Triaxial extension and tension tests on lime-cement-improved clay

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a series of undrained and drained isotropic consolidated triaxial extension, tension and compression laboratory tests on lime-cement-improved very soft clay. The main objective of these tests was to investigate the material strength and stiffness properties for stress conditions similar to those expected on the passive side of excavations where a retaining structure is supported by Deep Mixing columns. The different stress paths to failure were obtained by varying the directions of the major and minor principal stresses in a conventional triaxial test cell. The undrained tests conducted at low consolidation stresses, corresponding to depths of approximately 0–10 m below the ground surface, revealed significant differences in undrained strength depending on the directions of the major and minor principal stresses, indicating anisotropic material behavior. Based on the undrained triaxial test results, the relationship among the undrained strength, the effective consolidation stress and the over-consolidation ratio (OCR) is presented for different stress paths to failure.The experimental data from the drained tests show that a failure surface comprised of a shear failure function based on the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion and a tensile failure function based on the tensile strength and the confining stress can be applied for lime-cement-stabilized clay.