Chapter 5 - Structuration and Destructuration Behavior of Treated Clay

CHAPTER 5 - STRUCTURATION AND DESTRUCTURATION BEHAVIOR

OF TREATED CLAY

5.1 Introduction

This chapter examines the structuration and destructuration behavior of cement-

treated soft clay and their relation to the observed microstructural behavior. The

stress-strain as well as strength and compressibility characteristics of cement treated

clay are first examined through Unconfined Compression, Oedometer Consolidation

and Isotropically Consolidated Undrained (CIU) triaxial test for different cement

content and curing time. The term structuration (formation of cementation bond) and

destructuration (breaking of cementation bond) phenomenon are then explained and

verified through the induced microstructures. Apart from clarifying the change in

strength and compressibility behavior, the influence of local axial strain measurement

transducer on the stiffness and destructuration of treated clays is examined.

5.2 Compressibility Behavior of Treated Clay

5.2.1 Void Ratio-Pressure Relations

Oedometer consolidation tests were performed for both untreated and treated clay

samples. Fig. 5.1a shows the e-logσv’ relationship of untreated and treated clay

samples. Test results show that the apparent pre-consolidation pressure (yield stress)

increases significantly when the cement content is ≥10%. The significant increase in

yield stress of the untreated clay owing to the inclusion of cement were also observed

by many other researchers (e.g. Tremblay et al., 2001; Miura et al., 2001; Uddin et al.,

1997). Test results also suggest that at low percentage of cement content (i.e. C=5%),

there is minimal cementation effect in the treated clay matrix. It seems to suggest that

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a certain amount of cement is required to complete the interaction between cement

and clay in order to form the primary and secondary cementitious materials. The

increase of apparent pre-consolidation pressure is due to the effect of structuration

(i.e. creation of cementation bond) of treated clay particles. At consolidation pressure

less than the respective apparent pre-consolidation pressure, the void ratio of the

treated samples reduces with the increase in cement content. However, at

consolidation pressure beyond the apparent pre-consolidation pressure, the reverse

trend is observed. It is also found that the change of void ratio is very small for the

pressure range before the respective apparent pre-consolidation pressure. Similarly,

the volumetric compressibility of the treated samples is also shown to be very small

and the stiffness is very high within its pre-consolidation pressure range as shown in

Fig 5.1b. This implies that there is an effect of structuration within the pressure range

before the apparent pre-consolidation pressure and hence the behavior of the sample is

found to be relatively rigid. Furthermore, beyond the apparent pre-consolidation

pressure (post yield stress), the reduction of void ratio with the increase in

consolidation pressure is very significant for all ranges of cement content. This is

because of the apparent destructuration (i.e. breaking of cementation bond) of the

treated clay matrix, when it is stressed beyond the pre-consolidation pressure. At this

stage the effect of cementation bond is minimum and the fabric of the treated clay

plays a dominant role on the compressibility characteristics. Results also show that

beyond the apparent pre-consolidation pressure, the treated curves shifted parallel

with the increase of cement content having higher void ratios. This leads to the

conclusion that the yield surface and failure envelope of the treated clay increases

with the increase of cement content. Similar behavior of treated clay before and after

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the pre-consolidation pressure range is also found in the isotropically consolidated

samples as shown in Fig 5.2.

To verify the effect of apparent destructuration, two treated soil samples with 50%

cement content were stressed up to a consolidation pressure of 1600 and 6400 kPa,

and SEM analysis was carried out as shown in Fig. 5.3. In these two tests, SEM

samples were obtained in the vertical plane after consolidation to the desired stresses.

As can be seen from Fig 5.3b, the treated clay matrix appears in the form of large

clay-cement cluster associated with large inter-cluster void space when it is not

stressed. When the sample is stressed up to the consolidation pressure of 1600 kPa,

the large clay-cement clusters collapse and inter-cluster void spaces reduce, but small

intra-cluster pores still remain as it was, as shown in Fig 5.3c. At very high

consolidation pressure (i.e.6400 kPa), as can be seen from Fig. 5.3d, both inter and

intra-aggregate pore spaces reduce significantly, and thereby reduce the resulting void

ratio. Results from the particle size distribution analysis as shown in Fig. 5.4 suggests

that the treated clay particles are not broken even though the sample is stressed at

6400 kPa. Thus, the SEM images in Fig 5.3, suggest that only the clay-cement cluster

collapses at high stresses and the collapsing is progressive. The largest inter-cluster

voids are reduced at moderate consolidation pressure. The small intra-cluster pores

are not compressed until the pressure far beyond the pre-consolidation pressure, and

at that time all inter-cluster voids would have been collapsed. It is noticed that the

void ratio of the 50 % cement treated clay even at pressure of 1600 kPa is always

higher than the void ratio of the untreated clay at that pressure (as in Fig 5.1a). This is

because the treated clay has a larger pore volume than the untreated clay as can be

seen from the SEM images of Fig. 5.3a and 5.3c.

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From the e-logσ′v relationship in Fig. 5.1a, the swelling characteristics of treated clays

are found to be different from the untreated ones. Swelling index of treated clay is

much smaller than the untreated one and such relatively rigid type of swelling

behavior is consistent with the heavily over-consolidated natural soil. For treated

clays, the swelling curve is almost parallel to the loading curve of the initial part of

the consolidation curve. The swelling curves of the treated clays with different cement

content are nearly parallel and are not much affected by the cement content. This

indicates that after the progressive destructuration, the treated clays show significant

plastic deformation, which is resisted by the soil fabric only.

The effect of curing time on e-logσ′v relationship of treated clays is shown in Fig.5.5a.

