Influence of Tensile Strain at Failure on Flexural Properties of a Cementitiously Stabilized Subgrade Soil
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 17, Issue 2
Abstract
Flexural properties of subgrade soils play an important role in the overall performance of pavements. In this study, a series of laboratory tests and finite-element analysis were conducted to evaluate the effect of the stress-strain behavior of cementitiously stabilized soil (CSS) on its flexural fatigue life. Three different amounts of cement kiln dust (CKD), namely 5, 10, and 15% (by weight), were mixed with soil, and beam specimens were prepared using these three mixes. Modulus of rupture (MoR) tests were conducted on the prepared specimens to measure flexural strength and tensile strain at failure. Four-point bending beam fatigue tests were conducted on CSS specimens to evaluate their flexural modulus and fatigue life of each mix. Also, finite-element models of the MoR tests were developed using a concrete damage plasticity model for the CSS material. The MoR test results showed that the flexural strength increases with an increase in the amount of CKD. However, the failure strain was not found to follow any specific trend. The lowest and the highest strain values at failure occurred with the use of 10 and 5% CKD, respectively. The results of the four-point bending beam fatigue tests indicated that the flexural modulus of stabilized soil increased with an increase in the amount of CKD. Also, it was found that mixes with the highest tensile strain at failure in MoR testing (CSS specimens with 5% CKD) showed the highest fatigue life, whereas the specimens with the lowest tensile strain in MoR testing (CSS specimens with 10% CKD) showed the lowest fatigue life. The results from the finite-element models developed for MoR tests were found to be in agreement with the test data. Also, it was concluded that the Euler-Bernoulli theory can be used for calculation of tensile strain at the bottom of the cementitiously stabilized subgrade soil, with an acceptable level of accuracy. The flexural properties of CSS specimens are expected to be useful in estimating fatigue performance of pavements with cementitiously stabilized subgrade soil.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the Oklahoma DOT for financial support of this study. Special thanks to Allen Construction Co., Oklahoma City, OK, and Holcim U. S. Inc., Ada, OK, for their cooperation during material collection. Finally, the authors sincerely thank Dr. Manik Barman, Mr. Michael Schmitz, and Mr. Syed Imran for their help and during this study.
References
AASHTO. (2003). “Standard method of test for determining the fatigue life of compacted hot-mix asphalt (HMA) subjected to repeated flexural bending.” T321, Washington, DC.
Ahnberg, H. (2006). “Strength of stabilised soil—A laboratory study on clays and organic soils stabilised with different types of binder.” Doctoral dissertation, Lund Univ., Lund, Sweden.
Ansary, M. A., and Hasan, K. A. (2011). “Lime stabilization on soil of a selected reclaimed site of Dhaka City.” J. Geotech. Eng., 1(1), 1–6.
Ansary, M. A., Noor, M. A., and Islam, M. (2007). “Effect of fly ash stabilization on geotechnical properties of Chittagong coastal soil.” Soil stress-strain behavior: Measurement, modeling and analysis, Springer, the Netherlands, 443–454.
Arellano, D., and Thompson, M. R. (1998). “Stabilized base properties (strength, modulus, fatigue) for mechanistic-based airport pavement design.” Final Rep. FAA Center of Excellence for Airport Pavement Research Rep. No. 4, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL.
ASTM. (2000). “Standard test method for flexural strength of soil-cement using simple beam with third-point loading.” D1635, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2007). “Standard test method for particle-size analysis of soils.” D422, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2010a). “Standard test methods for liquid limit, plastic limit, and plasticity index of soils.” D4318, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2010b). “Standard test methods for specific gravity of soil solids by water pycnometer.” D854, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2011). “Standard practice for classification of soils for engineering purposes (Unified Soil Classification System).” D2487, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2012a). “Standard test method for flexural strength of soil-cement using simple beam with third-point loading.” D1635, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2012b). “Standard test methods for laboratory compaction characteristics of soil using standard effort.” D698, West Conshohocken, PA.
Barksdale, R. D. (1991). “Fabrics in asphalt overlays and pavement maintenance. NCHRP Synthesis of Highway Practice, No. 171,” Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.
Casmer, J. D. (2011). “Fatigue cracking of cementitiously stabilized pavement layers through large-scale model experiments.” M.S. thesis, Dept. of Geological Engineering, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI.
