Tensile Strength of Cement-Treated Champlain Sea Clay: An Experimental and Numerical Study

The deep soil mixing method is becoming increasingly popular in the treatment of problematic soils in Canada. Champlain Sea clay, found throughout the St. Laurence River basin from Ontario to Quebec, is well-known for its high compressibility and a sudden loss of its shear strength due to disturbance. The tensile strength of a stabilized soil is an important design parameter for structures, such as embankments and retaining walls. Currently, there is no study available on the tensile strength of cement-treated Champlain Sea clay. This study is to address this knowledge gap by using indirect tensile strength testing approaches, such as the Brazilian tensile test and unconfined penetration test. General use cement was selected for mixing with clay. The tensile strength results of cement-treated clay were compared and correlated with its unconfined compressive

strength to establish a relationship. According to this study, the tensile strength of cement-treated Champlain Sea clay was approximately 6 % of its unconfined compressive strength. The Brazilian tensile strength is recommended for future studies over the unconfined penetration test due to its reliability and consistency in the test results. A numerical simulation using Abaqus CAE was also performed on the behavior of a Brazilian tensile testing sample during loading. A fair agreement was observed between experimental and numerical simulation results up to crack initialization