Effect of fiber-reinforcement on the strength of cemented soils

This study aims to verify the differences in the strength of an artificially cemented sandy soil with and without fiber reinforcement. The controlling parameters evaluated were the amount of cement, porosity, moisture content, and voids/cement ratio. A series of unconfined compression tests and suction measures were carried out. The results show that fiber insertion in the cemented soil, for the whole range of cement studied, causes an increase in unconfined compression strength. The UCS increased linearly with the amount of cement and reduced with the increase in porosity (eta) for both the fiber-reinforced and unreinforced specimens. A power function fits well as the relation between unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and porosity (eta). Finally, it was shown that the voids/cement ratio is a good parameter in the evaluation of the unconfined compressive strength of the fiber-reinforced and unreinforced cemented soil studied. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.