The influence of water-cement suspension on the properties of soil cement during jet cementation of weak soils

Introduction. Optimization of water-cement suspension composition for jet grouting in hydraulic engineering construction is an urgent task due to insufficient knowledge of how cement slurry composition affects soil-cement properties under constant water saturation, as well as limitations in applying this technology in this construction sector due to specific loads and aggressive environmental impacts. The study aims to determine the optimal water-cement suspension composition ensuring high physical and mechanical characteristics of soil-cement. The main tasks included field and laboratory testing of compositions with various additives and water-cement ratios.

Materials and methods. The research programme involved constructing 15 soil-cement columns with 5 different compositions, followed by sampling of soil-cement specimens for laboratory analysis of their strength, deformation modulus, and density. The tests were conducted under complex geological and hydrological conditions.

Results. The highest unconfined compressive strength and deformation modulus were recorded for the composition with a water-cement ratio of 0.8. Chemical additives (sodium silicate and technical soda) did not show significant improvement in characteristics, with strength increase amounting to only 1–9 %. An unexpected result was the strength reduction observed when using both additives simultaneously. The soil-cement density remained similar for all compositions.

Conclusions. The best results were achieved with a water-cement ratio of 0.8, and this particular composition is recommended for practical application of jet grouting in hydraulic engineering construction. The obtained data on soil-cement characteristics confirm the effectiveness of jet grouting technology (JGT) in challenging conditions, while also demonstrating the need for preliminary experimental work to select the optimal composition.

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