The treated samples show very high pre-consolidation pressure for the cases of longer

curing periods. This result shows a consistent trend as compared with the other

researcher’s findings on different cement treated clays (e.g. Uddin et al., 1997; Miura

et al., 2001). Similar improvement is also found in the isotropic consolidated samples

as shown in Fig. 5.6. As in Fig. 5.5a, the prolonged cured treated sample (365 days

sample) shows much higher apparent pre-consolidation than that of 28 days cured

ones. Thus, the volumetric compressibility of the treated clay is found to be very

small for the pressure less than the apparent pre-consolidation pressure as shown in

Fig 5.5b. This indicates that the pozzolanic reaction continues beyond 28 days and

even till 365 days of curing periods, and thus the effect of structuration (cementation

bond) is very significant. The resulting effect of this prolonged curing is to increase

the yield surface and failure envelope remarkably.

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Similar to the increase of cement content and curing time, the reduction of initial

water content of the clay slurry greatly influenced the pre-consolidation pressure

(yield stress) of the treated clays as can be seen in Fig.5.7. As the initial water content

of the clay slurry decreases, the yield stress of the treated clay increases significantly.

5.2.2 Compression Indices and Apparent Compression Index

The compression indices of treated clays in terms of Cc and Cr are calculated for

different cement content and curing periods as shown in Fig. 5.8. It should be noted

that the Cr value of treated clay is calculated from the initial loading of the e-logσv’

curve (i.e. slope of e-logσv’ curve before the yield stress). As can be seen, Cr value of

treated clay decreases with the increase of cement content. For cement content of

≥30%, the subsequent reduction of Cr values is very marginal and approaching almost

zero. This is due to the effect of cementation of the treated clay as explained in the

earlier section. The value of Cr is important for treated clays, as the in-situ stress range

is often lower than the pre-consolidation pressure in most of the field projects. On the

other hand, the reduction of Cc with the increase of cement content is found to be

minimal. It is also noted that the Cc of treated clay much higher than that of untreated

clay (Cc untreated = 0.85). This observation is consistent with the findings of Liu and

Carter (1999), which showed that during virgin yielding, the structured soil is more

compressible than the reconstituted soil. Thus, at higher stress level (beyond the

apparent pre-consolidation pressure), the treated samples seems to exhibit normally

consolidated behavior with larger Cc. As regard to the effect of curing time, due to the

formation of weak cementation bond at the end of 7 days curing periods, the

compression indices are found to be higher than that of 28 days curing periods.

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Further details analysis of e-logσ′v characteristics of treated clays reveal that the

typical compression plane look like as in Fig. 5.9, of which it has almost a straight

line (i.e. AB) followed by a highly non-linear curve BCD. It is found that beyond the

straight line (i.e. point B) the change of void ratio increases with the increase of

certain level of vertical stress (i.e. point C) and thereafter decreases, and approaches

to asymptotic (i.e. point D). This can be explained with the fact that the behavior of

the treated clay initially governs due to the structuration of treated clay particles and

thereafter progressive destructuration take place. At higher stress, which is far beyond

the apparent pre-consolidation pressure (i.e. at point D), the additional void ratio of

the treated clay due to the structuration diminishes and hence a complete

destructuration incurs.

As explained earlier that the loading portion of e-logσ′v curve has a wide range of

non-linearity, thus the instantaneous slope of the loading portion of e-logσ′v curve of

treated clays is defined as apparent compression index (Cac). Figure 5.10 illustrates

the Cac -logσ′v characteristics of treated and untreated clays. As can be seen, the

remoulded untreated clay shows almost no change of Cac due to variation of vertical

stresses. On the other hand, the Cac of the treated clay increases with the increase of

vertical stress (i.e. up to point C in Fig 5.10, which depends on the respective cement

content) and thereafter decreases to a value close to the remoulded untreated clay (i.e.

point D). Uddin et al. (1997) also found similar increase of compression index with

the increase of vertical stress for cement treated Bangkok clay. It is noted that the rate

of increase of Cac up to a low level of stress (i.e. at point B) is very small. Similar

behavior of Cac with the increase of vertical stresses is also observed due to the

variation of curing time as can be seen in Fig. 5.11. Test results reveal that the change

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of Cac between the samples cured at 28 days and 365 days is severe at a particular

consolidation pressure. It seems that at prolonged curing period, the treated clay

attains the behavior as that expected behavior from the higher cement content.

Thus, the compression characteristics of treated clays clearly indicate that the

behavior is initially governed by the structuration of treated clay particles and

thereafter-progressive destructuration occurs. A complete destructuration can only

take place at higher stress (i.e. at point D in Fig 5.10, which is far beyond the apparent

pre-consolidation pressure of that respective cement content). The magnitude of this

particular level of stress depends on the cement content and curing time, which in turn

affect the quantity and distribution of the resulting cementation bond.

5.3 Shear Behavior of Treated Clay

5.3.1 Unconfined Compression Test - Stress-Strain and

Strength Characteristics

The unconfined compressive strength behavior of cement treated soft Singapore

marine clay has been extensively studied. In these series of experiments wide range of

cement content and prolonged curing periods are considered. The cement content

varies from 5-60%, while the curing periods varies from 7 to 365 days. Figs.5.12 to

5.13 show the stress-strain curves from unconfined compressive tests on cement-

treated marine clay having curing periods of 28 and 365 days. In these tests, the axial

strain was also measured using a pair of Hall’s effect local small strain transducers

(Clayton et al., 1989) over the central 50mm length in-addition to the conventional

LVDT. As Fig. 5.12 shows, even at very low cement content, the increase in strength

and stiffness is evident. At low cement content, (i.e. C≤10%), ductile behavior is

