Small strain shear moduli of lime-cement treated expansive clays

Deep mixing treatments with lime, cement and lime-cement mixtures have been used to stabilize soft and compressible soils, provide excavation support, mitigate liquefaction problems and stabilize steep embankments and slopes. One of the soil properties needed in the characterization of the treated soils is small strain shear modulus, which is used to evaluate the quality control of deep mixing in field conditions, seismic treated site characterization, and numerical modeling of earth structures placed on treated soil columns. A laboratory research study has evaluated small strain shear moduli properties of lime-cement treated expansive soil using Bender Elements. This paper presents these results obtained on both untreated and lime-cement treated soils. Lime-cement treatment was performed by simulating a deep mixing rotary application. Enhancements of small strain shear moduli, G max , with respect to lime-cement dosage levels and curing conditions were addressed. Comparisons of these results with shear moduli results obtained from field DM samples were made to address the quality control issues of field deep mixing application.