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Construction and Building Materials 77 (2015) 4149

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Durability against wettingdrying cycles of sustainable Lightweight

Cellular Cemented construction material comprising clay
and y ash wastes
Anek Neramitkornburi a, Suksun Horpibulsuk b,c,, Shui Long Shen d, Avirut Chinkulkijniwat a,
Arul Arulrajah e, Mahdi Miri Disfani e
a

School of Civil Engineering, Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima 30000, Thailand
School of Civil Engineering, Center of Excellence in Civil Engineering, Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima 30000, Thailand
c
Centre for Sustainable Infrastructure, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia
d
Department of Civil Engineering and State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Rd, Shanghai 200240, China
e
Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia
b

h i g h l i g h t s
 Waste materials: y ash and in-situ clay.
 A green Lightweight Cellular Cemented (LCC) clay.
 Role of cement, air and FA content on durability.
 Predictive wettingdrying (wd) cycled strength equation.

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 5 June 2014
Received in revised form 29 October 2014
Accepted 14 December 2014
Available online 31 December 2014
Keywords:
Air foam
Cement
Durability
Compressive strength
Fly ash
Wetdry cycle
Lightweight material

a b s t r a c t
The viability of using waste materials such as clay and y ash (FA) for developing a sustainable Lightweight Cellular Cemented (LCC) construction material is investigated in this paper. LCC clay has a wide
range of applications in infrastructure rehabilitation as well as in the construction of new facilities. The
durability against wettingdrying (wd) cycles is an important parameter for service life design of LCC
clay; however, studies on this aspect to date are very limited. The role of cemented soil structure (fabric
and cementation bond) on wd cycle strength of LCC clay are investigated, analyzed and presented in this
paper. The strength reduction with increasing number of wd is attributed to degradation of the
cemented structure. The degradation index, qualifying the rate of degradation with number of wd
cycles, is proposed in term of initial soaked strength (without wd cycle). Using the degradation index,
the predictive wd cycle strength equation at different number of wd cycles is furthermore proposed.
The applicability of the proposed equation is validated using a separate test data. This approach of
predicting wd cycle strength is benecial from both engineering and economic points of view.
2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
There is a myriad of problems associated with the engineering
construction in soft clay deposits, particularly in coastal regions in
Corresponding author at: School of Civil Engineering, Suranaree University of
Technology, 111 University Avenue, Muang District, Nakhon Ratchasima 30000,
Thailand. Tel.: +66 44 22 4322; fax: +66 44 22 4607.
E-mail addresses: anek_na@hotmail.com (A. Neramitkornburi), suksun@g.sut.ac.
th, suksun@sut.ac.th (S. Horpibulsuk), slshen@sjtu.edu.cn (S.L. Shen), avirut@sut.ac.
th (A. Chinkulkijniwat), aarulrajah@swin.edu.au (A. Arulrajah), mmiridisfani@swin.
edu.au (M.M. Disfani).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2014.12.025
0950-0618/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Southeast Asia such as Chao Phraya Plain in Thailand, Mekong Delta

in Vietnam and Cambodia, Central Plains of the Philippines, Coastal
Plains of Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan
and Taiwan. This soft soil, located in marine or estuary environments, have low shear strength, low bearing capacity and high natural water content, resulting in high compressibility potential. To
mitigate future issues with construction on these soft soil deposits,
the deep mixing technique is frequently applied [18]. The mechanical behavior of cement admixed clays have been extensively investigated by authors [915]. The role of physical properties of soil on
the strength development is recently investigated by Goodary et al.