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manifested, with the post-peak stress decreasing gradually with strain in the same

manner similar to that exhibited by natural marine clay. At higher cement content, the

treated specimen becomes much more brittle, with abrupt drops in the post-peak

stress; which is more akin to that of highly structured or sensitive natural soils

(Leroueil and Vaughan, 1990). This behavior is consistent with the findings of many

other researchers on different cement treated clays (e.g. Uddin et al., 1997; Miura et

al., 2001). The shear behavior of the treated soil in unconfined compression test up to

the peak failure state depends on the cementation bond, and thus the shear behavior of

pre-failure state is predominantly elastic in nature. The brittleness and abrupt

dropping of post peak stress is much more pronounced for prolonged curing periods

as can be seen in Fig. 5.13. It is interesting to note that the behavior of cement treated

clay at conventional 28 days curing periods and at prolonged curing periods (i.e.365

days) is very different. As Fig. 5.13 shows, at higher cement content (e.g. 50% or

60%), the deviator stress increases abruptly associated with a very low strain followed

by a sudden reduction of post peak stress to a very low residual value. The behavior

of these treated samples at higher cement content seems to be similar to that of a

brittle material, while at low cement content the behavior is basically consistent with

the highly structured natural soil. Comparing Fig. 5.12 and 5.13, it can be seen that

the failure strain is generally higher for 28 days cured samples than that of 365 days

cured samples even at higher cement content, and the post peak reduction is much

more gradual as explained earlier.

As shown in Fig. Fig.5.14, the 7-day strength increases with cement content are very

different from the 28 days, 90 days and 365 days strength. The 7-day strength

increases almost proportionately with the cement content throughout the range of

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cement content investigated. This is consistent with the fact that the 7-day strength is

contributed largely by the short-term hydration reaction, which depends only on the

amount of cement. On the other hand, for longer curing periods the strength shows a

more complex set of changes as it is likely to be more reliant upon pozzolanic

reaction than the hydration reaction. For 28 days cured samples, the strength gain is

very rapid when the cement content is in the range of 5 to 50%. As the cement content

exceeds 50%, the strength gain with increasing cement content moderates to a slower

rate and then almost stabilizes. The cement content at which this stabilization occurs

is dependent upon the variation of curing periods. At 28 days curing periods, the

stabilization occurs at 50% cement content, while at 90 days and 365 days the

stabilization occurs at 45% and 40% cement content respectively. Thus the critical

cement content to achieve the stabilization of strength decreases with the increase of

curing periods as indicated in Fig. 5.14. This result has significant practical

implications in the jet grouting/deep cement mixing projects at which the amount of

cement content can be reduced if longer curing period is permitted to achieve the

required strength.

Based on the observation, the unconfined compressive strength and cement content

relationship can be divided into 3 zones: Inactive Zone, Active Zone and Inert Zone.

The cement content up to 5% shows only very marginal improvement of unconfined

compressive strength even at 365 days of curing, and is termed as inactive zone. It

seems to suggest that a certain percentage of cement (say more than 5%) is required to

complete the hydration as well as pozzolanic reaction between cement and clay

particles. The end result of the complete cementation is to increase the shear strength

and this zone is termed as active zone. The upper limit of this zone is about to 50% of

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cement content. In this zone, significant improvement of strength is observed with

increasing cement content and longer curing time. The rapid gain in strength is

attributable to the fact that the pozzolanic reactions permit the efficient distribution of

available Ca2+ ions within the treated clay matrix. Thus, the bridging (cementation)

effect is very significant. This notion is supported by Table 4.5, which shows that the

unconfined compressive strength due to 7.38% of cement and 5% of pure CaO are the

same, with both of them having the same amount of Ca++ ions. This is because both

specimens produce the same amount of cementitious product since they have the same

amount of Ca++ ions.

Beyond the active zone, the rate of increase of strength reduces and seems to be

asymptotic. Such region is referred here as inert zone. The possible reason for such

zone lies on that, the reactions are still going on but with greater difficulty for calcium

ions to diffuse within the treated clay matrix such that no further improvement of

strength is observed. The greater difficulty may arise due to the exhaustion of cement

content, which leads to the imbalance proportion of calcium ions and soil

silica/alumina.

The formation of cementitious product due to the hydration and pozzolanic reaction

increases with the increase of curing time, and thus the rate of development of

strength also increases. This can be explained from the comparison of the

development of strength both in short term as well as prolonged curing time as can be

seen in Fig. 5.14. Test results suggest that the pozzolanic reaction is very significant

at prolonged curing time and even continues up to 1 year. This can be explained with

the fact that at 365-day curing periods, significant portion of Ca2+ ions diffuses within

the treated clay matrix to permit the pozzolanic reaction. The difference in strength

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between 7 days and 28 days strength increases in active zone and then remain almost

constant in inert zone. Similar behavior is also observed for 90 days and 365 days

strength. This notion can be explained with the fact that even at prolonged curing

time, the rate of pozzolanic reaction does not increase for all ranges of cement

content. Beyond a certain percentage of cement content, greater difficulty arises for

calcium ions to diffuse within the treated clay matrix due to the exhaustion of cement

particles, even at prolonged curing periods. Thus no further improvement of strength

is observed.

Fig. 5.15 illustrates the effect of initial water content on unconfined compressive

strength of treated clays. For 7 days and 28 days strength, the effect of initial water

content seems to be significant at all ranges of cement content (5-60%). Samples with

90% initial water content resulted in a higher strength as compared to the samples

with initial water content of 120%. Similar consistent trend of findings were also

observed by Yin and Lai (1998) for Hong Kong marine deposit treated with cement at

different initial water content. For clay with high initial water content, a lower

strength is attained. This could be due to the lesser cement particles per unit volume

of the treated mixture. The other possible reason is due to the increase of average

distance between the reacting clays and cement particles.

