Treatment of a clay soil deposited in saline water by cement

The behaviour and treatment of a clay soil deposited in natural and saline (sodium chloride) water are studied through experimental tests. A clay soil was deposited in natural water and water with different concentrations of sodium chloride (40, 80 and 150 g/L) in a reservoir at lab. The samples were taken from dry deposited soil and they were treated with 5%, 8% and 10% cement. Atterberg limits, compaction and unconfined compression tests were carried out on the deposited soil and treated soil samples. The results show that the physical and mechanical behaviours of soil deposited in natural water and salinity water are not the same and they are function of salt concentration. The results also indicate that cement can improve the strength of the deposited soil in saline water but this improvement is not a direct function of salt concentration. In addition, for a constant salt concentration the strength of treated soil is function of percent of cement and curing time. Based on SEM (scanning electron microscopy) analysis, it was found that salt concentrations of 80 and 150 g/L may have prevented the interaction between soil and cement in the deposited soil.