Soil-cement construction

The job operations that have put it in business

BY WILLIAM G. DINCHAK, P.E DIRECTOR ENERGY AND WATER RESOURCES DEPARTMENT PORTLAND CEMENT ASSOCIATION

the central-plant mixing method proves easy and economical. Jobs requiring smaller quantities are mixed in place but this requires a higher degree of quality control. The mixtures are compacted and cured in the same manner for both methods.

Paving contractors, using soil-cement methods, can now build energy- and water-resource structures. Soil-cement construction often provides the most economical means of building canals, dikes, dams, lagoons, foundations, coal storage pads and other structures (see Soil-Cement: Its Not Just for Highways Anymore, CONCRETE CONSTRUCTIONJanuary 1984, page 31). Here are descriptions of how its done.

Central-plant mixing method

Central mixing plants can be either continuous-flow or batch plants. Continuous-flow plants (Figure 1) are the more common. Such plants include a bulkhead that confines the soil aggregate, an aggregate feeder, a cement silo and feeder, a main feeder belt, a water supply system and a pugmill mixer. Materials are metered onto the belt and fed to the mixer. In a batch plant the soil aggregate is stored in bins above the batching hopper into which an auger feeds cement. Cement and soil aggregates are batched by weight. In both types of plant water is added through spray bars mounted above the pugmill and the moist mixture is discharged into haul trucks. There are usually borrow sources for soil aggregate near the project from which the soil can be transported to the stockpile. Before mixing begins it is necessary to check the materials and adjust the metering devices. Soil

oil-cement is made by thoroughly mixing soil, portland cement and water by one of the ways described in this article. The most practical soils are those that contain not more than 35 percent silt and clay and that are easily pulve ri zed. Fine-textured soils with 50 percent or more silt and clay are harder to pulverize and require more cement to harden; rather than use them, it is often more economical to use borrow material. Even sand of a single particle size requires a high cement content. Well-graded granular soils, howe ve r, are not likely to swell or be damaged by frost, so it is possible to stabilize them with relatively low cement contents. If more than 4000 cubic yards are to be constructed,

is easily calibrated by passing it through the plant into a dump truck. Then the moisture content of the soil is determined so the cement requirement can be calculated on the basis of the dry weight of soil. Next the cement output is calibrated by running the plant at full capacity of soil but diverting the cement feeder into a big container such as a truck and weighing

Figure 2. Earth ramps placed diagonally serve as haul roads up to soil-cement layers being constructed. the amounts that flow out in given periods of time, such as 15, 30 or 45 seconds. The data will also show how uniformly the cement is flowing. The third calibration is the rate of water flow. The weight discharged in one minute is compared to the gallons-per-minute meter. If the soil already contains more moisture than the optimum water for the mixture, it will be necessary to aerate the stockpile to partially dry it. If the soil aggregate contains particles larger than 2 inches, clay balls larger than 1 inch, or any kind of debris, the soil is passed over a screen to remove the objectionable material and keep it from clogging the gate opening. Cement is generally stored in silos and fed to the metering assembly units from feeder silos or special tankers. Su rc h a rge hoppers of not over 1- to 2-ton capacity are used over the metering device. The cement from the meter is deposited in a furrow in the soil windrow on the main feeder belt. A small plow attachment makes the furrow, and sometimes a second plow turns soil over the cement to prevent loss by wind. In continuous-flow plants water should be introduced at a point over the mixer where some blending of soil and cement has already occurred; this prevents cement balls from forming. All water should have been added before the mixture reaches the discharge end of the mixer. The mixing drum should be large enough to produce more than 200 tons per hour. Paddles should be reversible in case a mix has to be retained in the drum for any reason.

