Advanced Materials Research Submitted: 2017-11-21

ISSN: 1662-8985, Vol. 1145, pp 112-116 Revised: 2017-12-20

doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.1145.112 Accepted: 2018-01-05
© 2018 Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland Online: 2018-03-20

Experimental Investigation on Physical and Mechanical Behavior of

Kathmandu Clay
Bhim Kumar Dahal1,a*, Jun-Jie Zheng1,b and Rong-Jun Zhang1,c
1
School of Civil Engineering and Mechanics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology,
Luoyu Road 1037, Wuhan, China
a
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Keywords: Cement, Improvement, Physical properties, Strength

Abstract. Deformation due to load from the construction of infrastructure in soft ground is high and
sometimes also becomes problematic. There are various techniques to strengthen the ground among
which, the most suitable and commonly used method is chemical stabilization using cement. This
method is fast and cement is relatively cheap, abundant and efficient. This research is focused on the
study of improvement on physical and mechanical properties of cement mixed clay. Soil sample from
Kathmandu, Nepal is taken for the laboratory investigations. The soil is reconstituted by using
Ordinary Portland Cement of 5%, 10%, and 15% by its mass. The study revealed that physical and
mechanical characteristics of cemented clay are greatly improved for engineering purposes. The
specific gravity of all samples are linearly vary with cement content. Similarly, the liquid limit and
plastic limit of clay are increased with increased cement content. However, hydraulic conductivity of
the soils is decreased with the increase in cement content i.e. reduction is almost 7.5 times when
cement increases from 5% to 15%. Finally, cohesion is increased from 3.23 kPa to 67.89 kPa in
contrast to friction component which is decreased from 19.58° to 18.56°. Therefore, shear strength of
clay is improved due to improvement on cohesion property of clay because of the reduction in the
thickness of the diffused doubled-layer of adsorbed water.

Introduction
Construction activities have been increased over soft soil such as soft clay deposits, low-laying
marshy land, and harbor foreshore area in past few decades. Because of excessive settlement due to
load from the construction of infrastructure in soft ground, geotechnical engineers often encounter
real challenges dealing with foundation construction. This excessive deformation of soft soil can be
improved up to certain degree. There are various techniques to strengthen such soil. Among them
most suitable and commonly used method is chemical stabilization using cement because cement is
relatively abundant, cheap and efficient [1]. This improvement process is also relatively fast and
suitable in built-up area compared to other methods. It has been used excessively in construction of
foundation in shallow depth and embankment. Due to advancement of the technology, it can be used
to improve the soil in deep strata from the ground surface. There are two main approaches to
introduce cement into the soil matrix for deeper layer. The first method is cement deep mixing
(CDM) which introduces and mixes cement slurry or powder into the soil matrix by a rotating mixing
tool [2], [3] and the other is jet grouting pile (JGP) which involves breaking up the soil matrix by a
high velocity grout or water jet with concurrent introduction of cement grout [4, 5].
Improvement of mechanical property is studied by various researchers in different clays and
concluded that the overall strength of an improved soil increases with the amount of stabilizing agents
[6–9]. Terashi summarized the various factors affecting strength of cemented clay into four general
categories: characteristics of stabilizing agent; characteristics and condition of soils; mixing
conditions; and curing conditions [10]. As degree of improvement of soft soil is characterized by type
of additives used in modification such as Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), slag cement, lime and
combination of cement with lime and/or fly ash are studied in different soil samples [6, 11]. Taki and
Yang studied the effect of grain size in mechanical behavior [12] and Saitho et al. highlighted the
importance of pozzolanic reactivity [13].

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 Advanced Materials Research Vol. 1145 113

In this research, experimental study is conducted on Kathmandu clay, locally known as

“Kalomato” from Kathmandu valley of Nepal. The soil is black in color with some odor due to
presence of organic contents. This soil is very week and deformation is very high. So it is taken as
problematic soil for construction of large infrastructures [14]. The main objective of the study is to
determine physical, hydraulic and mechanical behaviors of reconstituted clay from laboratory tests.

