Compressibility and microstructure of cement-based treated sediment

Cement-based solidification is one of the most used treatment techniques for dredged sediment that allows geotechnical applications of the treated sediment. As such materials present high settlement potential, compressibility tests were carried out to investigate this geotechnical behaviour. This paper examines also the microstructure (SEM and XRD analyses) of the non-treated and treated sediment with 2, 5 and 10% cement for different curing periods.

The results indicate that the raw sediment and 2% cement-treated sediment had no preconsolidation pressure. However, 5 and 10% cement-treated samples developed a preconsolidation pressure, which increases with curing time and achieves 250 kPa. Overall and under cementation effect, treated sediment was found to have higher coefficient of consolidation and compression index and smaller secondary compression index. The new microstructure of cement-treated sediment resulted in the modification and the enhancement of compressibility behaviour.