A Framework to Investigate the Effect of Sand on Strength of Cement-Admixed Clay

Land reclamation plays an important role in meeting the demand for land space in many densely populated countries. In Singapore, due to the shortage of sand, excavated materials after underground development are commonly used for land reclamation. These excavated materials are marine clay with sand containing high water content. In terms of cement-stabilized soil improvement, most of the available literature has primarily focused on the properties of pure cemented sand or cemented clay. Hence, this study aims to propose a framework for quantifying the strength of cemented clay with sand impurities. The effect of sand is found to be more pronounced at higher water content and lower cement content. As the cement content increases, the effect of sand becomes less pronounced as the cementation takes control of the strength of the cemented soil. Also, cemented sandy clay with lower cement content was able to achieve similar strength as cemented clay at higher cement content.