Compressibility of remoulded and cement-treated Kuttanad soil

Abstract This paper reports the compressive behaviour of remoulded and cement-treated organic Kuttanad clay by conducting a series of one-dimensional consolidation tests. The compression curves of remoulded clay (RM) are studied to serve as reference for understanding the impact of cement treatment on the volume change behaviour. The positions of the compression curves of the untreated clay in the e–log σ′v space are seen to vary with the initial water content owing to changes in the soil structure. Subsequently, the influence of such parameters as the initial water (IW) content and the clay-water/cement (W/C) ratio, on the compressive behaviour of cement-treated clay, is assessed. It is found that the W/C ratio is the most critical parameter governing the yield stress of cement-treated clay. An analysis of the results indicates that the cementation-induced bonding in the pre-yield zone and the fabric effect in the post-yield zone govern the compressibility of cement-treated clay.