experimental study on the electrical resistivity of soil–cement admixtures

7
ORIGINAL PAPER Experimental study on the electrical resistivity of soil–cement admixtures Song Yu Liu Yan Jun Du L. H. Han M. F. Gu Received: 11 April 2007 / Accepted: 20 June 2007 / Published online: 20 July 2007 Ó Springer-Verlag 2007 Abstract Recently in China, soil–cement is widely used to improve the soft ground in the highway construction engineering. Literature studies are mainly investigating the mechanical properties of the soil–cement, while its prop- erties of the electrical resistivity are not well addressed. In this paper, the properties of the electrical resistivity of the reconstituted soil-cement and the in situ soil–cement col- umns are investigated. The test results show that the electrical resistivity of the soil–cement increases with the increase in the cement-mixing ratio and curing time, whereas it decreases with the increase in the water content, degree of saturation and water–cement ratio. A simple equation is proposed to predict the electrical resistivity of soil–cement under the condition of the specified curing time and water–cement ratio. It is found that the electrical resistivity has a good relationship with the unconfined compression strength and blow count of SPT. It is expected that the electrical resistivity method can be widely used for checking/controlling the quality of soil–cement in practice. Keywords Soil–cement Electrical resistivity Unconfined compression strength Test Strength prediction Introduction Recently in China, soil–cement is widely used for soft soil improvement in highway construction. Currently, standard penetration test (SPT) is the most popular method that is used for checking the quality of soil–cement columns in China (Liu and Hryciw 2003). Perhaps the serious disad- vantage of this method is that it usually cause destruction of soil–cement columns and may not be time and cost- effective. Electrical resistivity method seems to be a rea- sonable alternative which has advantage of non-destruction and time-effective against SPT. For example, Seaton and Burbey (2002) evaluated a fractured crystalline terrane using the electrical resistivity method. Giao et al. (2003) used the electrical resistivity for geotechnical investigation of Pusan clay deposits. Miao et al. (2003) studied the relationship between the electrical resistivity and the curing time, the unconfined compression strength and the cement- mixing ratio of laboratory prepared soil–cement admix- tures. Miao et al. (2003) discussed the possibility of applying the electrical resistivity method for checking the quality of deep mixed cement columns. However, none of these literature studies systematically investigate the fac- tors affecting the electrical resistivity of soil–cement admixtures or propose a simple method to predict the electrical resistivity of soil–cement admixtures under the specified condition. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that control the characteristics of the electrical resistivity of soil–cement admixtures. For this purpose, a series of lab- oratory tests and field in-situ tests have been carried out for the cement stabilized typical marine soft soil located at LianYunGang City, China. The effects of cement-mixing ratio (hereinafter labelled A w ), water content, degree of saturation, water–cement ratio (hereinafter labelled w/c) and curing time on the electrical resistivity of soil–cement admixtures are discussed. A simple equation is proposed to predict the electrical resistivity of soil–cement admixtures. Finally, the electrical resistivity method is used to predict S. Y. Liu Y. J. Du (&) L. H. Han M. F. Gu Institute of Geotechnical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, Jiangsu, China e-mail: [email protected] 123 Environ Geol (2008) 54:1227–1233 DOI 10.1007/s00254-007-0905-5

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Page 1: Experimental study on the electrical resistivity of soil–cement admixtures

ORIGINAL PAPER

Experimental study on the electrical resistivityof soil–cement admixtures

Song Yu Liu Æ Yan Jun Du Æ L. H. Han ÆM. F. Gu

Received: 11 April 2007 / Accepted: 20 June 2007 / Published online: 20 July 2007

