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Sustainable use of OPC-CSA blend for artificial cementation of sand: A dosage optimization study

  • Subramanian, Sathya (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of Singapore) ;
  • Tee, Wei Zhong (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of Singapore) ;
  • Moon, Juhyuk (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Seoul National University) ;
  • Ku, Taeseo (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Konkuk University)
  • Received : 2022.02.23
  • Accepted : 2022.08.13
  • Published : 2022.11.25

Abstract

The use of calcium sulfoaluminate (CSA) cement as a rapid-hardening cement admixture or eco-friendly alternate for ordinary Portland cement (OPC) has been attempted over the years, but the cost of CSA cement and availability of suitable aluminium resource prevent its wide practical application. To propose an effective ground improvement design in sandy soil, this study aims at blending a certain percentage of CSA with OPC to find an optimum blend that would have fast-setting behavior with a lower carbon footprint than OPC without compromising the mechanical properties of the cemented sand. Compared to the 100% CSA case, initial speed of strength development of blended cement is relatively low as it is mixed with OPC. It is found that 80% OPC and 20% CSA blend has low initial strength but eventually produces equivalent ultimate strength (28 days curing) to that of CSA treated sand. The specific OPC-CSA blend (80:20) exhibits significantly higher strength gain than using pure OPC, thus allowing effective geotechnical designs for sustainable and controlled ground improvement. Further parametric studies were conducted for the blended cement under various curing conditions, cement contents, and curing times. Wet-cured cement treated sand had 33% lower strength than that of dry-cured samples, while the stiffness of wet-cured samples was 25% lower than that of dry-cured samples.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

The authors appreciate the financial support from the Singapore Ministry of Education (PI -Ku, Taeseo; Award Number: R-302-000-194-114) and Konkuk University.

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