Potential of corn husk fiber for reinforcing cemented soil with high water content

Abstract

The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of corn husk fiber on properties of cemented soil with high water content. Five laboratory experiments including bleeding, flow, unconfined compression, splitting tension, and short term durability tests are conducted. The results reveal that fiber inclusion makes a contribution to the reduction of bleeding ratio and flow value. Besides, at cement content of 40 kg/m3, tensile strength and compressive strength of cemented specimens increase from 79% to 330% and from 26% to 119% when adding fiber from 3 to 15 kg/m3, respectively. The effect of fiber on tensile strength and compressive strength decreases with the increase in cement content. However, at each cement level, the enlargement of fiber content results in the reduction of loss of post-peak stress. Second tensile strength appears due to fiber inclusion and improves when fiber content increases. Under drying and wetting cycles, specimens with fiber inclusion show trivial damage, meanwhile, the cracks appear and propagate for specimens without fiber inclusion.