Strength and Durability of Cement-Treated Lateritic Soil

Norshakila Abdul Wahab,Mohammad Jawed Roshan,Siti Norafida Jusoh,Muhammad Azril Hezmi,Ahmad Safuan A Rashid,Sakina Tamassoki,Nik Daud Nik Norsyahariati

doi:10.3390/su13116430

Abstract

The transportation infrastructure, including low-volume roads in some regions, needs to be constructed on weak ground, implying the necessity of soil stabilization. Untreated and cement-treated lateritic soil for low-volume road suitability were studied based on Malaysian standards. A series of unconfined compressive strength (UCS) tests was performed for four cement doses (3%, 6%, 9%, 12%) for different curing times. According to Malaysian standards, the study suggested 6% cement and 7 days curing time as the optimum cement dosage and curing time, respectively, based on their 0.8 MPa UCS values. The durability test indicated that the specimens treated with 3% cement collapsed directly upon soaking in water. Although the UCS of 6% cement-treated specimens decreased against wetting–drying (WD) cycles, the minimum threshold based on Malaysian standards was still maintained against 15 WD cycles. On the contrary, the durability of specimens treated with 9% and 12% cement represented a UCS increase against WD cycles. FESEM results indicated the formation of calcium aluminate hydrate (CAH), calcium silicate hydrate (CSH), and calcium aluminosilicate hydrate (CASH) as well as shrinking of pore size when untreated soil was mixed with cement. The formation of gels (CAH, CSH, CASH) and decreasing pore size could be clarified by EDX results in which the increase in cement content increased calcium.

Highlights

Increasing population and demands have resulted in vast construction of the transportation infrastructure
The results revealed that the required minimum unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of 4 MPa, based on Australian standards, was achieved using 2% cement with 7 days curing for reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) and 4% cement with 28 days curing for recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) and crushed brick (CB)
Considering Malaysia Public Works Department (MPWD) standards, the obtained results indicated that untreated lateritic soil could not be utilized as road pavement for low-volume roads unless stabilized with cement

Summary

Introduction

Increasing population and demands have resulted in vast construction of the transportation infrastructure. Urbanization has been developed, and most Malaysian people live in urban areas, rural roads are still significant for rural inhabitants to travel and carry their goods conveniently. The total length of roads across Malaysia is about. 216,837 km, of which about 25% (i.e., 52,801 km) is unpaved road (i.e., low volume road), constructed conventionally of gravel [1]. Lateritic soil, which is widespread in tropical countries, including Malaysia, could replace gravel in low-volume roads. Lateritic soil can be divided into coarse grain and fine grain, some researchers have used different classification methods. Lacroix [3] classified laterite soils, based on chemical properties, as true laterites, silicate laterites, and lateritic clays

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Conclusion