Laboratory Characterization of Cement–Lateritic Gravel for Use in Base Construction

Abstract

To highlight the influence of cement addition on laboratory characterization of lateritic gravel and the feasibility of cement–lateritic gravel for use in base construction, relatively comprehensive laboratory experiments were carried out on cement–lateritic gravels from République du Mali in Africa. It is shown, that although natural laterite gravels were gap-graded due to the lack of sand-sized and silt-sized particles, the aggregate breakdown and addition of cement would change the gradation and that the cement–lateritic gravel met the strength requirement for base-course construction in Africa. However, low contents of clay mineral properties of the fine grains in lateritic gravel resulted in the ineffectiveness of the cement reactions between lateritic gravel and cement, and then cement–lateritic gravels had poor water stability.