Stabilization of sandy soil with high contents of asphalt emulsion and the influence of curing time on the shear strength of the mixture

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to evaluate the effect of the curing process on the shear strength of mixtures of a sandy soil and high levels of emulsion (higher than 10% in weight). The adopted methodology consisted of collecting and characterizing the sandy soil, characterizing the asphaltic emulsion, compacting the mixtures, curing the specimens by exposure to air for 1, 7, and 28 days, and performing triaxial compression tests under saturated and unsaturated conditions. The results showed that the increase in the curing time caused a gradual decrease in the apparent specific gravity of the specimens due to the decrease in the moisture content caused by the evaporation of the water in the asphaltic emulsion. The results of tests carried out in saturated conditions indicated that there is no influence of the curing time of the specimens on their shear strength. In the specimens tested without saturation, the increase in the curing time produced a significant increase in the value of cohesive intercept of mixtures, more due to the increase in suction than to the increase in the bonding capacity between the soil grains. In all cases, the addition of asphalt emulsion contents higher than 10% caused an expressive increase in the cohesive intercept and a decrease in the friction angle in the specimens tested with and without saturation.

Keywords
Curing; Soil-emulsion; Shearing strength