Modeling compression behavior of cement-treated zinc-contaminated clayey soils

In this paper, the compression behavior of cement-treated soil with various cement contents and zinc concentrations is presented and modeled by the destructuring framework and the concept of the Intrinsic Compression Line (ICL). The void ratio of a cement-treated sample with Zn contamination is the sum of the void ratio sustained by the intrinsic soil fabric (destructured void ratio) and the additional void ratio due to cementation. The compression index at the pre-yield state, Cs, increases as the Zn concentration increases or as the cement content decreases. At the post-yield state, the additional void ratio is inversely proportional to the effective vertical stress. The rate of reduction in the additional void ratio is controlled by the destructuring index, b. The values for b and yield stress are mainly dependent upon the degree of cementation, which is controlled by the cement content and the Zn concentration. Based on a critical analysis of the test data, a practical (simple and rational) method for assessing the compressibility of cement-treated soil with various Zn concentrations is suggested. The proposed predictive method is useful not only for quickly determining compression curves, with acceptable errors, but also for examining the results of tests on cement-treated zinc-contaminated soil.