5.3.2 Undrained Triaxial Compression Test

5.3.2.1 Stress-Strain and Pore Pressure Characteristics

The undrained triaxial compression behavior of cement treated Singapore marine clay

was investigated through a series of isotropically consolidated undrained (CIU)

triaxial compression tests. The curing periods of 7 and 28-day samples having cement

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content of 10, 30 and 50 % were considered in the test series. The effective confining

pressure applied in the test series was 50, 100, 300, 500 and 1000 kPa. In these series

of experiment, axial strain was also measured using Hall’s effect local small strain

transducers (Clayton et al., 1989) over the central 50mm length of the sample in

addition to the conventional LVDT. The effect of confining pressure on deviator

stress-axial strain (q,εa) and excess pore pressure-axial strain (u,εa) relationship of

cement treated clays is shown in Fig. 5.16. In this test series, the “B” value was

measured about 0.9. Considering at 10% cement treated clays as shown in Fig. 5.16a,

the peak deviator stress of treated clays increases with the increase of confining

pressures. The increase in confining pressures induces higher excess pore water

pressure as shown in Fig. 5.16b. Similar results were also reported by other

researchers on different cement treated clays (e.g. Porbaha et al., 2000; Uddin et al.,

1997). It is also found that the samples consolidated at 50 and 100 kPa confining

pressure, the difference of peak deviator stresses is minimal and strain hardening

behavior is observed. On the other hand, when the confining pressure more than 300

kPa, the deviator stress increases to a peak value and then strain softens to a lower

value of q. The significant difference of the peak deviator stresses with the increase

of confining pressure is due the significant volume changes during the consolidation

stages of the soil sample as shown in Fig. 5.2. Similar characteristics of deviator

stress-axial strain (q,εa) and excess pore pressure-axial strain (u,εa) relationships at

different confining pressure are also observed at higher cement content as shown in

Fig. 5.17 (B value measured ~ 0.9) and 5.18 (B value measured ~ 0.85). Test results

reveal that at higher cement content (e.g. as in Fig. 5.18), the treated clay showed

strain softening behavior in all ranges of confining pressure investigated even at

higher confining pressure. Minor difference of peak deviator stresses up to the

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confining pressure of 300 kPa is observed as can be in Fig. 5.18a. This is due to the

minor volume changes during the consolidation stages of these samples as mentioned

earlier in Fig. 5.2. At very low confining pressure (i.e. 50 kPa), the treated clay shows

heavily overconsolidated behavior as it develops significant negative pore water

pressure (Fig.5.18b).

The effect of cement content on (q,εa) and (u,εa) characteristics of treated clays are

shown in Figs.5.19 and 5.20 for confining pressure of 50 and 1000 kPa respectively.

As can be seen that the peak deviator stress increases with the increase of cement

content and a more brittle type of failure is observed for higher cement content. At

low confining pressure (i.e. 50 kPa) as shown in Fig. 5.19, sample with 10% of

cement treated shows strain hardening behavior and induces positive excess pore

pressure. The behavior of this sample is consistent with the natural soil (e.g. Burland,

1990). As the cement content increases to 50%, significant strain softening behavior is

observed and negative excess pore pressure develops. This can be explained with the

fact that at higher cement content, the strength of the cementation bond is higher.

Hence, the behavior of such treated clays is consistent with the heavily over-

consolidated natural structured soil. At higher confining pressure (i.e. 1000 kPa) as in

Fig. 5.20, even at 10% cement content the treated sample shows strain softening

behavior although significant volume changes occur during the consolidation stage.

This implies that during the consolidation stage, the sample was cured under 1000 kPa

confining pressure and the cementation bond becomes stronger. Subsequently, some

degree of destructuration (breaking of cementation bond) occurs, as indicated by a

very high volume change during the consolidation stage. On the other hand, at 50 %

cement content, the treated sample shows higher peak deviator stress and then strain-

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softens to a lower value of q. The change of volume of such treated clays is very small

at the consolidation stage and does not yield. Hence, the higher peak deviator stress

with greater strain softening is due to the strength of the cementation bond, which

came into affect only at and after 28 days curing period but not during the

consolidation stage. It is noted that the pore pressure versus axial strain responses of

this sample at higher confining pressure is also similar to that of deviator stress versus

axial strain responses. Thus, the volume change characteristics during the

consolidation stage affects the stress-strain as well as pore pressure behavior of

treated clays under shear.

The effect of curing time on (q,εa) and (u,εa) characteristics of treated clays is shown

in Fig. 5.21. Test results reveal that both the peak deviator stress and excess pore

pressure increase with the increase of curing time. It can be seen that the amount of

strain softening is greater for 28 days cured samples than that of 7 days cured

samples. The development of higher peak stress and greater strain softening with the

increase of curing time is due to the formation of stronger cementitious bond in the

treated clay matrix at longer curing time. It is also noted that as the confining pressure

increases, the samples exhibit greater difference of peak deviator stress and excess

pore pressure due to the variation of curing time. This is because at higher confining

pressure, the difference of the volume changes during the consolidation stages

between the samples cured at 7 days and 28 days is higher as can be seen in Fig. 5.6.

5.3.2.2 Normalized Stress-Strain Behavior

The stress-strain behavior of natural structured soil depends on the mean normal

effective stress (p’), (Coop, 1990; Coop and Atkinson, 1993; Cuccovillo and Coop,

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1999). Thus the deviator stress of cement treated clay is normalized as q/p’. The effect

of confining pressure on q/p’ and εa relationship of treated clays are shown in Fig.