CATS 1.8 [Computer software]. GCTS Testing Systems, Tempe, AZ.
Charbit, B. (2009). “Numerical analysis of laterally loaded lime/cement columns.” Proc., 20th European Young Geotechnical Engineers Conf., Geotechnical Engineering 20, View of Young European Geotechnical Engineers, Brno, Czech Republic.
Cleveland, G. S., Button, J. W., and Lytton, R. L. (2002). “Geosynthetics in flexible and rigid pavement overlay systems to reduce reflection cracking.” FHWA/TX-02/1777-1, Texas Transportation Institute, Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX.
de Borst, R. (2002). “Fracture in quasi-brittle materials: A review of continuum damage-based approaches.” Eng. Fract. Mech., 69(2), 95–112.
Francken, L., Beuving, E., and Molenaar, A. A. A. (1996). “Reflective cracking in pavements: Design and performance of overlay systems.” Proc., Third Int. RILEM Conf., 1st ed., E and FN Spon, London.
Freeme C. R., Maree, J. H., and Viljoen A. W. (1982). “Mechanistic design of asphalt pavements and verification using the heavy vehicle simulator.” Proc., 5th Int. Conf. Structural Design of Asphalt Pavements, International Executive Committee, Study Centre for Road Construction, Arnheim, the Netherlands.
Jameson, G., and Sharp, K. G. (2004). “Technical basis of Austroads pavement design guide.” Austroads Publication No. AP-T33/04, Austroads, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Kaplan, M. F. (1963). “Strains and stresses of concrete at initiation of cracking near failure.” ACI J., 60(7), 857–879.
Laguros, J. G., and Keshwarz, M. S. (1987). “Construction and performance of the stabilized base course on U. S. 77 Ponca City, Kay County.” Rep. No. FHWA/OK 87(7), Oklahoma DOT Item No. 2128, Oklahoma DOT, Oklahoma City, OK.
Little, D. N. (2000). “Evaluation of structural properties of lime stabilized soils and aggregates.” Mixture design and testing protocol for lime stabilized soils, Vol. 3, National Lime Association, Arlington, VA.
Mandal, T. (2013). “Fatigue behavior and modulus growth of cementitiously stabilized pavement layers.” M.S. thesis, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI.
McKenzie, N., Coughlan, K., and Cresswell, H. (2002). Soil physical measurement and interpretation for land evaluation, Vol. 5, CSIRO Publishing, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.
Molenaar, A. A. A. (1984). “Fatigue and reflection cracking due to traffic loads.” Proc., Association of Asphalt Paving Technologists, Association of Asphalt Paving Technologists, Lino Lakes, MN, Vols. 53–84, 440.
Molenaar, A. A. A., and Pu, B. (2008). “Prediction of fatigue cracking in cement treated base courses.” Pavement cracking: Mechanisms, Modeling, Detection, Testing and Case Histories, Proc., 6th RILEM Int. Conf. on Cracking in Pavements, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.
Muhunthan, B., and Sariosseiri, F. (2008). “Interpretation of geotechnical properties of cement treated soils.” Research Rep. FHWA-DTFH61-05-C-00008, Washington State Transportation Center, Washington State Univ., Seattle, WA.
Murakami, S. (2012). Continuum damage mechanics. A continuum mechanics approach to the analysis of damage and fracture, Springer, Dordrecht, the Netherlands.
Otte, E. (1972). “The stress-strain properties of cement-treated materials.” M.S. thesis, Univ. of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
Otte, E. (1978). “A structural design procedure for cement-treated layers in pavements.” D.Sc. thesis, Univ. of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
Parisio, F., Samat, S., and Laloui, L. (2014). “An elasto-plastic-damage model for quasi-brittle shales.” Proc., 48th U.S. Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symp., Minneapolis, MN, American Rock Mechanics Association, Alexandria VA.
Peng, C., Decheng, F., Ruxin, J., and Yin, Z. (2013). “Plastic damage model to evaluate the fracture size of semi-rigid base pavement.” Res. J. Appl. Sci. Eng. Technol., 5(2), 596–601.
Peng, Y., and He, Y. (2009). “Structural characteristics of cement-stabilized soil bases with 3D finite element method.” Front. Archit. Civ. Eng. China, 3(4), 428–434.
