Unconfined compressive strength properties of various dispersing agents and cement stabilized clay

In this experimental study, the change of unconfined compressive strength of Ankara Clay with respect to cement and various dispersive agents has been studied. The primary purpose of the study is to investigate for the effectiveness of the chemical agents on the stabilization of the clayey soils with cement. Within the scope of this research, first of all, classification experiments have been performed which showed that the soil is a high plasticity clay. Later on, by performing Standard Proctor experiment, optimum water content and maximum dry unit weight of the clay have been determined as 29,81% and 13,42 kN/m2, respectively. Values of optimum water content and maximum dry weight of the clay have been used for the preparation of unconfined compression specimens with or without additives.Unconfined compression experiments have performed in three stages. In the first stage, solely the effect of the cement content on the strength of the specimens which are composed of cement admixture with clay, in cement/(cement + clay) percentages of 0%, 5%, 10% has been investigated. As for the second stage, only the effect of chemical agents on the strength of clay specimens that are prepared by adding the ratios of 5, 10 and 20 percent of agent/water in solution form, has been investigated. Sodium hexametaphosphate, aluminium sulfate, sodium carbonate and sodium silicate have been used as chemical agents. In the third stage, the combined effect of both cement and chemical agents on the unconfined compressive strength of specimens that are composed of clay, cement and chemical agent solutions has been investigated. According to the results obtained, it has been observed that strength increases as cement content raises. For all chemical agents, as the concentration of chemical in the solution increases, unconfined compressive strength tends to decrease noticeably.