Fatigue Performance of Cement-Stabilized Crushed Gravel Produced Using Vertical Vibration Compaction Method

Abstract

In this study, the fatigue performance of cement-stabilized crushed gravel (CSCG) is examined. The mechanical strength of CSCG specimens formed using the vertical vibration compaction method (VVCM) or quasi-static compaction method (QSCM) is compared with that of field core samples (FCS). Cylindrical specimens formed using VVCM are used to study the splitting fatigue performance, and a fatigue equation is established using Weibull distribution. The factors that influence the fatigue performance, namely gradation and cement content, are also analyzed. The results show that the correlation of mechanical strength between FCS and CSCG formed using VVCM is as high as 90%, whereas that between FCS and CSCG formed using QSCM is <50%. The splitting fatigue life of CSCG obeys the two-parameter Weibull distribution. The results also show that gradation and cement content have significant effects on the fatigue performance of CSCG. For a stress level of 0.65 and reliability of 50%, compared with the fatigue life of CSCG with suspended dense gradation, those with skeleton dense gradation improved by 22.4% and 9%, and the fatigue life of CSCG significantly increased by 44.5% and 28.6% when the cement content was 3% and 5%, respectively.