Pu, B. (2007). “Analysis of the performance of pavements with a cement treated base.” M.S. thesis, Delft Univ. of Technology, Delft, the Netherlands.
Raad, L. (1985). “Behavior of stabilized layers under repeated loads.” Transportation Research Record 1022, 72–79.
Rodriguez, A. R. (2008). “Engineering behavior of soft clays treated with circulating fluidized bed combustion fly ash.” M.S. thesis, Univ. of Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR.
Sargand, S., Khoury, I., Gray, J., and Al-Jhayyish, A. (2014). “Incorporating chemical stabilization of the subgrade in pavement design and construction practices.” Final Rep., No. FHWA/OH-2014/12, Federal Highway Administration, Washington, DC.
Sarkar, G., Islam, M. R., Alamgir, M., and Rokonuzzaman, M. (2012). “Study on the geotechnical properties of cement based composite fine-grained soil.” Int. J. Adv. Struct. Geotech. Eng., 1(2), 42–49.
Selezneva, O. I., and Hallenbeck, M. (2013). Long-term pavement performance pavement loading user guide (LTPP PLUG), U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, McLean VA.
Shalaby, A., and Fréchette, L. (2000). “Reflective cracking on C-SHRP long term pavement performance sites.” Proc., RILEM Fourth Int. Conf. on Reflective Cracking in Pavements, Ottawa, Canada, RILEM Publications, Bagneux, France, 241–250.
SIMULIA. (2013). Abaqus 6.12 documentation, SIMULIA, Providence, RI.
Siripun, K., Jitsangiam, P., and Nikraz, H., and Leek, C. (2012). “Fatigue cracking behaviours on cement treated crushed rock.” Proc., ISAP 2012 Int. Symp. on Heavy Duty Asphalt Pavements and Bridge Deck Pavements, Nanjing, China, International Society for Asphalt Pavements, Lino Lakes, MN.
Sobhan, K., and Mashnad, M. (2000). “Fatigue durability of stabilized recycled aggregate base course containing fly ash and waste-plastic strip reinforcement.” Final Rep. submitted to the Recycled Materials Resource Center, Univ. of New Hampshire, Durham, NH.
Solanki, P. (2010). “Characterization of cementitiously stabilized subgrades for mechanistic-empirical pavement design.” Ph.D. dissertation, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK.
Solanki, P., and Zaman, M. (2014). “Behavior of stabilized subgrade soils under indirect tension and flexure.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 833–844.
Sture, S., Alqasabi, A., and Ayari, M. (1999). “Fracture and size effect characters of cemented sand.” Int. J. Fract., 95, 405–433.
Theyse, H. L., De Beer, M., and Rust, F. C. (1996). “Overview of South African mechanistic pavement design method.” Transportation Research Record 1539, 6–17.
Thompson, M. R. (1966). “Split-tensile strength of lime-stabilized soils.” Highway Research Record 92, 69–82.
TMR (Department of Transport and Main Roads). (2012). “Structural design procedure of pavements on lime stabilized subgrades.” Tech. Note 74, Brisbane, Australia.
Wen, H., et al. (2011). “Characterization of cementitiously stabilized layers for use in pavement design and analysis.” Project 04-36 Test Procedure Evaluation Rep., prepared for the National Cooperative Highway Research Program, Washington, DC.
Yeo, R. (2008). “The development and evaluation of protocols for the laboratory characterisation of cemented materials.” Austroads Publication No. AP-T101/08, Austroads, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Yu, X. J., Fang, Z., Wang, S. Y., Yan, Y., and Yin, J. H. (2007). “A simple plastic-damage model for the cement-soil admixture.” Key Eng. Mater., 353–358, 1145–1148.
Zhang, P., Li, Q., and Wei, H. (2010). “Investigation of flexural properties of cement-stabilized macadam reinforced with polypropylene fiber.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 1282–1287.
Zhu, J. (1998). “Characterization of cement kiln dust stabilized base/subbase aggregate.” Ph.D. dissertation, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 17 • Issue 2 • February 2017
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 25, 2015
Accepted: May 6, 2016
Published online: Jun 29, 2016
Discussion open until: Nov 29, 2016
Published in print: Feb 1, 2017
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.