5.22 for different cement content. Test results suggest that the peak stress ratio

(q/p’)peak decreases with the increase of confining pressure in all ranges of cement

content investigated. The behavior of these samples can be categorized based on the

different confining pressure applied during shearing. Considering at 10% cement

content as in Fig. 5.22a, at low confining pressure (i.e. 50 kPa), which is far lower

than the yield stress of the sample, the volume change of this sample at the

consolidation stage is very small. The strength of the cementation bond of this sample

is very high relative to the confining pressure, and thus the sample yields during shear

with a well-defined peak at lower strain. The yield point of this sample is near the

vicinity of the peak stress state after which breaking of the cementation bond starts.

At intermediate confining stress (i.e. 100 kPa), which is at the vicinity of the yield

stress of the sample, although there is volume changes but the cementation bonds are

intact during the consolidation stage. This type of sample also yields during shear but

the yielding can occurs only after the breaking of cementation bond. The initial

stiffening of the stress-strain behavior is governed by the cementation bond and

thereafter fabric of the treated clay. At higher confining stress (i.e. 1000 kPa), which

is beyond the yield stress of the sample and has probably subjected to the apparent

destructuration during the consolidation stages. For this type of sample, there is very

little influence of cementation during shearing. The fabric plays a dominant role in the

shearing and thus the behavior of this type of sample is ductile in nature.

Further test results reveal that the peak stress ratio increases with the increase of

cement content as shown in Figs. 5.23 and 5.24 for confining pressure of 50 and 1000

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kPa respectively. This is attributed to the fact that the cementation bond increases

with the increase of cement content. In all ranges of cement content investigated in

this study, at very low confining stress (i.e. 50 kPa) as in Fig. 5.23, cementation bond

is dominant up to the peak stress and then strain softens as discussed above. The

degree of strain softening is proportional to the increase of cement content. At higher

confining stress (i.e.1000 kPa) as in Fig.5.24, the 10% cement treated sample shows

highly non-linear behavior up to the peak stress. As the cement content increases to

50%, the degree of non-linearity decreases significantly. This is due to the fact that at

higher cement content, even at 1000 kPa confining pressure, the treated sample does

not yield during the consolidation stage and thus cementation bond plays a role during

the shearing stage. Hence, rigid type of behavior of this sample is observed even up to

the peak state and then destructuration takes place progressively. At the completion of

destructuration, the fabric of the treated clay controls the behavior. On the other hand,

at low cement content (i.e. C = 10%), the fabric of the treated clay controls the

behavior except at very initial stage of the shearing; the behavior is partly controlled

by cementation bonding.

The effect of curing time on q/p’-εa relationship of treated clays is shown in Fig.5.25.

It is found that as the curing time increases from 7 days to 28 days, the peak stress

(q/p’peak) also increases due to the formation of stronger cementation bond at 28 days

curing time. At low confining stress (i.e. 100 kPa), the samples show very marginal

differences of peak stress ratio due to the variation of curing time. On the other hand,

at higher confining pressure (i.e.1000 kPa), the difference of peak stress ratio is

notable. This notion is explained with the fact that at lower confining pressure the

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difference of void ratio during the isotropic consolidation stage is lesser than the

higher confining pressure as can be seen in Fig. 5.6.

The decreasing trend of peak stress ratio (q/p’)peak with increasing confining pressure

also suggests that the over-consolidation ratio (OCR) of the treated sample decreases

with increasing confining pressure. The apparent OCR of the treated samples was also

found to be increased with the increase of cement content and curing time for a

particular confining pressure. Thus, the normalized deviator stress and axial strain

characteristics of cement treated clays clearly indicates the over-consolidation

phenomenon of the treated clay.

5.3.2.3 Undrained Stress Paths

The effective stress path of treated clays varies with effective confining pressure as

shown in Fig. 5.26. Considering at 10% cement treated clays as in Fig.5.26a, test

result reveals that due to the increase of confining pressure the characteristics of

treated clays changes from heavily over-consolidated state to normally consolidated

state. At higher cement content (i.e.50 %) as in Fig. 5.26c, the behavior changes to

lightly over consolidated state when the confining pressure increases to 1000 kPa.

From the critical state concept, the behavior of the treated clays changes from dry side

of critical to the wet side of critical under the State Boundary Surface (SBS). It is

found that the treated clays after approaching the peak strength envelope, the stress

paths of the treated clay tend to seek the failure state either moving on the Hvorslev

envelope or failing with strain softening. Once the treated samples incur strain

softening, the sample possesses destructuration state.

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As can be seen in Fig. 5.26a, test results also reveal that samples being consolidated at

300, 500 and 1000 kPa, mean normal stress (p’) increases with increasing deviator

stress although the excess pore pressure increases with the increase of deviator stress.

This phenomenon is not consistent with the true undrained test. Thus, the samples

behave as drained samples where the effective stress path has a gradient of almost 3.

Beyond a certain level of strain, the samples exhibit usual undrained manner

undergoing zero volumetric strain. Similar drained behavior of the treated samples at

higher cement content (e.g. Fig. 5.26c) is also observed at confining pressure of 1000

kPa. This phenomenon can be explained from the water content variations both in

shear plane and outside the shear plane after the test. As shown in Table 5.1, the water

content outside the shear plane increases and thus the behavior of the samples is not

truly undrained.