� Springer-Verlag 2007

Abstract Recently in China, soil–cement is widely used

to improve the soft ground in the highway construction

engineering. Literature studies are mainly investigating the

mechanical properties of the soil–cement, while its prop-

erties of the electrical resistivity are not well addressed. In

this paper, the properties of the electrical resistivity of the

reconstituted soil-cement and the in situ soil–cement col-

umns are investigated. The test results show that the

electrical resistivity of the soil–cement increases with the

increase in the cement-mixing ratio and curing time,

whereas it decreases with the increase in the water content,

degree of saturation and water–cement ratio. A simple

equation is proposed to predict the electrical resistivity of

soil–cement under the condition of the specified curing

time and water–cement ratio. It is found that the electrical

resistivity has a good relationship with the unconfined

compression strength and blow count of SPT. It is expected

that the electrical resistivity method can be widely used for

checking/controlling the quality of soil–cement in practice.

Keywords Soil–cement � Electrical resistivity �Unconfined compression strength � Test � Strength

prediction

Introduction

Recently in China, soil–cement is widely used for soft soil

improvement in highway construction. Currently, standard

penetration test (SPT) is the most popular method that is

used for checking the quality of soil–cement columns in

China (Liu and Hryciw 2003). Perhaps the serious disad-

vantage of this method is that it usually cause destruction

of soil–cement columns and may not be time and cost-

effective. Electrical resistivity method seems to be a rea-

sonable alternative which has advantage of non-destruction

and time-effective against SPT. For example, Seaton and

Burbey (2002) evaluated a fractured crystalline terrane

using the electrical resistivity method. Giao et al. (2003)

used the electrical resistivity for geotechnical investigation

of Pusan clay deposits. Miao et al. (2003) studied the

relationship between the electrical resistivity and the curing

time, the unconfined compression strength and the cement-

mixing ratio of laboratory prepared soil–cement admix-

tures. Miao et al. (2003) discussed the possibility of

applying the electrical resistivity method for checking the

quality of deep mixed cement columns. However, none of

these literature studies systematically investigate the fac-

tors affecting the electrical resistivity of soil–cement

admixtures or propose a simple method to predict the

electrical resistivity of soil–cement admixtures under the

specified condition.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors

that control the characteristics of the electrical resistivity of

soil–cement admixtures. For this purpose, a series of lab-

oratory tests and field in-situ tests have been carried out for

the cement stabilized typical marine soft soil located at

LianYunGang City, China. The effects of cement-mixing

ratio (hereinafter labelled Aw), water content, degree of

saturation, water–cement ratio (hereinafter labelled w/c)

and curing time on the electrical resistivity of soil–cement

admixtures are discussed. A simple equation is proposed to

predict the electrical resistivity of soil–cement admixtures.

Finally, the electrical resistivity method is used to predict

S. Y. Liu � Y. J. Du (&) � L. H. Han � M. F. Gu

Institute of Geotechnical Engineering,

Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, Jiangsu, China

e-mail: [email protected]

123

Environ Geol (2008) 54:1227–1233

DOI 10.1007/s00254-007-0905-5

Page 2: Experimental study on the electrical resistivity of soil–cement admixtures

and compare with the measured unconfined compression

strength of soil–cement columns installed in the Lian-

YunGang-Nanjing Highway section.

Materials and test methods

The clays used in this study were sampled from the marine

deposits located in the Lian YunGang city, Jiangsu prov-

ince, China. The main physical properties of the clay are

summarized in Table 1. Disturbed soils were sampled at

depths of 2–3, 4–5 and 8–9 m (Fig. 1).

In this study, the electrical resistivity of the soil–cement

was measured using the two-electrode probe method and a

test apparatus developed by the Institute of Geotechnical

Engineering, Southeast University (Yu 2004). The details

of the test apparatus were discussed by Yu (2004). The

electric frequency of the test apparatus was set as 50 Hz,

which is consistent with that used in the daily life of China.

