Strength Characteristic of a Chemical Binder Treated Marine Clay as Compared with the Use of Cement

Abstract

In recent years, marine clay has been used as a fill material for land reclamation in Singapore. The technique adopted to improve the strength properties of marine clay plays a critical role in land reclamation projects. In this study, a series of laboratory tests have been conducted to determine the potential to use a chemical binder to stabilize marine clay in Singapore. Test results show that the chemical binder could offer shorter curing period and higher strength. With the same dosage, the unconfined compressive strength of chemical binder treated marine clay is about 1.2-1.4 times of cement treated marine clay at 14 and 28 curing days. At 14 curing days, the strength of chemical binder treated marine clay can reach 80% of the maximum value. This proves that 14 curing days is enough to make the chemical binder treated marine clay obtain sufficient strength. Furthermore, chemical binder treated marine clay has no slaking behaviour in underwater environmental. This also indicated chemical binder treated marine clay has a good cohesiveness.