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EFFECT OF CEMENT CONTENT ON

UNCONFINED COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH OF
JAMSHORO SOIL

Conference Paper · June 2012

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 International Symposium on Sustainable Geosynthetics and Green Technology for Climate Change (SGCC)
(Retirement Symposium for Prof. Dennes T. Bergado)
20 to 21 June 2012 | Bangkok, Thailand

EFFECT OF CEMENT CONTENT ON UNCONFINED

COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH OF JAMSHORO SOIL

Aneel Kumar1* and Ghous Bux Khaskheli2

1
Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro,
Pakistan; Tel: +92-3332777945; Fax: +92-222771382; Email: aneel4u@hotmail.com
2
Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro,
Pakistan; Tel: +92-3003034880; Fax: +92-222771382; Email: gbk_60@hotmail.com

ABSTRACT

Superhighway is a major highway which connects Karachi with north of Pakistan. The road is experiencing
severe rutting problems near the Jamshoro city. In the near future the construction of Motorway between
Jamshoro and Karachi is forecasted. Thus it may be beneficial to improve the engineering properties of the
Jamshoro soil. This paper describes the effect of cement content on unconfined compressive strength of
Jamshoro soil. The specimens were prepared with cement content of different proportions that is 0%, 5%, 10%,
15% and 20% of air dry soil weight. The soil cement was mixed at liquid limit of soil that is high water content
mixing. The curing times of the specimens were 7 and 14 days. The paper also explains the basic geotechnical
properties of Jamshoro soil which is still not very well reported. The results show that the Jamshoro soil is highly
compressible and not suitable for highway subgrade material. The mixing of cement in the soil can significantly
increase its unconfined compressive strength. Higher the cement content higher the unconfined compressive
strength but the optimum effects were achieved at cement content of 15%. Curing time also increased the
unconfined compressive strength of the soil. At 20% of cement content the soil achieved a sufficient stiffness
and failure behavior is changed from gradual to sudden.

Keywords: Jamshoro soil, unconfined compressive strength, cement, high water content

INTRODUCTION geotechnical properties by applying soil stabilization

Pakistan has four provinces which are Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh. Sindh
is the second most populated and third largest
among the provinces of Pakistan. Sindh is
surrounded by the Arabian Sea in south, River Indus
and Balochistan in west, Punjab in north and India in
east. Karachi is the capital of Sindh and most
populated city of the country. Karachi is also
considered as a major financial hub and major
seaport of Pakistan. Karachi is located in south of
Sindh along the coastline of Arabian Sea.
Superhighway is a major highway which
connects Karachi with north of Pakistan. This is the
densely trafficked highway in Pakistan. This road is
experiencing severe rutting problems near the
Jamshoro city which is approximately 150 km in
north-east of Karachi.
In the near future the construction of Motorway
between Jamshoro and Karachi is planned by the
concerned authorities (NHA, 2009). If the Motorway
is constructed by directly using the local soil of
Jamshoro, there may be chances of its failure and if
it is constructed by using the borrowed soil its cost
may be substantially increased. Thus it may be
beneficial to improve the engineering properties
of the Jamshoro soil by altering its one or more
techniques with help of certain chemical additives.
The various chemicals such as cement, lime,
gypsum, fly ash etc are being used worldwide to
alter the basic geotechnical properties of the various
soils (Amu et al. 2005; Chae et al. 2003; Diamond
and Kinter, 1965; Ji-ru and Xing, 2002; Lorenzo and
Bergado, 2006; Yilmaz and Civelekoglu, 2009).
However the influence of these chemicals on the
geotechnical properties of the Jamshoro soil is not
well investigated.
This research is thus aimed to examine the effect
of cement content on unconfined compressive
strength of Jamshoro soil. The paper also explains
the basic geotechnical properties of Jamshoro soil
which is still not very well reported.
GEOTECHNICAL PROPERTIES OF
JAMSHORO SOIL
The sample of Jamshoro soil is collected from
the vicinity of MUET (Mehran University of
Engineering and Technology) Jamshoro. The color
of Jamshoro soil is dark yellow brown. The soil
contained a very small percentage of visible lime
particles. The natural water content of the soil (wN)
was determined by following ASTM D 2216-98