42

A. Neramitkornburi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 77 (2015) 4149

[16]. They reported that soils with a high specic surface (ne particles) needed less amount of cement to provide the same strength
and durability as those with low specic surface (coarse particles).
Instead of improving the soft ground (foundation) through the
costly deep mixing method, the usage of Lightweight Cellular
Cemented (LCC) construction materials is an attractive and economical alternative in construction applications such as in embankment,
pavement pipe bedding and backlling. LCC material is a mixture of
aggregate, air foam agent and cementing agent.
The usage of recycled waste materials such as Construction and
Demolition (C&D) materials incorporating recycled concrete aggregate, crushed brick, and reclaimed asphalt pavement [1719] has
been applied in recent years in a wide range of applications such
as embankment lls, pipe-bedding and pavement base/subbase.
The usage of recycled waste materials in sustainable manner in
the development of LCC materials will further support zero-waste
directives currently implemented in many developed and developing countries. Incorporation of waste materials in the development
of LCC material will reduce the carbon footprint of our future
infrastructures.
A sustainable LCC material made from in-situ and waste clay
obtained directly from construction sites has been extensively used
for highway and port constructions in Southeast Asian countries
such as Japan and Thailand [2026]. To reduce the cost of the LCC
clay from an economical and environmental perspective, the
replacement of cement by y ash (FA) is an attractive method. It
was evident from the owability test (undertaken using a ow cone
with 117 mm in height and 254 mm diameter at base and 117 mm
diameter at top) that FA reduces the plasticity and improves the
owability of the LCC clay mixture before hardening [27,28]. At
the same water content and cement content, the LCC clay with
higher FA replacement ratio exhibits higher strength than that with
lower FA replacement ratio. The use of FA as a supplementary
cementitious material in concrete is also well recognized for
improving durability of concrete [29,30]. The incorporation of FA
results in considerable pore renement [31], which leads to a low
porosity and discontinuous pore structure. Consequently, the permeability of the concrete reduces and the durability of the concrete
increases [32].
The in-situ LCC clay as a stabilized engineering lls and pavement materials generally encounters with wd cycles from the
change of weather during wet (rainy) and dry (summer) seasons.
This is particular relevant for tropical countries such as Thailand,
as well as parts of Australia and China. The wd cycles result in
tension and surface cracks, which can damage the stabilized pavement structure [3336]. Even though there is available research on
the strength development in LCC clay, the investigation of durability against the wettingdrying cycles (wd cycles), a critical aspect
for infrastructure design such as in engineering lls and pavements, is very limited and is the prime focus of this research. The
investigation of the service life of the LCC clay via wetting and drying test is signicant and is another focus of this research. The
strength of LCC clay is dependent upon the cemented soil structure
(fabric and cementation bond) [37]. As such, tests with a wide
range of water contents, air contents, FA contents and cement contents of the LCC clay are undertaken to understand the role of both
fabric and cementation bond on the wd cycle strengths. Based on
the analysis of the test results, a rational empirical relationship
between wd cycle strengths and initial soaked strength (without
wd cycles) is proposed. This equation can facilitate the determination of a suitable mix proportion of LCC materials to meet the
strength requirement at a target service life. This research will
enable waste excavated soft clay traditionally destined for landll
to be used in a sustainable manner as an aggregate in LCC materials, which is signicant in term of engineering, economical and
environmental perspectives.

2. Theoretical background
For a LCC clay at a water content between 1.5 and 3.0 times the
liquid limit, the strength is determined exclusively by the watervoid to cement, wV/C [38]. This parameter is dened as the product
of initial clay water content (before mixing with cement and air
foam) times V/C, where the water content is expressed in fraction.
The parameter V/C is dened as the ratio of volume of voids to the
volume of cement in the mix. Strength is independent of water
content, air content and cement content in the mix. Based on
extensive test results, Horpibulsuk et al. [38] have proposed a predictive strength equation in term of curing time, and wV=C for the
LCC Bangkok clay as follows:

qwV=C D

qwV=C 28


1:27
wV=C 28
0:027 0:300 ln D
wV=C D

where qwV=C D is the strength of LCC clay to be estimated at watervoid/cement ratio of (wV=C) after D days of curing and qwV=C 28 is
the strength of LCC clay at water-void/cement ratio of (wV=C) after
28 days of curing. The unit weight (in kN/m3) is determined in term
of water content, cement content and V/C by using Eq. (2) [27,39]:



0
1
Gc Gs c2w 1 w
Gc cw
C
BGs c 1 wC


c
 V=C @ w
A
Gc cw
Gc cw
1
1
C
C

where w is water content (in fraction), Gc and Gs are the specic

gravities of cement and soil, respectively, cw is unit weight of water
(kN/m3) and C is cement content (kg/m3). Eq. (2) was developed
based on the assumption that all air bubbles (air foam) enter into
the pore space when mixed with cement and clay. With the variation in water content and cement content, the air content required
to attain the required V=C is determined:

Ac V=C

C
1 wGs  wGs
Gc cw

3. Materials and methods

3.1. Materials
3.1.1. Soil sample
Bangkok clay was collected from Bangkok Noi district, Bangkok, Thailand at a
3 m depth. The clay was composed of 2% sand, 39% silt and 55% clay as shown in
Fig. 1. The natural water content was 80% and the specic gravity was 2.64. The
liquid and plastic limits were 73% and 31%, respectively. Based on the Unied Soil
Classication System (USCS), the clay was classied as inorganic clay of high plasticity (CH). Groundwater was encountered at a depth of approximately 1 m below
the surface. The clay was classied as low swelling type with free swell ratio (FSR)
of 1.1. The FSR is dened as the ratio of equilibrium sediment volume of 10 g of
oven-dried soil passing a 425 mm sieve in distilled water (Vd) to that in kerosene
(Vk) [40]. This method was adopted since it is simple and predicts the dominant clay
mineralogy of soil satisfactorily [41]. Table 1 summarizes the chemical composition
of Bangkok clay using X-ray uorescence (XRF). Even though Bangkok clay is classied as low swelling types, moderately high clay content of up to 55% may cause
swelling and shrinkage on the LCC clay during wd cycles. This effect will be examined in this paper.

3.1.2. Cement and air foam agent

Type I Portland cement (PC) and air foam agent, Darex AE4, provided by the
Grace Construction Products Ltd., were used in this study. The grain size distribution curve, obtained from the laser particle size analysis, and chemical composition
of PC are also shown in Fig. 1 and Table 1, respectively. The specic gravity is 3.15
and the D50 is 0.01 mm (10 micron), which is larger than that of the tested clay. The
air foam agent is a blend of anionic surfactants and foam stabilizers. It is a liquid air
entraining agent used in various types of mortar, concrete and cementitious
material.

A. Neramitkornburi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 77 (2015) 4149

43

mixed with cement for 10 min. The cement content (C) was varied from 10% to
40% by weight of dry soil. The uniform paste was next transferred to cylindrical containers of 50 mm diameter and 100 mm height for wd strength test. After 24 h, the
cylindrical samples were dismantled. The cylindrical samples were wrapped in
vinyl bags and stored in a humidity-controlled room of constant temperature
(23 2 C) until 28 days of curing.
The method of cyclic wetting and drying test as per ASTM D 559 was adopted
for sample preparations. The samples were submerged in deionized water at room
temperature for 5 h. They were then dried in the oven at a temperature of 70 C for
48 h and air-dried at room temperature for at least 3 h. This process is referred to as
1 wd cycle. After attaining the target wd cycles, the samples were immersed in
deionized water for 2 h at the constant temperature of 25 2 C. Unconned Compression (UC) tests were then undertaken with a rate of vertical displacement of
1 mm/min. The 1, 3 and 6 wd cycles were considered in this study.
Based on a critical analysis of the strength data, a rational predictive wd cycle
strength equation is proposed, which facilitates the mix design to attain the
strength requirement at a specied service life for civil engineering practitioners.
In addition to the above mentioned laboratory tests, the results of the strength tests
on separate LCC samples at FA replacement ratios of 40% (w = 198% and 132%, and
A = 0%, 25% and 50%) were taken to verify the proposed predictive equation.

4. Results

Fig. 1. Grain size distribution of clay, PC and FA.

Table 1
Chemical composition of Bangkok clay, PC and FA.
Chemical composition (%)

Bangkok clay

PC

FA

SiO2
Al2O3
Fe2O3
CaO
MgO
SO3
Na2O
K2O
LOI

62.8
21.3
8.4
0.9
1.5
1.2
0.3
2.5
0.8

20.9
4.8
3.4
65.4
1.2
2.7
0.2
0.3
1.1

44.7
23.7
11.0
12.7
2.6
1.3
0.1
2.9
1.0

3.1.3. Fly ash

Fly ash (FA) was obtained from the Mae Moh power plant in the north of
Thailand. Table 1 summarizes the chemical composition of FA showing that total
amount of the major components SiO2, Al2O3 and Fe2O3 in FA are 79.4% and classied as class F according to ASTM C 618. The grain size distribution curve of FA is
also shown in Fig. 1.

