Civil Insight: A Technical Magazine Volume 3 | Page 19

Manandhar S. and Karki S.S. Civil Insight (2019) 15-20 unable to represent the strength behaviors of the cement-treated ground. The performances of the cement decreases when cement content is excessively increased due to the increment of the capillary porosity described by Su and Miao (2003). 5) Conclusions The Ratmate soil (red soil) is a clayey silt (ML) with low plasticity in which cement content was added in 3, 5, 7, and 10% proportions using Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC) of Standard Type-I from Jagadamba Cement Company in Nepal. The unconfined compressive strengths (UCS) before and after cement treatments at 7, 14, and 28 curing days were determined at its maximum dry density and optimum moisture contents. Hence, performing the experiments in the laboratory, the following main conclusions can be drawn: x x x x The UCS value of Ramate soil is increased dramatically when optimum percentage of cement was employed. The UCS value reached up to 1871.96kPa when 7% cement was added in the red soil and cured for 28 days. The optimum amount of cement provides good bearing behaviors to the treated soil; when the cement content is exceeded, the strength value governed by UCS value were decreased. In the UCS sample small micro cracks were formed while performing the test adding 10% cement. This may be due to the presence of high capillary porosity of cement. The soil having prescribed index and mechanical properties performed well at 7% cement content. The maximum dry density is increased up to 2.297gm/cm 3 from 1.580gm/cm 3 with 7% cement content cured for 28 days. Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere gratitude to International Centre for Geotechnical Services (ICGS) for providing necessary laboratory facilities and financial supports under research and development (R&D) section. I am indebted to Prof. Dr. Lalu Prasad Paudel, Prof. Dennes T. Bargado and Prof. Suksan Horpibulsuk for their incredible helps and inspiration during this research. References Farouk, A., & Shahien, M.M. (2013). Ground improvement using soil-cement columns: Experimental investigation. Alexandria Engineering Journal, 52, 733-740. Horpibulsuk, S., Katkan, W., Sirilerdwattana W., & Rachan R. (2006). Strength Development in Cement Stabilized Low Plasticity and Coarse-Grained Soils: Laboratory and Field Study. Japanese Geotechnical Society, Soils and Foundations, 46, 351-366. Kamon, M., & Bergado, D.T. (1992). Ground improvement techniques. Proceedings of the 9 th Asian Regional Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, 2, 526-546. Kawasaki, T., Niina, A., Saitoh, S., Suzuki, Y., & Honjo, Y. (1981). Deep mixing method using cement hardening agent. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Stockholm, 721-724. Lee, F., Lee, Y., Chew, S.H., & Yong, K.Y. (2005). Strength and Modulus of Marine Clay-Cement Mixes. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 131, 178-186. 19