The reliability of the test apparatus was discussed by Yu

(2004) by comparing the measured electrical resistivity of

soil–cement admixtures with the measured values using the

ASTM G187-05 standard test method. The schematic of

this test method is shown in Fig. 1, in which the electrical

resistivity of the soil–cement admixture, q (Wm), is cal-

culated based on the following equation:

q ¼ DU

I

A

Lð1Þ

in which DU = the electrical voltage applied to the soil

(volts), I = the electrical current (amps) A = the cross-

section area (m2) through which electrical current con-

ducts, and L = the length of the soil-cement admixture

specimen (meter) parallel to the electrical current.

In this study, the copper electrode probe was used with a

length of 70 mm, width of 70 mm and thickness of 2 mm.

The probes were placed on the top and at the bottom of the

soil–cement specimens during the measurement of the

electrical resistivity. The ordinary Portland cement (Type

I) was used as the binder to stabilize the soft soils. The

soil–cement sample was prepared in a cubic box with the

size of 70.7 mm, width of 70.7 mm and thickness of

70.7 mm. In this study the cement mixing ratio is defined

as Aw = wc/ws, where wc = the weight of dry cement,

ws = the weight of the soil with natural water content; the

water–cement ratio presented in this study is defined as

w/c = ww/wc, where ww = the weight of the total water in

the soil–water–cement mixture consisting of water initially

contained in the soil and water added to hydrate the cement

(Lorenzo and Bergado 2004). To investigate the effect of

cement-mixing ratio on the properties of the electrical

resistivity, Aw was set as 8, 10, 12 and 15% corresponding

to w/c of 4.7, 3.8, 3.1 and 2.7%. To investigate the effect of

degree of saturation on the electrical resistivity of soil–

cement, Aw was set as 8% and w/c was set in a range of

1–6%. Three parallel soil–cement admixture specimens

were prepared except for the case of Aw = 12%,

wc = 3.1%, and curing time of 20 days in which only two

parallel specimens were prepared. The soil–cement sam-

ples were cured under the controlled condition with a

Table 1 Geotechnical engineering properties of the LianYunGang

soft soil

Properties Characteristic

values

Specific gravity, Gs 2.68

Liquid limit, wL (%) 63

Plastic limit, wP (%) 25

Natural water content, wn (%) 39

Grain size distribution (%)

Clay (<2 lm) 65

Silt 23

Sand 12

I

V

Soil sample

Electrical source

∆U

I

Soil sample

Electrical source

∆U

Fig. 1 Schematic of the two electrode probe method

7 9 10 11 12 13 14 150

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

16

w/c =2.5

w/c =3.1

w/c =3.8

w/c =4.7

Ele

ctri

cal r

esis

tivity

, ρ (

ohm

-m)

Cement mixing ratio, Aw (%)

Curing time is 7days Curing time is 20 days Curing time is 34 days Trend line

8

Fig. 2 Relationship between the electrical resistivity and cement

mixing ratio of soil–cement admixtures

1228 Environ Geol (2008) 54:1227–1233

123

Page 3: Experimental study on the electrical resistivity of soil–cement admixtures

temperature of 20 ± 3�C and the relative humidity of 100%

for 10, 20, and 34 days to investigate the effect of curing

time on the electrical resistivity of the soil–cement

admixtures. All of the measurements of the electrical

resistivity were performed under the controlled tempera-

ture of 20 ± 3�C.

For the investigation of the effect of Aw, w/c, degree of

saturation and curing time on the electrical resistivity of

soil–cement admixtures, a vertical pressure of 20 kPa was

applied on the copper probes to make a well contact con-

dition between the probes and specimens. This pressure

was found to have little effect on the shear strength of the

soil–cement admixture samples.

