Compaction performance of clay stabilized with cement, silica sand and mica powder

Abstract

Cement is the most commonly used binding agent for stabilization and hardening purposes in the field of civil engineering. Unfortunately the production of cement requires an energy consuming procedure. By considering that a massive amount of heat is released from cement production, it is essential to find a replacement or a partially replacement for cement in construction. Soil stabilization with cement contributes to global warming as the production of cement generates carbon dioxide. In this paper, laboratory experimentation was carried out in order to investigate the effectiveness of cement, mica powder and silica sand as materials to stabilize clay for construction purpose. In such case, mica powder serves as a partial replacement of cement to reduce cement consumption for soil stabilization and compaction. This research work concentrates on the functions of mica powder as a pozzolanic additive, silica sand as filler, and cement as hydration agent in improving the compact ability of the stabilized soil. The compaction test with standard Proctor effort was performed on the clay specimen and the stabilized soil with various mix designs in order to identify a suitable dosage of binder for the clay stabilization. The result shows that mica powder can be beneficial for cement-soil stabilization in that it reduced the optimum water content and increased the maximum dry density of the clay. This results in a reduction of air void content for the soil. © 2015 ejge.