Micromechanics-based model for cement-treated clays

Cementation is produced by mixing a certain amount of cement with the saturated clay. The purpose of this paper is to model the cementation effect on the mechanical behavior of cement-treated clay. A micromechanical stress-strain model is developed considering explicitly the cementation at inter-cluster contacts. The inter-cluster bonding and debonding during mechanical loading are introduced in two ways: an additional cohesion in the shear sliding and a higher yield stress in normal compression. The model is used to simulate isotropic compression and undrained triaxial tests under various confining stresses on cement-treated Singapore clay with various cement contents. The applicability of the present model is evaluated through comparisons between numerical and experimental results. The evolution of local stresses and local strains in inter-cluster planes is discussed in order to explain the induced anisotropy due to debonding at contact level under the applied loads.