3.2. Methodology

Fig. 2 shows the typical role of FA on wd cycle strengths of LCC

clay at different number of wd cycles. All the samples were prepared at different water contents but at the same w/wL of 2.0,
C = 10% and A = 25% to have the same owability of the LCC mixture, where w is water content and wL is liquid limit. It has been
proved that at the same w/wL, the LCC mixtures have the same
owability [27]. Fig. 2 shows that FA improves wd cycle strength,
qu(wd), where signicant improvement is clearly observed when
FA replacement ratio is greater than 40%.
Fig. 3 shows the role of cement content and air content on wd
cycle strength for FA replacement of 20% and 80%. The unit weight
decreases with increasing air content and decreasing cement content. Although the air foam helps reduce the unit weight of the LCC
clay, it causes strength reduction at a specic cement content. It is
evident that the initial soaked (without wd cycle) strengths (qu0)
and wd cycle strengths (qu(wd)) decrease with decreasing cement
content and increasing air content. At a particular air content, the
strength increases signicantly with increasing cement content
even with a slight increase in unit weight. The unit weight of LCC
clay can be approximated from Eqs. (1) and (2) as previously
undertaken by Horpibulsuk et al. [28]. The qu(wd) and N relationship of LCC clay is divided into three different cycles according to
its slope. The strength reduction is minimal for the rst 01 cycle
while the dramatic reduction is noted in the 13 cycles. The

The clay paste was passed through a 2-mm sieve for removal of shell pieces and
other larger size particles, if present. The clay paste was next replaced by FA at
replacement ratios of 0%, 20%, 60% and 80% dry weight of clay. Index tests on the
mixed soil were subsequently performed. The index properties of the tested clay
at different FA replacement ratios are given in Table 2. The water content of the
mixed soil was adjusted to 1.53 times liquid limit (wL) for the wd cycle strength
tests. The saturated clay was carefully transferred into a mixer and then tamped to
minimize air bubbles before mixing with cement and air foam. The lower water
content possesses high viscosity and resists the air bubble entry into the pore space
[3942]. The claywaterFA mixture was mixed with air foam. The air content (Ac)
values varied between 0% and 50% by volume of the saturated mixed soil (Vi). The Vi
value is the sum of volume of dry soil (Vs) and volume of water (Vw). The Vs value
was determined from the dry weight of mixed soil (Ws) and specic gravity values
of mixed soil and water. The claywaterairFA mixture was then thoroughly

Table 2
Water contents and liquid limits for mixed clay samples.
Soil:FA

Liquid limit (%)

Plastic limit (%)

Plasticity index (%)

100:0
80:20
60:40
40:60
20:80

77.1
72.8
66.1
50.2
32.1

32.4
31.2
27.3
24.8
19.8

44.7
41.6
38.8
25.4
12.3

Fig. 2. Inuence of FA on wd cycle strength.

44

A. Neramitkornburi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 77 (2015) 4149

Fig. 3. Inuence of cement content and air content on qu(wd) for (a) soil:FA = 20:80 and (b) soil:FA = 80:20.

strength reduction in 36 cycles is much larger than the 01 cycle

but is lower than that of 13 cycles. For a particular water content,
the qu0 and qu(wd) values are controlled by cement content and air
content.
It is evident from Fig. 3 that both fabric (water content, air content) and cementation bond (cement content) affect the qu(wd) of
LCC clay. The lower water content and air content and the higher
cement content result in the higher qu(wd). It is therefore pertinent
to examine the combination effect of both fabric and cementation
bond on qu(wd) using the structural parameter wV/C. Fig. 4 shows
the stressstrain relationship of LCC clay with the same wV/C of 29
but different C and A values at FA replacement ratio of 20. Fig. 5
shows the relationships between qu(wd) and wV/C for the LCC samples with different C and A values. It is evident that the stressstrain
relationships and wd cycle strengths at the three number of cycles
tested are essentially similar as long as wV/C is the same although
the cement content and air content vary over a wide range. In other
words, the durability against wetting and drying is dependent upon
qu0 because the wV/C controls qu0 values of LCC clay. qu0 will be then
used as an engineering indicator, indicating the structure strength of
LCC clay, to analyze qu(wd) in the next section.
Fig. 4. Stressstrain relationship for samples with the same wV/C of 29.

5. Analysis and discussion

Besides unit weight and strength of the LCC material, the
owability of the mixture (before hardening) is also a required

parameter for eld construction. The higher owability results in

the lower pump capacity and construction cost. The previous
works [27,28] have shown the owability of the LCC mixture is
controlled by w/wL. Since the FA reduces wL of the clayFA mixture

A. Neramitkornburi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 77 (2015) 4149

Fig. 5. Relationship between qu(wd) and wV/C.

