Material properties of solidified soil grains produced from dredged marine clay

Solidified soil grains are produced by crushing a solidified soil mass which is made of dredged soil mixed with cement. It would be beneficial if these solidified soil grains could be used as fill material instead of sand/gravel. However, the strength property of solidified soil grains has not yet been thoroughly studied. In addition, as it is well known that solidified soil tends to deteriorate in seawater due to the leaching of calcium, it is necessary to make a complete study of the deterioration properties of solidified soil grains. In the current study, the material properties of solidified soil grains have been investigated. The test results revealed that (1) the strength of normal single solidified soil grains is smaller than that of natural rock grains, (2) the internal friction angle of solidified soil grains is greater than 30°, and (3) the internal friction angle of solidified soil grains tends to decrease along with the progress of deterioration; however, deterioration will not be experienced by solidified soil grains which have unconfined compressive strength larger than approximately 14 MN/m2.