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The Influence of Soil Aggregation Induced by Water Content Variation on the Engineering Behaviors of Cement-Treated Silt Subgrade

  • Geotechnical Engineering
  • Published:
KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering Aims and scope

Abstract

Water content is an important indicator of highway subgrade compaction, which has an impact on the engineering behaviors of pavement structures significantly. To study the influence of soil aggregation induced by water content variation on the engineering behaviors of silt subgrade, a series of laboratory experiments, including sieving analysis, unconfined compression tests and hydraulic conductivity tests, were conducted on the cement-treated silt subgrade. The influence of water content on the soil aggregation, unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and hydraulic conductivity were examined, respectively. The distribution range of UCS index (IUCS) and hydraulic conductivity index (Ik) were expressed accordingly. Test results demonstrate that when the water content lower than the optimum water content (wopt), the specimens are more homogeneous, the UCS increases regularly with the increase of curing time and water content, the hydraulic conductivity decreases regularly with curing time and water content increased. When the water content is higher than the wopt, the silt aggregation leads to the structural inhomogeneity of specimens, the strength decreases irregularly with the increase of curing time and water content, the hydraulic conductivity increases irregularly with the increase of curing time and water content accordingly. The soil aggregation induced by water content variation is proved to be a major reason for the ununiformly distribution of the UCS and hydraulic conductivity, the influence of which is more significant than that of binders when the water content higher than the wopt. Hence, controlling water content within 2% lower the wopt is strongly suggested to forming a more homogeneous structure of the subgrade.

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Acknowledgments

This study is partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51978159), National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2015BAB07B06). The authors are grateful to Mr. Zhenyuan Lai for his hard work in the laboratory tests and Ms. Chen Guo for technical writing check of this paper, which are essential to the successful completion of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geotechnical Engineering, School of Transportation, Southeast University, Nanjing, 211189, China

    Sai Zhang, Jianwen Ding, Zhenyuan Lai, Qinying Guo & Xing Wan

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  1. Sai Zhang
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  2. Jianwen Ding
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  3. Zhenyuan Lai
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  4. Qinying Guo
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  5. Xing Wan
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Correspondence to Jianwen Ding.

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Zhang, S., Ding, J., Lai, Z. et al. The Influence of Soil Aggregation Induced by Water Content Variation on the Engineering Behaviors of Cement-Treated Silt Subgrade. KSCE J Civ Eng 27, 4192–4204 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12205-023-3192-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12205-023-3192-0

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