(Table 2), the water content, w of the mixture to attain the same
w/wL is reduced after adding FA. At the same w/wL (Fig. 2), the
LCC mixture with higher FA replacement ratio exhibits higher qu0
and qu(wd) due to the pozzolanic reaction between cement and
FA and the reduction in water to cement ratio. Consequently, FA
improves not only the owability of the LCC mixture but also the
durability of LCC material.
The strength reduction with number of wd cycles is due to
cracking effect. The wetting causes the swelling of the clay particles due to the expansion of diffusion double layer while the drying
causes the shrinkage of the clay particles due to the loss of water
[43]. Thus, the swelling and shrinkage for each wd cycle leads
to the tension cracks on the LCC sample. The cracking effect can
be depicted by the increase in water content after the end of each
wd cycle (Fig. 6). Due to the cracks, the pore space in the samples
increases and carries more water content.
It is evident from the test results (Figs. 4 and 5) that the qu(wd)
values at different N is dependent upon qu0 value. As such, qu0 is
used as a variable in analyzing the relationships between qu(wd)
versus N as shown in Fig. 7. The relationships are for samples with
various air contents and cement contents but with the same qu0
(same wV/C values) at FA replacement ratios of 80 and 60. For a
particular FA replacement ratio, the qu(wd) versus N relationship

45

of LCC clay are of similar pattern as long as the qu0 value is the
same, even though the air content and cement content are varied
over a wide range. The qu(wd) versus N relationships can be represented by two functions: linear and logarithm. The linear and logarithmic functions t very well for 01 cycle and 16 cycles,
respectively.
To understand the fundamental role of qu0 on qu(wd), the normalized strength qu(wd)/qu0 is plotted versus N as shown in Fig. 8
as previously undertaken by Kampala et al. [43] for Calcium Carbide Residue (CCR) stabilized clay. The qu(wd)/qu0 for CCR stabilized
clay at a particular N is essentially the same for different CCR contents and FA contents. Subsequently, the unique relationship
between qu(wd)/qu0 and N was proposed and is useful for mix
design purposes. The same is not true for LCC clay, which possesses
very high air contents. For 1 wd cycle, the qu(1 wd)/qu0 is independent of qu0; i.e., qu(1 wd)/qu0 is constant for all mix properties,
where qu(1 wd) is the 1 wd cycle strength. Beyond 1 wd cycle,
the qu(wd)/qu0 is dependent upon the qu0 value. The lower qu0 is
associated with the larger qu(wd)/qu0. This implies that the durability is controlled by qu0; i.e., the samples with the same qu0 exhibit
the same qu(wd) even though they were prepared at different mix
proportions of water content, cement content and air content. The
samples with higher qu0 exhibit higher qu(wd). This further establishes the fact that durability is lower (strength reduction with
increasing N is larger) for a lower structure strength.
Based on the results shown in Figs. 7 and 8, the relationship
between qu(wd) and N for different FA replacement ratios, water
contents, cement contents and air contents can be represented
by a logarithmic function as follows:

quwd qu1

wd

 b ln N

where b is the degradation index, quantifying the rate of degradation of structure strength due to wd cycles. As seen in Fig. 8, the
qu(1 wd) is slightly lower than qu0 and essentially the same for all
mix proportions. The qu(1 wd) and qu0 relationship can then be
developed based on a linear regression analysis of the strength data
(Fig. 9):

qu1

wd

0:95qu0

with a high degree of correlation of 0.997.

The b value can be approximated in term of qu0 in a power function (Fig. 10):

b 0:65qu0 5=6
with a high degree of correlation of 0.950.

Fig. 6. Relationship between w and N for (a) soil:FA = 20:80 and (b) soil:FA = 80:20.

46

A. Neramitkornburi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 77 (2015) 4149

Fig. 7. qu(wd) versus N relationship for (a) soil:FA = 20:80 and (b) soil:FA = 80:20.

quwd 0:95qu0  0:65qu0 5=6 lnN for 150 kPa < qu0 < 3500 kPa
7

Fig. 8. Normalized strength qu(wd)/qu0 versus N relationship.

