Stabilization of Meles Delta soils using cement and lime mixtures

İzmir Bay reserves high amount of residual alluvial deposits generated by Meles River at its stream mouth. These carried sediments with high water content and low bearing capacity are unsuitable in terms of engineering purposes. In-situ soil stabilization with deep soil mixing method is considered to improve properties of soil in this location. This method is widely used especially over Scandinavia, Japan and North America. Basically, the method covers mixing appropriate binder into the soil to improve soil profile according to the engineering needs. For this purpose, soil samples were initially provided from the site, classification tests were performed and optimum ratios of lime and cement binders were determined. Following, specimens representing the in-situ soil conditions were prepared and cured to be able to determine their engineering properties. Unconfined compression tests and vane shear tests were applied to evaluate the stabilization performance of binders on samples with different curing periods. Scanning electron microscope was used to observe time-dependent bonding progress of binders in order to validate the results. Utilization of 4% lime and 4% cement mixture for the long-term performance and 8% lime and 8% cement mixture for short term performance were suggested for the stabilization of Meles Delta soils. Development of CSH and CAH in a gel form as well as CSH crystals were clearly observed on SEM images of treated specimens.