Development of Rapid Setting Soil-Cement Mixture Designs and Performance Testing

The maintenance and repair of maritime infrastructure is critical to maintaining important shipping channels and preventing unnecessary loss of life or economic impact after storms. The fastest repair, reconstruction, and maintenance techniques may become more desirable as labor costs increase and delays become costlier. The objective of this research is to identify the properties and proportioning of Belitic Calcium Sulfoaluminate (BCSA) soil-cement mixtures most effective for use in waterway structures. BCSA cement is a rapid setting, low-shrinkage cement which can be used in a similar fashion to portland cement (PC). The main advantage of BCSA over PC is that it gains strength extremely quickly, meaning it can be used for rapid repairs and accelerated construction. This project builds upon findings from a previous MarTREC project that proved that BCSA could be applied to soil-cement mixing (in place of PC), speeding up strength gain significantly. The proposed work would narrow down the design and appropriate use of this material, developing mixture proportioning guidelines and investigating its durability with an emphasis on its use in waterway applications (e.g., levee construction and repair, slope protection, erosion protection, seepage reduction). In addition to standard soil and soil-cement properties determination, strength testing, freeze-thaw testing, wetting and drying testing, permeability testing, and erosion testing will be performed. The result will be new guidance on how to effectively use BCSA soil cement for rapidly deployable, long lasting repairs to soil structures. This knowledge could also be used any time faster construction of stabilized soil structures is needed.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $225000
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3551747130

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Maritime Transportation Research and Education Center

  University of Arkansas
  Fayetteville, AR  United States  72701
• Project Managers:

  Murray, Cameron

  Barry, Michelle

• Performing Organizations:

  University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

  4190 Bell Engineering
  Civil Engineering
  Fayetteville, Arkansas  United States  72701
• Principal Investigators:

  Murray, Cameron

  Barry, Michelle

• Start Date: 20210901
• Expected Completion Date: 20231231
• Actual Completion Date: 20231231
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Calcium sulfates; Mix design; Performance tests; Setting (Concrete); Soil cement tests; Soil stabilization
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Geotechnology; Highways; Materials;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01782065
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Maritime Transportation Research and Education Center
• Contract Numbers: 69A3551747130
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Sep 21 2021 5:22PM