze-thaw cycles on the geotechnical characteristics of cement-stabilized specimens. The results indicate that crushed stone waste can be combined with cement as a stabilizer to improve soil properties. Also the optimum moisture content (OMC) and maximum dry density (MDD) are dependent on the cement content and almost independent of the crushed stone waste content. The CBR increased significantly as the crushed stone waste and cement contents increased under both soaked and unsoaked conditions, but these had little effect on the UCS at curing times of less than 14 days. Cement-stabilized specimens with 10% crushed stone waste showed a significant increase in UCS. The CBR and UCS of unsoaked specimens were higher than for soaked specimens at different crushed stone waste and cement contents. The CBR and UCS values increased with an increase in curing time. However, the curing time had a more obvious effect on UCS than on CBR.