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 International Symposium on Sustainable Geosynthetics and Green Technology for Climate Change (SGCC2011)
(Retirement Symposium for Prof. Dennes T. Bergado)
7 to 8 December 2011 | Bangkok, Thailand

(ASTM 1998) and it comes out as 30%. The specific 70

gravity of the Jamshoro soil solids (G) was
65
determined by following ASTM D 854-02 (ASTM Fall cone method
wL=60%
2002 a) and it comes out as 2.68. Following the

Water content %
60
ASTM D 4914-99 (ASTM 1999) the field dry Casagrande cup method
density (γdf) of the Jamshoro soil was determined as 55
wL= 52%
13.1 kN/m3.
50

Particle Size Distribution 45

40
Figure 1 shows the particle size distribution
10 Number of Blows/ Penetration (mm) 100
curve of the Jamshoro soil. Particle size distribution
was performed by following ASTM D 422-63
(ASTM 2002 b). Fig. 2 Liquid limits test of Jamshoro soil

100 The shrinkage limit (wS) of the soil was

95 determined by following ASTM D 427-04 (ASTM
90 2004) and it comes out as 14%.
Shrinkage ratio (SR) of the Jamshoro soil is
Percent finer

85
80
calculated by utilizing Eq. 1 which comes out as
75
1.948.
70
⎡ 1 1⎤
65 SR = ⎢ − ⎥ (1)
60 ⎣ wS G ⎦
0.01 0.1 1 10 100
Particle size (mm)
SR of the soil is equal to the bulk specific gravity
Fig. 1 Particle size distribution of Jamshoro soil of soil (Gb) in its dry state (Garg, 2010).
Following Eq. 2, the volumetric shrinkage (VS)
It is found that more than 75 % of the soil is silt is calculated at wL and wP.
and clay size and about 23 % of the soil is sand size.
VS = SR ( wa − wS ) (2)
Soil Consistency Limits

Figure 2 shows the flow lines of Jamshoro soil wa is equal to wL for VS at liquid limit and wa is
obtained from Casagrande cup method and fall cone equal to wP for VS at plastic limit.
method. In case of Casagrande cup method, flow The VS at liquid limit is calculated as 74% and
line is a relationship between water content and 23% at plastic limit.
terminal blows by utilizing standard Casagrande
2.0
cup. The liquid limit (wL) is the water content (w) on VL=1.74Vd
1.8
flow line corresponding to 25 blows. In case of fall
1.6
cone method the flow line is a relationship between
Volume of soil/ Vd

1.4 VP=1.23Vd
water content and penetration by utilizing standard
1.2
fall cone apparatus. The wL is water content Vd
1.0
corresponding to 20 mm penetration. The wL by
Casagrande cup method was determined by 0.8

following ASTM D 4138-00 (ASTM 2000) and the 0.6

wL by Fall cone method was determined by 0.4
following the procedure of BS 1377 (Das, 2005). It 0.2
wS=14% wP=26% wL=52%
is seen that the wL of Jamshoro soil comes out 52 % 0.0
by Casagrande cup method and 60 % by fall cone 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
method (Fig. 2). The wL of Jamshoro soil is water contnet (%)
considered as 52% for rest of the calculations and Fig. 3 Soil consistency diagram of Jamshoro soil
interpretations.
The plastic limit (wP) of the soil was determined Figure 3 shows the soil consistency diagram of
by following ASTM D 4138-00 (ASTM 2000). It is the Jamshoro soil where volume of soil is
found that the plastic limit of Jamshoro soil is 26%. normalized with the Vd which is volume of soil at
The plasticity index (IP), which is the difference shrinkage limit or volume of dry soil. VP is the
between the wL and wP, of Jamshoro soil remains volume of soil at plastic limit and VL is the volume
26% (wL=52%).