Results and discussion

Effect of Aw on electrical resistivity

The relationship between the measured electrical resistivity

and Aw of the soil–cement admixture is plotted in Fig. 2. It

is found that the electrical resistivity increased with the

increase in Aw. Komine (1997) proposed a model for the

electrical resistivity of the soil–cement admixture and

which consists of three parts: electrical resistivity of soil,

electrical resistivity of cement and electrical resistivity of

pore water. He indicated that among these three factors, the

effect of pore water on the electrical resistivity was most

significant due to its highest electrical conductance (the

inverse of the electrical resistance). With the increase in

Aw, water content and void ratio of the soil–cement

admixture decreased due to the hydration reaction and

pozzolanic reaction. Therefore, the conduction path for the

electrical current became more tortuous. As a result, the

electrical resistivity of the soil–cement admixture

increased.

Effect of degree of saturation on electrical resistivity

McNeill (1999) proposed an empirical equation describing

the relationship between the electrical resistivity of satu-

rated soils and unsaturated soils as expressed:

q ¼ qsat Sr=100ð Þ�B ð2Þ

where q = the electrical resistivity of unsaturated soils

(Wm), qsat = the electrical resistivity of saturated soils

(Wm), Sr = the degree of saturation (%), and B = the

empirical constant depending on the soil type. In this study,

an attempt was made to apply Eq. (2) for the soil–cement

admixtures under the conditions presented in this study.

The relationship between the measured electrical resistivity

(q) and the measured value of Sr of soil–cement admixture

is shown in Fig. 3. The values of B and qsat were derived as

3.46 and 1.23, respectively by fitting Eq. (2) to the mea-

sured electrical resistivity (q) of soil–cement admixtures. It

is found that electrical resistivity (q) increased with the

decrease in degree of saturation. The reason for this

observation is mainly because with the decrease in the

degree of saturation, less pore spaces were filled with pore

water and thereby the path for the electrical current became

less tortuous in the soil–cement. As a result, the electrical

resistivity increased.

Effect of w/c on electrical resistivity

The relationship between the electrical resistivity and w/c

of the soil–cement admixtures is plotted in Fig. 4. With the

decrease in w/c, the electrical resistivity increased. The

reason is mainly because that with the decrease in w/c, Aw

increased (see Fig. 4) which leads to the decrease in the

void ratio and water content of the soil–cement. The con-

duction path for the electrical current became more tortu-

ous. Thereby, the electrical resistivity of soil–cement

admixture increased. This observation is consistent with

the literature (Horpibulsuk et al. 2003) in that w/c was one

of the important factors controlling the geotechnical

behavior of the soil–cement admixtures.

Effect of curing time on electrical resistivity

The relationship between the curing time and the measured

electrical resistivity of soil–cement is shown in Fig. 5. It

can be seen that with the increase in the curing time, the

electrical resistivity of soil–cement increased. The main

reason is that with the increase in the curing time, the

pozzolanic reaction was enhanced so that water content of

55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 1000

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Fitted line by Eq. (2) ρ = 1.23(S

r/100)-3.46

r2 = 0.97

Ele

ctri

cal r

esis

tivity

, (

ohm

-m)

Degree of saturation, Sr (%)

Aw= 8% w/c = 1 - 6%

Curing time = 7 - 35 days

ρ

Fig. 3 Relationship between electrical resistivity and degree of

saturation of soil–cement admixtures

Environ Geol (2008) 54:1227–1233 1229

123

Page 4: Experimental study on the electrical resistivity of soil–cement admixtures

soil–cement admixture decreased (Horpibulsuk et al.

2003). Furthermore, with the increase in the curing time,

contents of chemical reaction productions such as calcium

silicate hydrate (CSH) and calcium aluminate hydrate

(CAH) formed so that more fine soil particles are bonded

together resulting in a denser soil structure (Bergado et al.

1996; Holm 1999). These two aspects lead to more tortuous

pathways for the flow of electrical current in the soil–ce-

ment mixture. Therefore, the electrical resistivity of the

soil–cement increased.

