Resilient Modulus of Soils and Soil-Cement Mixtures
Resilient Modulus of Soils and Soil-Cement Mixtures
Resilient Modulus of Soils and Soil-Cement Mixtures
de Lima,4 and
Paulo S. A. Barbosa5
Reference: Trindade, T. P., Carvalho, C. A. B., Silva, C. H. C., Lima, D. C., and
Barbosa, P. S. A., "Resilient Modulus of Soils and Soil-Cement Mixtures," ASTMSTP
1437, Resilient Modulus Testingfor Pavement Components, G. N. Durham, W. A. Marr,
and W. L. DeGroff, Eds., ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, 2003.
Abstract: Knowledge of the resilient modulus (MR)of the sub-grade soils and materials
that compose the layers of road pavements is mandatory for an efficient analysis of their
structural behavior as a whole. However, laboratory determination of MRrequires
employment of relatively sophisticated loading systems and data acquisition, besides
demanding considerable testing time. Therefore, it is desirable to look for standard test
methods that can be used to estimate this engineering parameter. This paper presents
geotectmical engineering parameters of two soils and their soil-cement mixtures, and
provides empirical correlations between CBR, unconfined compression strength
determined at 1% of axial strain, Young's tangent modulus, and measured values of MR
of these soils and mixtures.
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100 RESILIENTMODULUS TESTING FOR PAVEMENT COMPONENTS
Nomenclature
Introduction
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TRINDADE ET AL. ON SOILS AND SOIL-CEMENT MIXTURES 101
It is well known that the structural degradation of bituminous pavements, and even
of the cemented base layers, is strongly associated with the resilient response of the sub-
grade soils. Generally, determination of the resilient modulus (MR) of highway
engineering materials is based on laboratory repeated-loading triaxial testing.
Concerning the resilient response of soils, it is known that granular materials show
an increase in MR with an increase in the confining pressure; on the other hand, this
parameter is less influenced by the applied axial deviator stress, for stress levels below
those corresponding to failure (Fossberg, 1969). For cohesive soils, this author refers that
the confining pressure less influences the resilient modulus, and conversely, the axial
deviator stress plays a remarkable role in the resilient soil response.
In Brazil, research works directed to the determination of MR for pavement design
begun in 1978, with the agreement between the Brazilian Institute for Highway Research
(IPR) and the Post Graduation Program in Engineering at the Federal University of Rio
de Janeiro (COPPE-RJ), as reported by Motta and Mac~do (1998). The first procedure
for laboratory determination of MR was published by the Brazilian National Highway
Office-DNER, in 1986, under the designation DNER-ME 131/86 "Standard Method for
Determining the Resilient Modulus of Soils," and later revised by this Office in 1994
under the designation DNER-ME 131/94.
Historically, determination of MR for highway design purpose requires equipment
with relatively high degree of complexity that has been restricted to a few technical
institutions. This fact has led researchers to propose empirical correlations between MR and
other soil parameters more easily determined in laboratory, as internationally reported by
Jones and Witczak (1977), Drumm et al. (1990), Cardoso and Witczak (1991), and more
recently by Lee et al. (1997). Development of correlations obtained from Brazilian soils
database are reported by Medina and Preusller (1980), Motta et al. (1985), Franzoi (1990),
Nogami and Villibor (1995), Bemucci (1995), and Parreira et al. (1998).
Considering the importance of developing engineering correlations on a regional
basis, this paper focuses on two soils of the County of Vi~osa, Minas Gerais State, Brazil,
and presents correlations developed between MR and some geotechnical engineering
parameters of these soils (CBR and unconfined compression strength), and using
specimens prepared from plain soils and soil cement mixtures.
Methodology
The two soil samples used in this study represent typical gneissic residual soils from
the County of Vigosa, located in the Southeast of Minas Gerais State, Brazil. In terms of
pedology, the first one is a mature sandy-silty-clayey soil classified as yellow and reddish
latosol, predominantly found in smooth slopes, and constituted basically of 1:1 clay
minerals, iron and aluminum oxides. The second one is a young clayey-silty-sandy soil,
classified as a saprolite, gray colored, constituted mainly by quartz with presence of mica.
Table 1 presents information regarding soil type, sample horizon and sampling depth;
Tables 2 and 3 show soils geoteclmical engineering index parameters, and Table 4 depicts
soils classification according to HRB (Highway Research Board) and USC (Unified Soil
Classification) systems, and according to the MCT (Miniature, Compacted and Tropical)
methodology (Nogami and Villibor, 1995).
