Physical and mechanical properties of soilcrete mixtures: Soil clay content and formulation parameters

The soilcrete (Soil-Mixing and Jet-grouting) consists in mixing natural soil with a hydraulic binder. In this paper, a constant slump is proposed in order to work at a constant workability and various types of soils are studied. Our study discusses the influence of cement dosage, clay content of soil, time and curing conditions on physical properties (porosity, density) and mechanical properties (uniaxial compressive strength, modulus) of soilcretes. Microstructural analyses, give a better understanding of how the clay influences the mechanical properties. Six artificial soils were made with controlled clay content and three different dosages of cement were tested.