Proposed equation to predict electrical resistivity

Yu (2004) found that the electrical resistivity of soil–ce-

ment mixture has a good relationship with w/c and curing

time, and indicated that the electrical resistivity was the

power function of w/c and exponential function of curing

time. However, Yu (2004) separately discussed the rela-

tionship between the electrical resistivity and w/c, and did

not combine these two factors in one simple equation,

which makes it difficult to be applied in practice. In this

study, it is assumed that the relationship between the

electrical resistivity and w/c and curing time can be ex-

pressed by:

qðw=cÞDqðw=cÞ34

¼ A ðw=cÞ34ð Þ� ðw=cÞDð Þf g Bþ C ln Dð Þ ð3Þ

in which q(w/c)D = the electrical resistivity at curing time of

D day(Wm), q(w/c)34 = the electrical resistivity at curing

time of 34 days (Wm), (w/c)D = the water–cement ratio of

D days, (w/c)34 = the water–cement ratio at the curing time

of 34 days, D = curing time (day), and A, B, C = constants.

Based on the electrical resistivity and w/c at curing time

of 7, 20, 34 days shown in Fig. 5, the values of A, B and C

were back-calculated as A = 1.35, B = 0.042 and C = 0.22.

Therefore, Eq. (3) can be expressed by

qðw=cÞDqðw=cÞ34

¼ 1:35 ðw=cÞ34ð Þ� ðw=cÞDð Þf g 0:042þ 0:22 ln Dð Þ ð4Þ

The predicted electrical resistivity (qp) of soil–cement at

the curing time of 7, 20 and 34 days using Eq. (4) are

plotted in Fig. 6 versus the measured values (qm). In this

study, the measured values of the electrical resistivity at the

curing time of 34 days, 2.58(Wm) and the corresponding

w/c, 4.69, were used as the value of q(w/c)34 in Eq. (4) for

the prediction. From Fig. 6, it can be seen that most of the

predicted values are well consistent with the measured

ones, indicating that the proposed Equation is reasonable.

The predicted values mainly distributes in the region of

2 3 4 50

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Aw = 15%

Aw = 12%

Aw = 10% A

w = 8%

Ele

ctri

cal r

esis

tivity

, ρ (

ohm

-m)

Water-cement ratio, w/c (%)

Curing time is 7days Curing time is 20 days Curing time is 34 days Trend line

Fig. 4 Effect of water–cement ratio on electrical resistivity of soil–

cement admixtures

0 10 15 20 25 30 35 400

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Trend line

Ele

ctri

cal r

esis

tivity

, ρ (

ohm

-m)

Curing time, D (day)

Aw= 8%,w/c = 4.7

Aw= 10%,w/c = 3.8

Aw= 12%,w/c = 3.1

Aw= 15%,w/c = 2.5

Trend line

5

Fig. 5 Relationship between electrical resistivity and curing time of

soil–cement admixtures

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.00.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

5.0

5.5

6.0

ρp = 0.75ρ

m

ρp = ρ

m- 1.0

ρp = ρ

m- 2.0

ρp = ρ

m

Curing time D = 7 daysCuring time D = 20 daysCuring time D = 34 days

Pred

icte

d el

ectr

ical

res

istiv

ity, ρ

p(ohm

-m)

Measured electrical resistivity, ρm (ohm-m)

Fig. 6 Comparison between measured and predicted electrical

resistivity of soil–cement admixtures

1230 Environ Geol (2008) 54:1227–1233

123

Page 5: Experimental study on the electrical resistivity of soil–cement admixtures

qp = qm to qp = qm-1.0 when qm is less than 4.5 Wm, while

they distributes mainly in the region of qp = qm – 1.0 to

qp = qm – 2.0 when qm is higher than 4.5 Wm. Generally,

the predicted values are about 25% lower than the mea-

sured values (Fig. 6). The possible reasons for this obser-

vation may be due to the limited measured data present in

Fig. 5, which might have resulted in slight error when the

parameters A, B, and C in Eq. 5 were back-calculated by

fitting. Although there is such a limitation, the method for

predicting electrical resistivity of soil–cement admixture

presented in this study is interesting for discussion and for

practical application. A benefit to use this proposed equa-

tion is that it is convenient to predict the electrical resis-

tivity of soil–cement admixture under the condition of the

specified w/c and curing time given that the electrical

resistivity and w/c at the curing time of 34 days are

measured. It is noted that although in most practice that the

curing time at 28 days for soil–cement admixture is

concerned, the curing time at 34 days presented in this

study is useful to discuss the proposal of a simple equation

to predict the electrical resistivity of soil–cement admix-

ture.

