Treatment of Collapsible Soils by Cement Using the Double Consolidation Method

The stability of civil engineering constructions is a statically indeterminate problem when they were built on collapsible soils. These soils present significant changes due to sudden decrease in volume after wetting with or without loading. This paper is aimed at studying the treatment by cement of a collapsible soil, which was reconstituted in laboratory. Oedometer tests were carried out by using the double consolidation method. The main aim of this experimental study is to investigate the influence of this kind of treatment and the initial conditions on the collapse of the soils. The results obtained show that it is possible to reduce the soil collapse potential to an acceptable level by adding low cement contents to a test specimen at various initial water contents and under the effect of several compacting energies. These experimental results contribute in solving the problems of soil collapse by treating to enhance its resistance.