Material and Method

Materials. The general properties of soil used in this research before cement mixing are summarized
in table (Table 1). This physical property shows that the Kathmandu clay has liquid limit greater than
50% and falls below A-line therefore soil can be classified as silty clay (MH). Recontituted samples
were prepared by using OPC.
Table 1. General properties of Kathmandu clay.
Sample Sample Type LL PL PI G Soil Type
Kathmandu Natural 67.11 53.49 13.62
2.58 MH
clay Oven Dry 62.71 47.25 15.46
Note: Liquid Limit =LL, Plastic Limit=PL, Plasticity Index= PI, Specific Gravity= G
Reconstituted soil was prepared by breaking up soil lump in to pieces and kept in room
temperature for air dry. Air dried soil sample was crushed and sieve through 425 µm. Three sets of
specimen were prepared by using soil powder, distilled de-aired water and cement (5%, 10% and
15%) and was mixed in Hobart mixture for 10 minutes. The well mixed mixture was carefully poured
in the mould and cured in constant temperature water bath at 25°C for 28 days. The detailed tests
specification is summarized in Table 2.
Table 2. Detailed specification of sample preparation.
Curing Curing
Soil Cement content Water Content Sample Code
Days Temperature
5% 100% 28 25°C K-5
Kathmandu clay 10% 100% 28 25°C K-10
15% 100% 28 25°C K-15
Experiments. The basic index properties such as specific gravity, liquid limit and plastic limit of soil
samples were evaluated. Specific gravity of the reconstituted soil sample was determined by using
pycnometer as per ASTM D854 – 14. For liquid limit and plastic limit, soil sample was prepared by
crushing soil lump into powder and sieved through 425 mm sieve. Then powder was mixed with
distilled and de-aired water to make the soil paste and left overnight for thorough absorption of water.
Soil sample was placed in the cylindrical cup with no entrapped air. Internal diameter and height of
the cup used was 50 mm and 40 mm respectively. Liquid limit and plastic limit tests of soil samples
were carried out by using cone penetrometer LG-D10. The mass of the cone used was 76 gm.
Isotropic compression tests were carried out on the treated soil samples as to assess
compressibility properties of the cement- treated clay, by using a GDS computer controlled triaxial
stress path apparatus. A constant rate of confining stress which equals to 1 kPa/min was applied to the
samples. The cylindrical specimen of 39.1 mm diameter and 80 mm height were used for the
determination of undrained mechanical behavior of reconstituted clay. The treated soil samples were
tested under isotropically consolidated and undrained condition (CIU-test). Soil samples were
sheared under normal triaxial test system with GDS computer controlled apparatus. A strain rate of
0.05 mm/min was selected for undrained triaxial shearing. As per BS1377: Part 8: 1990; in order to
calculate the rate of axial displacement (shearing rate), triaxial consolidation tests were used to
estimate the significant testing time.
114 Advanced Materials and Engineering Structural Technology II

Result and Discussions

The outputs from different laboratory investigations were analyzed. Results of the analysis on
effects of cement on physical and mechanical characteristics are presented below.

Fig. 1. Effect of cement on specific gravity of soils.

The specific gravity of natural soil is decreased after reconstitution (Fig. 1) but the amount of
reduction depends on cement content. Specific gravity suddenly decreased to 5% cement content and
beyond that it gradually increased. This reduction is mainly due to chemical reaction between cement
and organic matter presences in the clay. Generalized equation for specific gravity (Eq. 1) is obtained
from the linear regression.
G = 2.5081 + 0.0042 x (1)
where, x= Percentage cement content
The liquid limit, plastic limit and plasticity index are plotted with cement content (5%, 10% and
15%). The trend in the variation of these properties is not linear as shown in figure (Fig. 2). Therefore,
quadratic relation is established as in Eq. 2 to describe the effect of cement content.

Fig. 2. Effects of cement on consistency limits

(From left: Effect of cement on liquid limit, plastic limit and plasticity index).

(2)

where, x= Percentage cement content

The result of the tests clearly shows that permeability is decreased with increase in cement content
and effective stress (Fig. 3). Reduction in permeability is approximately 7.5 times when cement
content increases from 5% to 15%. The hydraulic conductivity of reconstituted clay has also been
investigated [15] and they have also concluded that coefficient is decreased with increase in cement
content.
 Advanced Materials Research Vol. 1145 115

Fig. 3. Effect of cement content and effective stress on permeability of soil.

The result from isotropically consolidated undrained triaxial compression tests shows that the
improvement of shear strength of reconstituted Kathmandu clay is due to the improvement in
cohesion property. It is seen that cohesion component of clay is improved from 3.23 kPa at 5%
cement content to 67.89 kPa at 15% cement content but friction angle is slightly decreased from
19.58° to 18.56° (Fig. 4). This result obeys the Broms postulation of two components of the strength,
namely frictional resistance (φ) and cohesion intercept (c’) that increases via two processes [1]. The
first process; frictional resistance increases due to the formation of significant amounts of particle
interlocking in the clay-cement skeleton. The second process; cohesion component increases due to
the reduction of the thickness of the diffused doubled-layer of adsorbed water.

Fig. 4. Variation in strength parameter of soil; cohesion and friction angle.

Conclusions
The findings of various laboratory investigations on the sample prepared with 5%, 10% and 15%
cement content is concluded as follows;
• When cement content is low (<5%), physical properties like specific gravity, liquid limit and
plastic limit of clay is found to be different than the higher cement content (>5%). Specific gravity of
clay beyond 5% cement content increases gradually and increment pattern is found to be linear.
Liquid limit and plastic limit are also increases with increase in cement content but increment trend is
found to be quadratic for both. Similar trend is also found in plasticity index.
• Hydraulic conductivity of the soil is found to be decreased with the increase in cement
content. The coefficient changes from 1.12 to 0.15 mm/day when cement content increase from 5% to
15%.
• The improvement in strength is found mainly due to increase in cohesion property of clay
because of reduction in the thickness of diffused doubled-layer of adsorbed water. Cohesion
component of shear strength is found to be increased from 3.23 kPa to 67.89 kPa while friction
component found to be decreased from 19.58° to 18.56°.
116 Advanced Materials and Engineering Structural Technology II

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