It could be noted further that the treated samples (Fig. 5.26a) being consolidated from

300 to 1000 kPa show rounded stress path in the q-p space, which generate significant

positive excess pore pressure and then strain softening occur. Similar well-rounded

stress path was also observed by Uddin et al. (1997) for cement treated Bangkok clay

at low percentage of cement content. Test results (Fig. 5.26a) show that deviator stress

(q) increases during shearing with the decrease of normal stress (p’) and the stress

path crosses the critical state line of the untreated clay. All these confining pressures

are beyond the yield stress of the treated clay, at which the cementation bond

apparently breaks during the consolidation stage as can be seen from the consolidation

test results. However, the stress path shows the existence of q beyond the critical state

of untreated clay, indicating that certain amount of cementation bond may take place

during the shearing state. These are the cementation bonds that left over during the

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consolidation stage. It seems that cementation bond controls the initial stage of the

shearing; thereafter fabric of the clay dominates the behavior. The behavior of these

samples can be considered as lightly over-consolidated behavior, resulting in a

manner similar to the sample belonging to the wet side of the State Boundary Surface.

On the other hand, the treated sample with low confining pressure (i.e. 50 kPa), which

is far lower than the yield stress, shows semi-rigid type of behavior. Hence, the

development of positive pore pressure is very small. For this type of sample, the stress

path is almost parallel to q axis. The behavior of this type of treated clay is dominated

by the cementation bond and the role of fabric is minimum during shearing.

The effect of cementation as well as fabric after the shearing can be seen from the

SEM images of treated clay at which the confining pressure was 1000 kPa as shown

in Fig. 5.27. This sample was chosen as it has gone through more destructuration at

the consolidation stage. As can be seen from Fig. 5.27b that the clay-cement cluster

crushes on the shear plane. Results from particle size analysis as shown in Fig.5.28

indicates that some breakage of the treated clay particles occurs in addition to the

crushing of clay-cement cluster. Both inter and intra-cluster voids are found to be

negligible in the shear plane as compared to the intact sample as in Fig. 5.27a.

However, the SEM image of sheared sample out side the shear plane (Fig.5.27c) is

found to be different from the shear plane image. The breaking of large clay-cement

clusters is apparent in this image but still some small clusters in the form of

reticulation appear. More inter-cluster voids are visible as compared to the image on

shear plane. From the particle size distribution as shown in Fig.5.28, it can be noted

that no breakage of treated clay particles occur. Hence, it seems that during the

isotropic consolidation, the cementation bond does not completely break as some

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small clay-cement clusters appear even after shearing. This observation affects the

shape of the undrained stress path as explained before.

The effect of cement content on undrained stress path is shown in Figs.5.29 and 5.30.

At low confining pressure (i.e. 50 kPa) as shown in Fig.5.29, the stress path of the

10% cement treated sample moves almost parallel to the q axis. However, as the

cement content increases to 50%, the stress path moves parallel to q axis initially and

then propagates in a dilative nature. The treated samples approach the Hvorslev

strength envelope and tend to seek the failure state followed with greater strain

softening. The OCR of these samples is very high and behaves like a material on the

dry side of the critical state. On the other hand, at higher confining pressure (i.e. 1000

kPa) as shown in Fig. 5.30, the behavior of these samples changes from heavily

overconsolidated to lightly overconsolidated state. At the initial stage of shearing the

stress path moves almost parallel to the q axis and then propagates up to the peak

deviator stress in a compressive manner. It is found that at higher cement content, the

treated samples tend to seek the failure state with greater strain softening due to the

effect of more destructuration effect.

Similar to the trends with the increase of cement content, the stress path of the treated

clay shifted outward with the increase of curing time as shown in Fig. 5.31. Sample

with longer curing period shows higher peak deviator stress. Hence, keeping the

confining pressure constant, the increase of cement content and curing time results in

the increase in yield stress as well as shifting upward of the yield surface and failure

envelope. Hence, the strength characteristics of the treated clay increase with the

increase of cement content and curing time.

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The normalized stress path of cement treated clay in terms of q/p0’ and p/p0’ can be

seen in Fig. 5.32. Considering at 10% cement content (Fig. 5.32a), at 50 kPa

confining pressure the stress path moves almost parallel to the q axis until failure and

then strain softens. On the other hand, as the consolidation pressure increases to 1000

kPa, the samples show rounded stress path. It is noted that for natural clay, the

normalized stress path of soil sample at various confining pressure collapse onto one

unique path. Hence, the non-unique normalized stress path behavior of these treated

samples can be attributed to the effect of different degree of cementation bond in the

treated clay. As can be seen that at lower level of normalized deviator stress (e.g.,

q/p0’<0.3), the normalized stress paths of these samples are almost identical. The

difference in stress path is more pronounced at higher level of deviator stress. Similar

characteristics of normalized stress path are also observed at higher cement content as

shown in Fig. 5.32b and 5.32c. It is found that at low confining pressure, that is far

lower than the yield stress, the stress path moves almost parallel up to a lower level of

q and then follows a dilative path. The dilation behavior seems to be more

pronounced at higher cement content, where the cementation bond is stronger (e.g. at

50% cement).

5.3.2.4 Failure Envelope and Destructuration State

The failure envelopes derived from the value of peak deviator stress (qpeak) are plotted

in Fig. 5.33. At 28 days curing period, the failure envelopes appear to be curvilinear

in all ranges of cement content investigated and lies far above the critical state line of

the untreated clay. Uddin et al. (1997) also observed similar curved failure envelope

for cement treated soft Bangkok clay. At low confining stress, the cementation bond

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dominates during the shearing stage, thus it behaves like a stiffer soil with greater

instantaneous gradient (i.e. dq/dp ~ 3). As the confining pressure increases, the

progressive destructuration takes place during the consolidation stage and thus the

failure pattern during shearing has more resemblance with weaker soil with small

instantaneous gradient. For 7 days cured samples, as the destructuration completed in

the consolidation stage, thus the failure envelopes during shearing show more

linearity than that of 28 days cured samples.