Relationship between the unconfined compression

strength and electrical resistivity

Since the electrical resistivity of the soil–cement is affected

by Aw, w/c and curing time which also affect the uncon-

fined compressive strength of the cement stabilized soil

(Horpibulsuk et al. 2003), it is thought that there would be

a relationship between the electrical resistivity and the

unconfined compressive strength. For this consideration,

the measured electrical resistivity (q) versus unconfined

compressive strength (qu) of the laboratory prepared soil–

cement admixtures is plotted in Fig. 7. It can be seen that

with the increase in the unconfined compressive strength

the electrical resistivity is increased. An empirical equation

is derived from Fig. 7:

qu ¼ 286q� 334 R2 ¼ 0:89 ð5Þ

Using Eq (5), one can easily predict the unconfined com-

pressive strength of soil-cement and consequently deter-

mine the bearing capacity of the soil–cement column

installed in the field.

The relationship between unconfined compressive

strength and electrical resistivity of soil–cement columns is

also examined by the field test of soil–cement columns

installed in the LianYunGang section of Lian-Xu Highway

for improvement of LianYunGang soft soil. A detailed

description of the soil properties and embankment settle-

ment in this area is given by Chai et al. (2002). The cement

columns were installed by dry-jet mixed method. The

cement columns have properties of Aw = 11%, w/c = 2.5

and curing time = 28 days. The SPT test was performed

for the cement column in the field. The unconfined com-

pressive strength and the electrical resistivity were mea-

sured on the boring samples of cement columns in the

laboratory. The variation of typical SPT N value and

unconfined compressive strength with the installation depth

of cement column is shown in Fig. 8. It can be seen that

both SPT N and qu varied with the depth of cement column.

This may be mainly due to that the cement was not hom-

ogenously injected during the installation of the cement

column.

The relationships between the electrical resistivity and

SPT N value and unconfined compressive strength are

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 70

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

Unc

onfi

ned

com

pres

sive

str

engt

h, q

u(kPa

)

Electrical resistivity, ρ (ohm-m)

Curing time = 7 days Curing time = 20 days Curing time = 34 days

Aw = 8% - 15%, w/c = 2.5 - 4.7%

qu = 286ρ - 334

R2= 0.89

Fig. 7 Relationship between the electrical resistivity and the

unconfined compression strength of soil–cement admixtures

12

11

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

01 10 100 1000

Aw= 11%, w/c = 2.5

Curing time = 28 days

Electrical resistivity Blow count of SPT Unconfined compressive strength

Dep

th (

m)

Unconfined compressive strength qu(kPa)

1 10 100 1000

Electrical resistivity (ohm-m), SPT (N)

Fig. 8 Distribution of measured electrical resistivity, blow count of

SPT, and unconfined compressive strength along depth for cement

columns installed in Lian-Yu highway

Environ Geol (2008) 54:1227–1233 1231

123

Page 6: Experimental study on the electrical resistivity of soil–cement admixtures

shown in Figs. 9, and 10, respectively. Unlike Fig. 7,

Figs. 8, 9 show that when the electrical resistivity is less

than about 2.7 Wm, the values of SPT N and qu practically

remain constant. The reason that why at this range of low

electrical resistivity (i.e., <2.7 Wm) is not clear. However,

when the electrical resistivity is higher than 2.7 Wm, the

values of SPT N and qu increased with the increase in the

electrical resistivity. The relationships between the elec-

trical resistivity and SPT N and qu in the case that the

electrical resistivity is higher than 2.7 Wm can be ex-

pressed by the following equations:

