Effect of the Ratio between Porosity and SiO2 and Al2O3 on Tensile Strength of Zeolite-Cemented Sands

Abstract

The practice of soil treatment using cement and zeolite is an approach that can be widely used in soil stabilization particularly in road construction, as a support layer for shallow foundations, to strengthen slopes, and to prevent sand liquefaction. The present study intends to quantify the impact of cement and zeolite contents, porosity index, porosity/cement and porosity/SiO2, and Al2O3 particles ratios on zeolite-cemented sands by the assessment of splitting tensile strength (qt). A program of splitting tensile tests considering three distinct porosity ratios, four cement contents (2, 4, 6, and 8%), and six different percentages of zeolite replaced by part of cement (, 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9%) is performed in this study. Results indicate that cement replaced by zeolite at optimum proportion of 3% and the value of improved qt of the cement sand specimens because zeolite and cement chemical properties are exploited. Increasing cement content and porosity of the compacted mixture, the efficiency of using zeolite rises. In this paper, it has been shown that for the zeolite-cement-sand mixtures, qt increases via cement content (C) raise and porosity (η) reduction and a power function is well-adapted to fit both qt−C and qt−η. Finally, a key parameter, i.e., SiO2 and Al2O3 particles as active particles (AP) introduced and six qt−AP diagrams are drawn, any of which is traced to a specific amount of zeolite. Afterward, qt is plotted against 1/AP and η/AP, which is regarded as a controlling parameter of qt. As a consequence, for each of the zeolite-cement-sand mixtures studied, a target qt value could be obtained using a specific correlation by porosity reductions, cement content rises and zeolite variations. This experimental study will introduce an acceptable description of the mechanical parameters that are extensively used in the subgrade and foundation designs.