In this study, the ultimate state of the treated clay is considered as the destructuration

state. The destructuration envelope of the treated clay is shown in Fig 5.34. It can be

seen that the destructuration state envelopes still appears to be curvilinear and lies

above the critical state line of the untreated clay. With the increase of cement content

an upward shifting of the destructuration envelope is observed. However, minimum

difference of destructuration envelope is observed for the samples cured at different

curing time. The behavior of the treated clay at the destructuration state is different

from that of the natural clay. The main reason is due to the hydration and pozzolanic

reaction between cement and clay particles, and some permanent changes of the

treated clay fabric have been taken place, which could not be reversed or destroyed

during the shearing state. Moreover, the destructuration arises from the breaking of

cementation bond that only found within the shear plane, and was not observed

outside the shear plane. Thus, the behavior of the treated clay outside the shear plane

seems to be different as observed from the SEM micrographs.

The peak deviator stress and corresponding effective confining pressure (p0’)

relationship is shown in Fig. 5.35. As can be seen that the peak deviator stress

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increases with the increase of confining pressure. It seems that the difference of peak

deviator stress between the samples of 7 days and 28 days curing periods for a

particular cement content is almost constant for all p0’. Fig. 5.35 also reveals that this

difference in 7 days and 28 days curing periods is larger for higher cement content.

This is due to the stronger cementation bond that develops at higher cement content if

longer curing period is permitted.

5.3.2.5 Shear Strength Parameters

The variation of shear strength parameters (c’ and φ’) with cement content and curing

time is shown in Fig. 5.36. As can be seen, both 7 days and 28 days cured samples

show an increase of c’ and φ’ with the increase of cement content. However,

explained earlier that, the strength behavior of the samples cured at 7 days is mainly

governed by the hydration reaction, hence φ’ increases more predominantly especially

the cement content up to 30%. Beyond 30% cement content, the rate of increase of φ’

reduces but c’ increases at a faster rate due to the increased component of pozzolanic

reaction products. On the other hand, samples cured at 28 days, the strength behavior

mostly depends upon the pozzolanic reaction than the hydration reaction. Thus, the

strength parameter c’ increases significantly with the increase of cement content,

while φ’almost stabilizes at higher cement content.

Test results also reveal that the strength parameter c’ increases and φ’ decreases with

the increase of curing time except when the cement content is 10%. This can be

explained with the fact that at low percentage of cement content (≤10%C), the

cementation bond is weak even at 28 days curing periods and the behavior mostly

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governs from the fabric of the treated clay. Hence, φ’ increases and almost no changes

of c’ is observed at 10% cement content.

It should be noted that the test results as shown in Fig. 5.36 has significant practical

implications in the numerical modeling of cement treated clays when effective stress

analysis is required.

5.4 Stiffness of Cement Treated Clays

Local strain of the cemented clay sample was measured using Hall’s effect transducer

as a comparison to the conventional method of external strain measurement in

unconfined compression and undrained triaxial test. Figs. 5.37a and 5.37b show the

comparison between the stress-strain curves of treated clays in unconfined and triaxial

test using these two methods of axial strain measurement. The results reveal that the

stiffness of cemented clay measured using Hall’s effect local transducer is much

stiffer than that measured by conventional method. This is due to the bedding error

(capping error) in conventional method of strain measurement. A comparison of

stiffness in both methods is shown in Figs. 5.38a and 5.38b. As can be seen, the

conventional method of strain measurement leads to considerable underestimation of

stiffness by approximately 3.0 and 2.16 times for unconfined compression and triaxial

test respectively. Due to the effect of confinement, the bedding error in the triaxial test

is less than the unconfined compression test. Regardless of the type of shearing, it is

concluded that local strain measurement enables the accurate determination of the true

stiffness of the cement treated clays. This result has very significant implication in the

proper modeling of stiffness of cement treated clays in numerical modeling of

excavation that involves basically the small strain region of the soil behavior.

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Figure 5.39 shows the correlation between Esec50 and qu, derived from conventional

method of external strain measurement. Esec50 represent the Young’s modulus at 50%

of the peak strength while qu represents the unconfined compressive strength. A

simple regression analysis shows that a good correlation is obtained between (Esec50)

and (qu) with R2 = 0.96:

Esec50 (conv.) = 125qu (5.1)

This correlation shows a good consistent finding of the Geo-testing Express (1996)

for Boston Blue clay.

On the other hand, the correlation between Esec50 and qu as shown in Fig.5.40, derived

from Hall’s effect local strain measurement yields the following relationship:

Esec50 (local)= 375qu (5.2)

with R2 = 0.95

The stiffness of treated clays is also calculated in terms of initial elastic modulus (Ei)

from both methods of strain measurement as shown in Figs. 5.41 and 5.42. Thus, the

correlation between Ei and qu derived from conventional strain measurement and local

strain measurement yield the following relationships respectively:

Ei (conv.) = 135qu (5.3)

with R2 = 0.96

Ei (local) = 430qu (5.4)

with R2 = 0.96

From the above relations between stiffness (Esec50 or Ei) and unconfined compressive

strength (qu), one can reasonably estimate the stiffness of cement treated Singapore

marine clays if the unconfined compressive strength is known. It is noted that in the

case of deep excavation projects in soft marine clays, the soil improvement work is

carried out before the start of excavation, such that it provides an improved soil layer

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and helps in limiting the movement of soil below the final excavation level. In this

application, the stiffness behavior of stabilized clay layer is more critical.

To verify the effect of destructuration and to eliminate the bedding error in

conventional method of strain measurement, the unloading-reloading test was carried

out at the initial elastic zone and at destructuration state as shown in Fig.5.37b. The

initial unloading-reloading stiffness is measured from conventional LVDT method is

defined as Eul, while at destructuration state, the stiffness is Ed. As can be seen in

Fig.5.43, destructuration stiffness is about half of the initial unloading-reloading

stiffness. This lower value of stiffness is because of the destructuration take place at

large strain at which the behavior of the treated clay is governed by the fabric only.