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102 RESILIENTMODULUS TESTING FOR PAVEMENT COMPONENTS
Compacted soil specimens prepared from soils and soil-cement mixtures were used
throughout this study. The cement used in the mixtures was the Brazilian Portland CPII-
E-32 type. Optimum cement contents referred to soil dry weight determined according to
the Brazilian standards released by DNER (Ferraz, 1994) were added to the soils, as
follows: 11% to soil 01, and 5 % to soil 02. Specimen preparation and testing procedures
were carried out as follows:
9 CBR tests: Compaction of specimens at the AASHTO Intermediate compaction
effort, and determination of CBR and Expansionc~R curves. Specimen acceptance
criteria were: water content of(Wi + 0.3 %), and compaction degree of(100 + 0.3 %);
9 Unconfined compression and repeated-loading triaxial tests:
9 Compaction of specimens 10 cm high and 5 cm in diameter at the
AASTHO Intermediate compaction effort, at water contents of Wopt-2 %,
Wopt and Wopt+ 2 %. Specimens acceptance criteria were: sample height
of 10 + 0.05 cm, sample diameter of 5 cm, water content of Wi + 0.3 %,
and degree of compaction of 100 + 0.3 %;
9 After molding, the specimens were involved in plastic bags, in order to
maintain their water content, and properly stored in wet chamber until
beginning of tests;
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TRINDADE ET AL. ON SOILS AND SOIL-CEMENT MIXTURES 103
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104 RESILIENTMODULUS TESTING FOR PAVEMENT COMPONENTS
Data Analysis
Tables 6 and 7 present soils and soil-cement mixtures testing data regarding the
following parameters: maximum dry unit weight (Tdmax),optimum water content (Wopt),
CBR and expansion determined in the CBR tests. Individual testing data analyses are as
follows:
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TRINDADE ET AL. ON SOILS AND SOIL-CEMENT MIXTURES 105
Testing data presented in this work show that addition of cement promotes a slight
increase in Wopt, and a small decrease in ?din*x,as depicted in Tables 6 and 7. It is also
noticeable significant increases in CBR of the tested soil-cement mixtures compared to
the soils up to 730 % and 530 % respectively for soils 01 and 02.
ga a+b.c, (1)
O" a
1
E 0 = -a (2)
Figure 2 shows the results of unconfined compression tests, from which it can be
observed that soils stabilized with cement present substantial increases in theirs S~
measured at failure and at 1% of axial strain (So~.0~/o),as well as in theirs initial tangent
modulus compared to the corresponding values determined for plain soils. Textural soil
composition has revealed to be an important parameter to characterize the mechanical
response of soils and soil-cement mixtures. Figure 2 shows that soil 01 and its soil-
cement mixtures present maximum values of stress at failure, at 1 % of strain and initial
tangent modulus at the optimum water content, while soil 02 and its soil-cement mixtures
exhibit maximum values at the dry side of the compaction curve.
MR of soils can vary widely mainly according to loading conditions, stress state and
soil type (Parreira et al., 1998). Models have been proposed to represent variation of MR
according to the variation o f the state o f stress. Such models, in their great majority, were
derived taking into account the soil type. For instance, there are specific models for
describing the behavior of sand and clay soils. In these models the most significant
variables are, respectively, the confining pressure and the deviator stress.
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106 RESILIENT MODULUS TESTING FOR PAVEMENT COMPONENTS
(%)89~ (%)uo!su~ox3
~ ~ o
0
~ g
r ~.~
~-~
r N
++,1
~1 ' i ' I ' ~ ' I ' I ~ 1 ' r ' I '
0
~6
m I ' 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 ' 1 , 1 , 1 ~
~3
I
,-]
<
~ ,..,, ~
o
..2o
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TABLE 7--Compaction and CBR testing data; AASHTO Intermediate compaction effort (Soil 02).
Soil a n d s o i l - c e m e n t m i x t u r e
Downloaded/printed by
Soil a n d m i x t u r e p a r a m e t e r s
Soil 02 Soil 02 s t a b i l i z e d w i t h 5 % o f c e m e n t
20.4
180 -
30 o'~ "--I
160-
~ 20.0
36 :i:4ol
24 "-" Z
140 2
Z 18
- 4 ~ CBR (%) , -~
19.6 ~19.6- 120- m
9 x.ansioo,%) m
100 2 -t
-!- Compaction '~19.2 ~ ,t Expansion(%) ~ 80 [
"~ 19.2- - - 100% Saturation Line 0 -~ 4,8 -0.5 >
- t l - - Compaction F
|
- - 100% Saturation Line
Plots k 4.~ .~
Lo.4 0
' ~ 18.8- 18.8- z
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- 0.3 .~
. -_~
0.2 g
~1 18.4- 1.6 r 18.4-
0.1 7
0.8 ~1
18.0 i ~-- t i i 0.0 18.0 I [ I ] 0.0
60
6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0 16.0 18.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0 16.0 18.0
Water Content (%) t-
Water Content (%)
O
m
r13
~/dm~.x( k N / m 3) 19.0 18.8 Z
--t
Wopt ( % ) 11.0 13.1
CBR (%) 33 173
C
2O
Expansion (%) 0.9 0.1 m
09
"4
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108 RESILIENT MODULUS TESTING FOR PAVEMENT COMPONENTS
Legend
g~ Soil 01 0 Soil 02
,lk Soil 01 Stabilized with 11% o f Cement + Soil 02 Stabilized with 5% o f Cement
100000
600 O--- "--O--- -'-tD 600
0 i i i i 9-- ~ - - - m ,
0 o ~---~ '
8 10 12 14 16 8 10 12 14 16 8 10 12 14 16
Water Content (%) Water Content (%) Water Content (%)
FIG. 2--Unconfined compression testing data of soils and soil-cement mixtures."
