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Effect of cement on the stabilization of loess

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Abstract

Considering the potential use of cementstabilized loess (CSL) as a construction material for structures that are subjected to frequent loess landslides, this paper explores the stabilization and improvement of geotechnical characteristics of loess achieved by the addition of 0%-9% cement by dry weight. Laboratory evaluations investigated the consistency limits, compaction, compressibility, California bearing ratio (CBR), direct shear strength, and unconfined compression strength (UCS) of CSL for different curing stages. A durability index was quantified to estimate the influence of wetting-drying (w-d) cycles on CSL strength, and an optimum cement dosage was also identified. The results reveal that the cohesion of CSL is substantially more sensitive to structure than its friction angle and that cohesion is responsible for shear strength increase after remoulding. The cement proportions have an effective role in the enhancement of compressibility. The development of UCS can be categorized into the early stage (<14 days) and the later stage (>14 days). The increase in strength primarily occurred in the first 14 days. The w-d cycles have a significant influence on the decrease in compression strength. The CBR value increases with increments of additional proportions and compaction times. The relationships of UCS versus the compressibility modulus and UCS versus CBR are established to facilitate the mix design for strength. A rational predictive exponential equation is proposed to predict the durability index for different w-d cycles.

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Acknowledgements

This study has been financially supported by the National Basic Research Program (973 Program) of China (Grant No. 2013CB733201), the Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences, CAS (Grant No. QYZDB-SSW-DQC010), the Sichuan science and technology plan project (Grant No. 2017JY0251), the CAS “Light of West China” Program (Grant No. Y6R2240240), and the Youth Fund of Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, CAS (Grant No. Y6K2090090). A special acknowledgement should be expressed to M.S. Fang Li-feng for her invaluable assistance in the performance of the tests in this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Mountain Hazards and Earth Surface Processes, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, 610041, China

    Chong-lei Zhang, Li-jun Su & Gong-dan Zhou

  2. Key Laboratory of High-speed Railway Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Civil Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, 610031, China

    Guan-lu Jiang

  3. CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Li-jun Su

  4. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Li-jun Su & Gong-dan Zhou

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  1. Chong-lei Zhang
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Correspondence to Li-jun Su.

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Zhang, Cl., Jiang, Gl., Su, Lj. et al. Effect of cement on the stabilization of loess. J. Mt. Sci. 14, 2325–2336 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-017-4365-4

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