The soil-cement should be discharged from as low a height as possible to prevent materials from segregating in the truck. There are two good indications of whether the moisture content is proper. If the mixture being discharged into the truck forms a peak or cone, it usually is at optimum moisture content or slightly above. If a handful of the mixture squeezed into a cast forms moisture on the palms of the hands, does not separate when rolled in the hand, and has sharp clear-cut edges when the cast is broken into halves, the moisture is right. The soil-cement is hauled to the placement area in dump trucks covered with canvas to protect it from rain or hot, dry winds. If soil-cement is being constructed in h o ri zontal, layered stair-step fashion for slope protection, an earth ramp is placed on the slope over the completed soil-cement layers (Figure 2). These ramps protect underlying layers of soil-cement from being damaged while enabling trucks to reach the area being constructed. Ramps are about 2 feet thick at an angle of about 45 degrees and generally 300 to 400 feet apart. Trucks dump soil-cement mixture into a mechanical spreader pushed by a crawler tractor. As the spreading unit moves forward, pushing the truck ahead of it, the mixture is spread out to the depth and width needed. Stakes set on the slope mark the inside edge of the layers of soil-cement. It is necessary to keep spreader boxes at least half full of mixture to produce a continuous loose layer throughout the sections and keep the layers at constant elevation. Co n ve yo r-belt systems make ramps unnecessary. They can operate either from below or from the top of

Figure 3. A conveyor-belt system delivers soil-cement mixture to the spreading unit on a slope. the embankment. Trucks deposit the mixture in a hopper that feeds a conveyor belt leading to the spreader box. The entire assemblage moves forward as a unit (Figure 3).

Mixed-in-place method
Most soils require little or no pulverization, particularly if the in-place mixing machine has a high-speed ro-

tor. If the soil needs separate pulverizing, this operation should be completed first. Rotary mixers, disc harrows and rollers are generally used. Soils that are difficult to p u l ve ri ze when dry and brittle can be broken readily if water is added and allowed to penetrate; sticky soils can be pulve ri zed more easily after they are dried slightly.

Figure 4. A single-shaft rotary mixer mixes soil, cement and water in the mixed-in-place method of construction. Only soil and cement were mixed in the first pass. Most specifications require that the soils be pulve ri ze d to a degree that, at the time of compaction, 100 percent of the soil-cement mixture will pass a 1-inch sieve and a minimum of 80 percent will pass a Number 4 sieve, exclusive of gravel and stone. The final pulverization test is made at the end of moist-mixing operations. Soil layers are first shaped to the proper elevation with enough loose soil to produce the designed compacted thickness. Cement will be spread over the top.

In a multiple-shaft mixer the first rotor mixes soil and cement. The second rotor cleans the surface of the underlying layer and throws the soil-cement mixture into the mixing drum in the rear. Water is metered and injected through a spray bar into the drum. The mixed soil, cement and water is left in a loose layer as the machine moves forward. Regardless of equipment used, mixing must be deep enough so there are no unmixed seams of soil between l a ye r s, but excessive striking of the soil-cement below the layer being mixed should be avoided. Farm reservoirs have been built by spotting bags of cement at predetermined intervals on the bottom and sides of the reservoir. The bags are broken and the cement distributed to a uniform depth by handraking or by mechanical cement spreader. While the cement is being mixed into the soil with a rotary tiller, water is added simultaneously to the mixture from a tank truck or hoses. The cement, soil and water are then thoroughly mixed and compacted.

Moisture-density test
Moisture and density are checked on a sample of the newly mixed or deposited layer. The sample is split and half is put in the sun and wind to dry to determine the moisture content. Three moisture-density determinations are then made by compacting three specimens in moisture-density molds. One is the sampled mixture, one a similar sample with about 2 percent additional water, and one a partially dried sample. The densities are then plotted

Bulk cement may arrive in enclosed hopper cars at the nearest railroad siding, transferred to enclosed or canvas-covered dump trucks, weighed and brought to the job. A mechanical spreader is attached to the truck and as it moves forward at a constant slow speed over the soil layer, cement flows out at the proper rate. When bulk cement has been brought to the job in bulk transport trucks, it is sometimes convenient to spread cement directly from the transport truck. Cement is spread in front of the mixing machine, which then picks up soil and cement and mixes it in place. If a single-shaft mixer is used, the first pass mixes the soil and cement; additional passes mix water with the soil-cement mixture (Figure 4).