Test results reveal that the initial unloading-reloading stiffness measured by LVDT is

almost equal to the initial elastic stiffness measured from local Hall’s effect

transducer as shown in Fig.5.44. This result implies that the bedding error in

conventional method of strain measurement can be eliminated by doing proper

unloading-reloading cycle at the initial elastic zone of the stress-strain curve.

5.5 Concluding Remarks

Structuration and destructuration behavior of cement treated soft Singapore marine

clay are studied through a series of unconfined compression, oedometer consolidation

and isotropically consolidated undrained triaxial compression tests. Test results are

analyzed and explained with the aid of observed microstructural behavior obtained

from the Scanning Electron Microscopic (SEM) images.

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The unconfined compressive strength of cement treated Singapore marine clay

increases with the increase of cement content and curing time. While the hydration

reaction dominates the early stage of curing, the pozzolanic reaction is very

significant at prolonged curing time and even continues up to 1 year. At 1year curing

periods, significant portion of Ca++ ions diffuses within the treated clay matrix to

permit the pozzolanic reaction. Only very small portion of Ca++ ions are involved at

the conventional 28 days curing periods. Thus, the unconfined compressive strength

increases notably at prolonged curing time leading to the formation of more structured

cement treated clay.

The significant increase in apparent pre-consolidation pressure (pc’) and reduction in

apparent compression index (Cac) are observed from oedometer consolidation test as

the cement content and curing time increases. This is due to the structuration (creation

of cementation bond) of cement treated clay samples. The swelling behavior of

treated clay is found to be very stiff resulting in very low swelling index.

Results also reveal that beyond the apparent pre-consolidation pressure (yield stress),

the e-logσv’ curves of the treated clay shift at higher void ratio than the untreated clay

with the same consolidation pressure. This shifting is almost parallel to the virgin

consolidation line of the untreated clay and is more significant with higher cement

content and longer curing periods. Similar behavior is also noticed in isotropically

consolidated samples. Thus, in K0 and isotropic consolidation, the effect of cement

inclusion is to increase the yield stress resulting in an upward shifting of the yield

surface and failure envelope. Beyond the apparent pre-consolidation pressure,

progressive destructuration (breaking of cementation bond) of the treated clay

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particles incurs. This has been confirmed from the SEM images of treated clay

compressed at different consolidation pressure. At this stage the fabric of the treated

clay plays a dominant role on the compressibility of the treated clay. During K0

consolidation, the largest inter-cluster voids are collapsed at the early stage of

consolidation pressure and small intra-cluster pores are not compressed until the later

stage where pressure exceeding the pre-consolidation pressure. Results from the

particle size analysis reveal that the treated clay particles are not broken even when

the sample is stressed at 6400 kPa. The significant reduction in apparent compression

index (Cac) of the treated clay is observed after a certain level of stress. This clearly

indicates that a complete destructuration of treated clay is possible by applying a very

high stress.

The principle effect of inclusion of cement into the soft clay is to reduce the initial

void ratio and to introduce a well defined yield point into the stress-strain responses

under compression and shearing. Yielding is associated with the breaking of

cementation bond. At higher confining stress, which is far beyond the yield stress, the

sample has apparently destructured during the consolidation stage but still appeared to

have some cementation effect during shearing. Thus, the state of stress still lies inside

the State Boundary Surface. The fabric of the treated clay plays a dominant role

during the shearing and the behavior of this type of sample is ductile in nature. At low

confining stress, which is lower than the yield stress, the destructuration of treated

clay only take place during shearing followed by strain softening behavior. Higher the

cement content or longer the curing time, the yield surface as well as failure envelope

shifted further upward.

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SEM results shows that complete destructuration only take place on the shear plane at

which the clay-cement cluster crushes. Some breakage of the treated clay particles

also occurs in addition to the crushing of clay-cement cluster. Both inter and intra

cluster voids are found to be very negligible in the shear plane as compared to the

intact sample. However, the image of the sample outside of the shear plane is found to

be quite different from that within the shear plane. For sample outside the shear plane,

the breaking of large clay-cement clusters is apparent but still contain small clusters in

the form of reticulation. At this stage, no breakage of treated clay particles is

observed. More inter-cluster voids are visible as compared to the image of sample

within the shear plane. Thus, it seems to suggest that during the isotropic

consolidation, the cementation bond in the form of clay-cement cluster was not

completely broken down, and may affect the subsequent shearing stage.

In general, the effective shear strength parameters c′ and φ′ increase with the increase

of cement content. While φ′ seems to reach an asymptotic value at higher cement

content (≥30%) for 28 days cured samples, c′ seems to increase at slower rate at

cement content up to 30% for 7 days cured samples. This can be explained by the

effect of curing time, which affect the relative contribution of hydration and

pozzolanic reaction onto the strength of the treated clay.

Due to the effect of cementation, the stiffness of treated clay increases significantly.

Local small strain measurement using Hall’s effect transducer enables the accurate

determination of the true stiffness of the cemented clay, especially at small strain

level. Due to the bedding error in conventional method of strain measurement, the

local strain measurement stiffness is much larger. The bedding error can be eliminated

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by doing proper unloading-reloading cycle at the initial elastic zone of the stress-

strain curve. Due to the effect of destructuration, the stiffness at destructuration state

reduces significantly.

The correlation between stiffness (Esec50 or Ei) and unconfined compressive strength

(qu) of treated clay is evident. This provides a good means of estimating stiffness of

cement treated clay via commonly determined unconfined compressive strength.

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