Strength Assessment of Soil Cement with the Dynamic Cone Penetrometer

Soil cement is a mixture of soil, portland cement, and water that can be compacted and cured to form a pavement support layer. The Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) requires seven-day compressive strengths of cores extracted from soil cement base to be from 250 to 600 psi (1.7 to 4.1 MPa) before the contractor can receive full payment. Due to high variability in core strength results, the need developed to find an alternative method to assess the in-place strength of soil cement base. The objectives of this paper are to determine if the dynamic cone penetrometer (DCP) can be used to assess the strength of soil cement, and to establish the correlation between the DCP and the unconfined compressive strength of soil cement. Laboratory testing was performed to evaluate the suitability of the DCP, and to establish the relationship between DCP and unconfined compressive strength results over a strength range appropriate for soil cement base. The DCP was able to efficiently penetrate soil cement with strengths less than 800 psi (5.5 MPa). The recommended DCP test depth is 3 in. (75 mm), because at this depth strong correlation to compressive strength is achieved without excessive technician effort. A logarithmic function is recommended to relate the DCP results to the unconfined compressive strength of soil cement and this function is recommended for use over strengths ranging from 100 to 800 psi (0.7 and 5.5 MPa).

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AFS80 Standing Committee on Stabilization of Geomaterials and Recycled Materials.
• Authors:
  • Nemiroff, Jordan M
  • McLaughlin, Justin B
  • Schindler, Anton K
  • Anderson, J Brian
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 97th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2018-1-7 to 2018-1-11
• Date: 2018

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Photos; References;
• Pagination: 17p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Base course (Pavements); Compressive strength; Cone penetrometers; Soil cement tests
• Identifier Terms: Alabama Department of Transportation
• Subject Areas: Highways; Materials; Pavements;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01661245
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 18-02162
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 26 2018 1:44PM