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 International Symposium on Sustainable Geosynthetics and Green Technology for Climate Change (SGCC)
(Retirement Symposium for Prof. Dennes T. Bergado)
20 to 21 June 2012 | Bangkok, Thailand

of soil at liquid limit. The VL and VP are calculated
by utilizing Eq. 3.
V − Vd
VS = a
Vd
Va is equal to VL for VS at liquid limit and Va is
equal to VP for VS at plastic limit.
Classification of Jamshoro Soil
Figure 4 shows the plasticity chart of Jamshoro
soil.
According to unified soil classification system
(USCS) the Jamshoro soil comes under the category
of CH which shows the Jamshoro soil is inorganic
clay of high plasticity (Das, 2005).
Thus the Jamshoro soil comes under the category of
A-7-6 (20) according to AASHTO classification and
it is classified as a poor highway subgrade material
(Das, 2005).
x100 (3)
Dry Density (γd) and Water Content Relationship
of Jamshoro Soil
The compaction curve that is the relationship
between dry density (γd) and water content
relationship is obtained by performing modified
effort. The test was performed by following the
ASTM D 1557-02 (ASTM 2002 c). Figure 5 shows
the dry density and water content relationship of the
Jamshoro soil.
γd(max)=17.9 (kN/m3)
18.0

According to AASHTO classification the

17.5
Jamshoro soil is categorized as A-7-6 which shows
Dry density (kN/m3)
the Jamshoro soil is a clayey soil (Das, 2005). 17.0

70 16.5
e
L in -8
)
60 U-
.9 (
wL ine
Jamshoro soil 0 A-L 16.0
I P= -20
)
Plasticity index

50
(w L OMC=15.7%
0.7 3
40 = 15.5
CH IP
6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
30
Water content (%)
20
CL-ML
CL MH Fig. 5 Compaction cure of Jamshoro soil
10
ML
0 It is seen that the maximum dry density (γd(max))
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
remained 17.9 kN/m3 at optimum moisture content
Liquid limit
(OMC) of 15.7 %.
Fig. 4 Plasticity chart of Jamshoro soil

To evaluate the suitability of the soil as a EFFECT OF CEMENT CONTENT ON

highway subgrade material the group index (GI) is UNCONFINED COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH
also one of the parameters. The group index is OF JAMSHORO SOIL
calculated by Eq. 4. The terms A and B in Eq. 4 are
calculated by Eqs. 5 and 6, respectively. F200 To investigate the effect of cement on
represents the percentage of particles passing geotechnical properties of soil, the mixing of cement
through No. 200 sieve. in soil is generally made at water content lower than
the liquid limit of soil i.e. low water content mixing
GI = A + B (4) or water content equal to or higher than the liquid
limit of soil that is high water content mixing
A = ( F200 − 35 )[0.2 + 0.005( wL − 40 ] (5) (Lorenzo and Bergado, 2006). In this research the
effect of cement content on unconfined compressive
strength of Jamshoro soil (qu) is investigated by
B = 0.01 ( F200 − 15 ) ( I P − 10 ) (6) considering both the low and high water content
mixing. However this paper describes the effect of
A represents the partial GI based on wL and B cement content on unconfined compressive strength
represents the partial GI based on IP. Summing A of Jamshoro soil considering high water content
and B the value of GI is calculated as 20. Generally mixing. The water content of the soil cement mix is
lower the value of group index better is the quality kept equal to the liquid limit of the soil i.e. 52%.
of soil as a highway subgrade material. GI of zero
represents a good highway subgrade material and 20 Sample Preparation and Testing
or higher shows very poor highway subgrade
material (Arora, 2009). Generally GI is written in The air dry soil sample was mixed with the
parentheses after the AASHTO group designation. cement content of different proportions that is 0%,
5%, 10%, 15% and 20% of air dry soil weight. Then

