Tensile strength parameters controlling of zeolite-cemented sands

Treating soil with cement and zeolite is widely used in soil stabilization. This research intends to quantify the impact of cement and zeolite contents, porosity index, and voids/cement ratio on zeolite cemented sands by the splitting tensile strength (sigma(t)) assessment. The approach of splitting tensile tests using specimens by different zeolite replacement percentages was followed. Results indicated that cement was replaced by zeolite at optimum proportion of 30%. Then, improved values of sigma(t) by the effect of zeolite and cement chemical properties in the cement sand specimens were attained. Zeolite can have a more significant effect on a compacted mixture if its cement content and porosity increase. In this paper, it is shown that for the zeolite cemented sands, sigma(t) increases by increase in cement content (C) and reduction in porosity (n); and a power function is well adapted to fit both sigma(t) - C and sigma(t) - n. Afterwards, good correlations are obtained between voids/cement ratio (n/c) and the splitting tensile strength (sigma(t)) of the sand-zeolite-cement studied. Finally, based on a number of input variables, namely, porosity (n), replacement of cement by zeolite (Z), and cement content (C), considering the regression approach, an equation is suggested to predict sigma(t). Moreover, it is shown that the evolved equation could successfully predict the tensile strength. (C) 2019 Sharif University of Technology. All rights reserved.