The influence of stress state, density and moisture on the dynamic properties of soil cement samples created by the method of deep soil mixing

Abstract

The transformation of the properties of the bases by the method of deep soil mixing allows the construction of buildings and structures on sites with soft soils. As a rule, adverse geological conditions are accompanied by the presence of dynamic effects on the designed buildings. The objective of this research is to forecast changes in the mechanical properties of the base under dynamic loads. The object of study is the propagation velocity of elastic shear waves, since these parameters significantly affect the calculations of deformations and stability of earthquake-resistant industrial and civil buildings and structures, as well as objects of energy and transport construction. The paper contains a review of similar studies, on the basis of which the conclusions obtained during the experiments are further generalized. Based on the analysis of the results of laboratory tests performed by the authors of this work, by the method of low-amplitude torsion vibrations in a resonant column in the anisotropic triaxial compression mode, the influence of the density of soil cement samples, humidity, and additional load on the propagation velocity of elastic transverse waves is estimated. The paper provides a description of the essence of the research method, a review of the equipment on which special laboratory tests were performed. The tests were carried out on samples of unbroken soil cement taken from the base of a nuclear power plant (NPP) under construction. Dried samples of soil cement were investigated, and tests were carried out at full water saturation and at a given humidity. The anisotropic stress state of soil cement samples during triaxial tests in a resonance column was due to the features of the base of the designed NPP. Studies have shown that the most significant factor affecting the shear wave velocity is the additional vertical load. It is noted that with increasing density, the velocity of the shear waves decreases. Humidity is directly related to the density of soil cement and the amount of water in the pores, so the assessment of its effect on the dynamic properties of soil cement is similar to the effect of changes in density.

Dynamic Properties of Soil Cements for Numerical Modelling of the Foundation’s Basis Transformed under the Technology of Deep Soil Mixing: A Determination Method

“…The dependency of the damping coefficient obtained in this research for various binder contents, strength gain times, and confining pressures corresponded precisely to the exponential function. Ter-Martirosyan and Sobolev (2020) [10] studied the impact of changes in humidity, density, and confining pressure on determining the dynamic properties of soil cement. Laboratory tests by the triaxial compression method were implemented at the specified humidity of soil-cement specimens (air-dry specimens, natural water content, and water-saturated ones).…”