On the strength of saturated cement-treated soil reconstituted by wet-mixing

Cutter Soil Mixing (CSM) is a recently developed deep mixing technique that has grown to include the treatment of sandy and silty soils. This study seeks to investigate the influence of (i) sand-silt ratio, (ii) cement content, (iii) water content and (iv) time on the unconfined compressive strength of saturated cement-treated soil specimens. A new test device and method of specimen reconstitution were conceived in order to obtain a saturated mix of soil and cement. A comparison of results show strength increases non-linearly to decreasing total water-cement ratio, and that this trend is largely independent of sand-silt ratio. Furthermore, strength increases non-linearly with time and is independent of sand-silt ratio. Lastly, it is recommended that the strength be correlated with total water-cement ratio rather than cement content, in order to improve data reporting and provide design guidance to engineering practice.Applied Science, Faculty ofCivil Engineering, Department ofGraduat