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 International Symposium on Sustainable Geosynthetics and Green Technology for Climate Change (SGCC2011)
(Retirement Symposium for Prof. Dennes T. Bergado)
7 to 8 December 2011 | Bangkok, Thailand

the soil cement was mixed with water to obtain the
soil cement pastes. The water content of the soil
cement pastes was raised to the amount of liquid
limit of soil. The care was taken to obtain the
uniform mixing conditions in all the specimens.
Then the soil cement pastes were filled into the
stainless steel molds of 40 mm diameter and 80 mm
having 0% cement content. It is observed that the
unconfined compressive strength comes out in the
range of 0.057 kPa to 0.061 kPa. The specimen
cured for 14 days gave a slightly higher qu than that
cured for 7 days.
0.08

Unconfined compressive strength (qu) (kPa)

length. The molds can be detached into two equal 0.07
portions. The filling of molds was performed in
three layers and each layer was slightly compacted 0.06
to remove the air voids. The molds filled with soil 0.05
cement paste were then kept on vibration table to
0.04
remove air voids. The density (γ) of specimens was
kept constant. The molds filled with specimen were 0.03
than waxed and kept in desiccators to prevent loss of 7 days curing
0.02 7 days curing
moisture. The wax of the molds was removed after 7 14 days curing
14 days curing
or 14 days (curing time). The molds were then 0.01
detached and samples were moved to the strain
0.00
controlled unconfined compression machine. The
0 2 4 6 8 10
axial load was applied at the rate of 2mm/min. A
Axial strain (%)
strain gauge and load cell were used to measure the
deformation and axial load respectively. The Fig. 6 Stress-strain curves of Jamshoro soil at
unconfined compressive strength of the specimens water content equals to liquid limit
was then obtained by utilizing Eq. 7.
Figures 7, 8, 9 and 10 show the unconfined
P compressive strength and axial strain relationship for
qu = (7)
A specimen having 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% cement
content respectively. For 5% cement content the qu
where P is the applied load in kPa measured from of the soil remained 131 kPa for 7 days of curing
load cell and A is the corresponding cross sectional and 286 kPa for 14 days of curing. In case of 10%
area for the applied load, measured in mm2. The A is cement content, the obtained value of qu is 380 kPa
calculated by using Eq. 8. and 766 kPa for 7 and 14 days of curing
respectively. For 15% cement content and 7 days
A0 curing the qu remained 860 kPa which increased to
A= (8) 1385 kPa for 14 days of curing. As for as 20% of
1 − ε1 cement content is concerned, the qu remained 1000
kPa for 7 days curing and 1700 kPa for 14 days
where A0 is the initial cross sectional area of the curing. Thus it can be said the mixing of cement in
specimen in mm2 and ε1 is the axial strain for Jamshoro soil significantly increased its unconfined
applied load in %. ε1 is calculated by using Eq. 9. compressive strength.

∆L 300
ε1 = (9)
Unconfined compressive strength (qu) (kPa)

L0
250

where L0 is initial height of the specimen and ∆L is 200

the change in length is specimen under applied load.
The ∆L was measured from strain gauge. 150

Unconfined Compressive Strength of Jamshoro 100

7 days curing
Soil at High Water Content Mixing and Various
Cement Contents 50 14 days curing

To observe the effect of cement content on 0

unconfined compressive strength of Jamshoro soil it 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
become essential to get the qu of Jamshoro soil at Axial strain (%)
liquid limit, i.e. high water content mixing, without
having any cement content i.e the base value. Figure Fig. 7 Stress-strain curves of Jamshoro soil mixed
6 shows the relationship between axial stain and with 5% of cement content and water
unconfined compressive strength for specimen content equals to liquid limit

172
 International Symposium on Sustainable Geosynthetics and Green Technology for Climate Change (SGCC)
(Retirement Symposium for Prof. Dennes T. Bergado)
20 to 21 June 2012 | Bangkok, Thailand

900 It is also observed that in all the cases the qu for

Unconfined compressive strength (qu) (kPa)