Figure 5. Operations of compacting. a. A sheepsfoot roller compacts lower layers of soil-cement. b. A pneumatic-tire roller compacts the loose, upper layer. c. Compaction with a vibratory steel-wheel roller has been done on some projects. on the Y-axis of a graph against the corresponding moisture contents on the X-axis and a smooth curve drawn through the points. The optimum moisture content can be read from the highest point on the curve. It usually takes an 8- to 9-inch depth of uncompacted mixture for a 6-inch final compacted thickness. The length of spread per truckload can be calculated from the maximum moist weight per cubic foot and the weight of the plant-mixed truckload.

Compaction
The soil-cement mixture can be compacted initially by a sheepsfoot roller. This should be of sufficient size and weight to compact the bottom of the layer to the required density. The layers are compacted from edge to edge and usually in 100- to 200-foot sections behind the spreading unit (see Figure 5 a). Following the sheepsfoot rolling, a heavy pneumatictire roller compacts the loose upper portion of the soilcement layer (Figure 5 b). If a coarsely graded soil has been used and a low compactive effort is consequently needed, pneumatic-tire rolling is enough by itself to produce the proper density. Pneumatic-tire rolling, like sheepsfoot rolling, is continued from edge to edge in

cement layer before the final rolling operations to keep the layers at their proper elevations. It is important during this operation to avoid blading raw soil from the edges onto the mixed soil-cement.

Density testing
The completed soil-cement layer is tested for proper compaction. Quick and accurate density determinations can be readily made with small portable nuclear density meters. Compaction can also be measured by the sandcone method of ASTM D 1556 or the ru b b e r- b a l l o o n method of ASTM D 2167.

Curing
After final compaction it is necessary to wet down the surface (Figure 6) and maintain the moisture content in the completed work to hydrate and harden the soil-cement. A 7-day curing period is recommended. Water, earth or a bituminous or other sealing membrane may be used as a curing material on the outer, exposed face of the slope. It is not necessary to remove earth or bituminous covers because wave action and weathering will remove them later. If surfaces are to be covered with succeeding layers of soil-cement they should be kept continuously moist by fog spraying for at least 7 days or until the next layer of soil-cement is placed. Care should be taken to ensure that no curing material except water is applied to such bonding surfaces.

Figure 6. A tank truck applies curing water to the compacted soil-cement.

Construction joints
At the exposed ends of layers, as at the end of each days placement, a construction joint should be formed. This is done by cutting back into the completed work to form a vertical face transverse to the axis of the layer.

100- to 200-foot sections. Sometimes it is advantageous to pull or push the sheepsfoot or pneumatic-tire roller with a crawler tractor with street plates. The plates tend to compact the outer edge without shoving too much material outside the slope design limits. Vibratory compaction, using a vibratory steel-wheel roller (Figure 5 c), has been used successfully on seve ra l large projects. Soil from the earth slope may move down onto completed layers because of earth-moving equipment working above or as a result of rain or wind. Surfaces can also become contaminated by mud picked up from haul roads by trucks and dribbled onto the completed soilcement layers. All such extraneous material should be removed by rotary wire bristle broom before the next layer of soil-cement is deposited. The surface should be moistened by fog spraying immediately before placing the next layer. When the soil-cement is plant-mixed, it is seldom if ever necessary to shape the layers during compaction, since each layer is spread to a uniform loose depth and immediately compacted. When soil-cement is mixed in place, howe ve r, it may be necessary to shape the soil-

Quality
All in all, the basic requirements for a quality job are: proper cement content adequate moisture content adequate compaction proper curing
References 1. Soil Stabilization with Portland Cement, Highway Research Board, Bulletin 292, 1961. 2. Soil-Cement Slope Protection for Embankments: Construction, IS167.02W, Portland Cement Association, Skokie, Illinois, 1975. 3. Dinchak, William G., Conserve On-Farm Irrigation Water with Soil-Cement, paper presented at an ASCE Specialty Conference: WaterToday and Tomorrow; Flagstaff, Arizona, 1984.

PUBLICATION #C840725
Copyright 1984, The Aberdeen Group All rights reserved