N ¼ 2:3qþ 2:7 R2 ¼ 0:81� �

ð6Þ

qu ¼ 99q� 292 R2 ¼ 0:81� �

ð7Þ

In Fig. 10, the predicted unconfined compressive strength

using Eq. 5 are also plotted. However, the predicted values

using Eq. 5 are higher than the measured values and pre-

dicted values using Eq. 7. This may be mainly due to the

difference in the soil nature, Aw, w/c, and curing time be-

tween the laboratory test condition and the field test con-

dition. Therefore, the predicted values calculated by Eq. 5,

which represents the laboratory test condition, are different

from the predicted values calculated by Eq. 7, which rep-

resents the field test condition (Fig. 10).

Practical implication

Equations (5–7) indicate that for the cement stabilized

LianYunGang soft soils and dry-jet-mixed cement columns

installed in the Lian-Yu highway, there is a good rela-

tionship between the electrical resistivity and shear

strengths. Therefore, it is expected that this method can be

used as a non-destructive and both time and cost-effective

way to evaluate the quality of the dry-jet-mixed cement

columns in practice.

Conclusions

This paper presents the laboratory test results for investi-

gating the factors controlling the electrical resistivity of

soil-cement admixture. A simple equation is proposed to

predict the electrical resistivity under specific water-ce-

ment ratio and curing time. The relationship between the

measured electrical resistivity and unconfined compressive

strength of the soil–cement admixture is discussed. The

relationship between the measured electrical resistivity and

SPT N value and unconfined compressive strength of dry-

jet mixed cement column installed in the Lian-Xu Highway

is assessed. Following conclusions can be obtained from

this study:

The electrical resistivity of the soil–cement admixture

increased with the increase in the cement mixing ratio and

curing time, while decreased with the increase in the de-

gree of saturation and water–cement ratio.

Combining the effect of water–cement ratio and curing

time, based on the measured electrical resistivity at the

curing time of 34 days, a simple empirical equation is

proposed to predict the electrical resistivity of the soil–

cement admixture under the condition of the specified

water–cement ratio and curing time.

The laboratory test shows that the electrical resistivity of

the soil–cement admixture prepared in the laboratory has a

good relationship with the unconfined compressive

strength. The field tests indicate that at the relatively higher

electrical resistivity, the measured electrical resistivity has

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 100

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

22

24

26

28

Blo

w c

ount

of

SPT

(N

)

Electrical resistivity, ρ (ohm-m)

N = 2.3ρ +2.7

R2= 0.82

Fig. 9 Relationship between the electrical resistivity and SPT N

value of cement columns installed in Lian-Xu highway

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 100

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

qu = 286ρ - 334, Eq. 5

Unc

onfi

ned

com

pres

sive

str

engt

h, q

u(kPa

)

Electrical resistivity, ρ (ohm-m)

qu = 99ρ - 282

R2= 0.81

Fig. 10 Relationship between the electrical resistivity and uncon-

fined compressive strength of cement columns installed in Lian-Xu

highway

1232 Environ Geol (2008) 54:1227–1233

123

Page 7: Experimental study on the electrical resistivity of soil–cement admixtures

a good relationship with SPT N value and unconfined

compressive strength of the cement column installed in the

Lian-Xu Highway. An implication to practice is that the

electrical resistivity method can be used as a non-destruc-

tive and time and cost-effective to evaluate and control the

quality of dry-jet-mixed cement columns.

Ackowledgment This study is part of the Project titled ‘‘On the

electrical resistivity characteristics of structural Soils’’ financially

supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Grant

No. 50478073,2005–2007). The authors highly appreciate Dr. A.

Sridharan, Professor Emeritus, Indian Institute of Science, for his

comments and discussions during the preparation of this paper.

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