800
14 days curing time remained higher that of 7 days.
Thus higher will be the curing time, higher will be
700 the effect of cement content on qu of Jamshoro soil.
600 Figures 11 and 12 show the qu of the soil at 7
500 days of curing and 14 days of curing respectively. It
can be observed that not only the qu of the soil is
400
increased with increase in cement content but the
300
7 days curing behavior of failure is also changed with cement
200 content. At 20% of cement content the soil achieved
14 days curing
a sufficient stiffness and failure behavior is changed
100
from gradual to sudden.
0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5
1200

Unconfined compressive strength (qu)

Axial strain (%)

Fig. 8 Stress-strain curves of Jamshoro soil mixed 1000

with 10% of cement content and water
content equals to liquid limit 800

(kPa)
600 0% cement content
1600 5% cement content
Unconfined compressive strength (qu) (kPa)

1400 400 10% cement content

15% cement content
1200 20% cement content
200
1000
0
800
0 1 2 3 4 5
600 Axial strain (%)
7 days curing
400
14 days curing
Fig. 11 Stress-strain curves of Jamshoro soil mixed
200 with different % of cement content and
cured for 7 days
0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5
1800
Unconfined compressive strength (qu)

Axial strain (%)

1600
Fig. 9 Stress-strain curves of Jamshoro soil mixed
1400
with 15% of cement content and water
content equals to liquid limit 1200
1000
(kPa)

1800 800
Unconfined compressive strength (qu) (kPa)

1600 600 0% cement content

5% cement content
1400 400 10% cement content
1200 15% cement content
200 20% cement content
1000 0
800 0 1 2 3 4 5
600 Axial strain (%)
7 days curing
400 Fig. 12 Stress-strain curves of Jamshoro soil mixed
14 days curing
200 with different % of cement content and
0
cured for 7 days
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5
Figure 13 shows the trend of increase in
Axial strain (%)
unconfined compressive strength of Jamshoro soil
Fig. 10 Stress-strain curves of Jamshoro soil mixed with cement content for 7 days and 14 days of
with 20% of cement content and water curing time. The qu is increasing with increase in
content equals to liquid limit the cement content but the slope of the curves is
getting flatter after 15% of cement content. The

173
 International Symposium on Sustainable Geosynthetics and Green Technology for Climate Change (SGCC2011)
(Retirement Symposium for Prof. Dennes T. Bergado)
7 to 8 December 2011 | Bangkok, Thailand
higher amount of cement content means the higher
cost. Thus it can be said that the optimum
percentage of cement content, as far as unconfined
compressive strength of Jamshoro soil is concerned,
may be 15%.
1800
Unconfined compressive strength
1600
1400
1200
(qu) (kPa)
1000
800
600
400 7 days curing
200 14 days curing
0 (ASTM) (2002 a). Standard Test Methods for
0 5 10 15
Cement content (%)
Fig. 13 Unconfined compressive strength versus
cement content
CONCLUSIONS
In this paper the geotechnical properties of
Jamshoro soil are discussed. In addition to that the
effected of cement content on unconfined
compressive strength of Jamshoro soil is
investigated by considering high water content
mixing.
It is found that more than 75 % of the soil is silt
and clay size and about 23 % of the soil is sand size.
According to unified soil classification system
the Jamshoro soil comes under the category of CH.
This means the Jamshoro soil is inorganic clay of
high plasticity.
The Jamshoro soil comes under the category of
A-7-6 (20) according to AASHTO classification.
This indicates the soil shall not be used as a highway
subgrade material.
The mixing of cement in Jamshoro soil at high
water content mixing significantly increased the
unconfined compressive strength of soil. Thus
higher the cement content, higher the unconfined
compressive strength. However the optimum effect
was achieved at cement content of 15%.
The increase of curing time also caused the
increase in unconfined compressive strength of soil
at high water content mixing.
The behavior of failure of Jamshoro soil is also
changed with cement content. At 20% of cement
content the soil achieved a sufficient stiffness and
failure behavior is changed from gradual to sudden.
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(Retirement Symposium for Prof. Dennes T. Bergado)
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National Highway Authority (NHA) (2009). Design Yilmaz, I. and Civelekoglu, B. (2009). Gypsum: An
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