Performance characteristics of soil-cement from industry waste binder

The performance characteristics of soil-cement with industry waste binder as the stabilizer (designated as industry waste soil-cement) were studied in terms of mix proportions, bulk density, and unconfined compressive strength (UCS). The industry waste binder in this study was prepared by blending ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS), fly-ash, dried lime sludge (DLS) from the acetylene industry, and natural anhydrite with certain specific surface areas in mix proportion. Soil-cement with ordinary Portland cement as the stabilizer (designated as OPC soil-cement) was used as the control sample. The aim of this study was to check the feasibility of substituting industry waste binder for ordinary Portland cement in stabilization of soft soils. The results of the laboratory tests indicated that the UCS of industry waste soil-cement was strongly dependent on the mix proportions of the binder (especially the content and fineness of GGBS and lime content) for a given soil, that the bulk density of industry waste soil-cement was nearly equal to that of OPC soil-cement, and that the industry waste binder optimized produced higher strengths than OPC under the same conditions. This result suggests that industry waste binder is promising for stabilization of soft soils in civil engineering construction.