Seismic velocity of P-waves to evaluate strength of stabilized soil for Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget Biorefinery Östrand AB, Timrå

Abstract

Evaluating soil strength by geophysical methods using P-waves was undertaken in this study to assess the effects of changed binder ratios on stabilization and compression characteristics. The materials included dredged sediments collected in the seabed of Timrå region, north Sweden. The Portland cement (Basement CEM II/A-V, SS EN 197-1) and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) were used as stabilizers. The experiments were performed on behalf of the Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA) Biorefinery Östrand AB pulp mill. Quantity of binder included 150, 120 and 100 kg. The properties of soil were evaluated after 28, 42, 43, 70, 71 and 85 days of curing using applied geophysical methods of measuring the travel time of primary wave propagation. The P-waves were determined to evaluate the strength of stabilized soils. The results demonstrated variation of P-waves velocity depending on stabilizing agent and curing time in various ratios: Low water/High binder (LW/HB), High water/Low binder (HW/LB) and percentage of agents (CEM II/A-V/GGBFS) as 30%/70%, 50%/50% and 70%/30%. The compression characteristics of soils were assessed using uniaxial compressive strength (UCS). The P-wave velocities were higher for samples stabilized with LW/HB compared to those with HW/LB. The primary wave propagation increased over curing time for all stabilized mixes along with the increased UCS, which proves a tight correlation with the increased strength of soil solidified by the agents. Increased water ratio gives a lower strength by maintained amount of binder and vice versa.