Stress at failure, at axial strain o f l %, and initial tangent modulus
The following models were used in this study to represent variation o f MR of soils
and soil-cement mixtures:
9 Model referred by the method DNER-ME t 31/94, and here represented by equation
3, is directed to clayey soil and mixtures, while equation 4 is directed to sandy soil
and mixtures.
Figures 3 and 4 show repeated-loading triaxial testing data of soils and soil-cement
mixtures tested at water contents of Wopt- 2 %, Wopt and Wopt+ 2 % with the constants
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TRINDADE ET AL. ON SOILS AND SOIL-CEMENT MIXTURES 109
Kl and K2 that fits experimental data for equations 3 and 4. It is observed relatively high
coefficients of determination (R 2) in almost all of the tested soils and mixtures,
representing also the good quality of testing data. Molding water content of soils and
mixtures specimens affects MR, especially at the wet side of the compaction curve,
noticing a decrease in this parameter with corresponding increase in specimen water
content.
8000000
M R = K l ~ d K2 ( D N E R 1 3 1 / 9 4 )
6000000
4000000
Legend ]
[] Soil 0t - Wopt -2% /
~ " 2000000 O Soil OI - Wopt |
A Soil 01 - Wopt +2% [
--~ Soil 01 Stabilized with I 1% of Cement - Wopt -2% ]
~oooooo Soil 01 Stabilized with 11% of Cement - Wopt |
800000 AL Soil 01 Stabilized with 11% of Cement - Wopt +2%)
o
600000
400000 Equations
9 Model described by Cardoso and Witczak (1991), and here presented in equation 5.
where
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110 RESILIENT MODULUS TESTING FOR PAVEMENT COMPONENTS
4000000
M R = K1G3I~ (DNER 131/94)
2000000 - -
Equations
200000
E| M R = 17,800.10-3 ~ and R 2 = 0.8888
O M R = 10,994.9G30"5078 and R 2 - 0.8925
100000 ' M R = 3,996.30-30.7086 and R 2 = 0.9739
80000 M R = 488,665.20"3 ~ and R 2 = 0.8634
60000 M R = 408,920.70"3 o3823 and R 2 = 0.9623
40000
I A M R = 100,551.40"30-6572 and R 2 = 0 . 9 1 3 6
40 60 80 100 200
Confining Stress (kPa)
FIG. 4--Resilient modulus versus confining stress of soils and mixtures.
where
9 Model proposed by Parreira et at. (1998), and here represented by equations 7 and 8.
4,523.12. (E r )o.3~58.(0)~.,393
M R -- (O'00"3436 (7)
MR = 848.15" (E T)~ + 1,147.24" (0) o.8630 (8)
where
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TRINDADE ET AL. ON SOILS AND SOIL-CEMENT MIXTURES 111
In the present work, a statistical analysis was carried out to study the performance of
the above-mentioned models when applied to soils and mixtures experimental data.
Correlations between MR and CBR, stress determined at 1 % axial strain, initial tangent
modulus, deviator stress, first stress invariant and combinations o f these variables were
considered in the study, as presented in Table 8. Analysis o f the data presented in this
table shows that the variables considered in the analysis correlate well with the resilient
modulus, MR, o f soils and mixtures. The coefficient o f determination ranged from
0.8504 to 0.9567.
Conclusions
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112 RESILIENTMODULUS TESTING FOR PAVEMENT COMPONENTS
Figures 3 and 4 show that resilient modulus decreases with the increase in water
content for the soils tested;
Applying DNER-ME 131/94 models, it can be seen that MR decreases with the
increase of deviator stress and increases with the increase of confining stress. Also,
MR always decreases with the increase in water content; and
Acknowledgment
The authors wish to express their gratitude to FAPEMIG, through the grant TEC
2431/97, UFV and CNPq that contributed with scholarships, materials, laboratory testing
devices and the required financial support to develop this study.
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TRINDADE ET AL. ON SOILS AND SOIL-CEMENT MIXTURES 113
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