By combining Eqs. (4)(6), a predictive wd cycle strength

equation in term of qu0 is shown as follows:

Using Eq. (7), the wd cycle strengths of samples with various

mix proportions at a target number of wd cycle can be approximated once the corresponding qu0 is known. The qu0 is simply
determined directly from laboratory UC test or approximated by
available strength equations such as those proposed by Horpibulsuk et al. [38]. Eq. (7) is thus useful for civil engineering practitioners since the durability test is a time-consuming.
Besides strength, the modulus of the LCC clay subjected to different number of wd cycles is a required parameter for deformation analysis. It is logical to relate modulus with UC strength
because both are generally dependent on the cemented structure.
Fig. 11 presents the relationship between modulus of deformation
at 50% strength, E50 and qu(wd) of LCC samples under various number of wd cycles. E50 varies between 120 and 200 times qu(wd) for
all number of wd cycles tested, which is in agreement with the
test data for LCC clay without wd cycles [27,39]. As such, E50 at
any number of wd cycle can be estimated after qu(wd) is predicted
(using Eq. (7)).

A. Neramitkornburi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 77 (2015) 4149

Fig. 9. Relationship between qu(1

wd)

47

and qu0 for different soil:FA.

Fig. 10. Relationship between b and qu0 for different soil:FA.

Table 3 shows a prediction of qu(wd) of the separate LCC samples with FA replacement ratio of 40% (w = 198% and 132% and
A = 050%). The qu0 was obtained from the UC test after 28 days
of curing. The qu(wd) for various water contents, cement contents,
and air contents were predicted by Eq. (7). It is found that the predicted and measured qu(wd) values are in a good agreement with a
small absolute percent error of 6.3. This reinforces the application
of the proposed equation. Even though Eq. (7) was developed from
a specic soil, the formulation of the proposed equation is on
sound principles and can be used as fundamental for other soils.
The empirical equation can be further rened with the analysis
of more data.
Eqs. (1)(3) and (7) can be used for mix design purpose to meet
both unit weight and strength requirement at a target service life.
The strength requirement for stabilized pavement material at the
target service life is different for different countries. For instance,
the strength requirement is 2068 kPa, 1471 kPa, and 2403 kPa for
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Department of Rural Road of
Thailand and the Department of Highways of Thailand, respectively.
Last but not least, low quality FA that may marginally pass
ASTM C-618 standards, or even not even pass, is of interest for

Fig. 11. Relationship between E50 and qu(wd) for (a) 1, (b) 3 and (c) 6 wd cycles.

future sustainable research. This FA is available in abundance

and has a little market value. The main stumbling block in construction uses has been the variability in FA. FA coming out of
power plants varies signicantly according to the source of coal,
method of burning, and other factors. FA produced by a given
power plant can even considerably change for a number of reasons,
such as a change in coal source. In recent years, many power plants
have modied their operation to create less pollution and as a
result, produce FA with carbon content greater than 4% and a high
level of dead burn CaO, which will interfere with hydration process. As such, strength and durability test results of the construction and building materials with different FA from variety of
sources needs to be investigated and analyzed based on the chemical composition of the y ashes. Moreover, in North America and
other temperate countries, the durability against freeze and thaw
testing in accordance with ASTM C-666 standards is also signicant. The compressive and exural strength testing after every 50
freezethaw cycles is recommended.

48

A. Neramitkornburi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 77 (2015) 4149

Table 3
Predicted qu(wd) for Soil:FA = 60:40.
w (%) A (%) C (%) N quo (kPa) qu(1

198

132

0
25
50
0
25
50
0
25
50

50.2
34.5
21.3
50.2
34.5
21.3
50.2
34.5
21.3

0
25
50
0
25
50
0
25
50

39.0
27.0
16.8
39.0
27.0
16.8
39.0
27.0
16.8

1012.0
604.0
112.0
1012.0
604.0
112.0
1012.0
604.0
112.0

wd)

(kPa) Eq. (5) b (kPa) (Eq. (6)) Predicted qu(wd)P (kPa) (Eq. (7)) Measured qu(wd)M (kPa) jquwdM  quwdP j
 100 %
quwdM

961.4
573.8
106.4
961.4
573.8
106.4
961.4
573.8
106.4

1467.4
1394.0
842.7
800.6
327.5
311.1
3 1467.4
1394.0
842.7
800.6
327.5
311.1
6 1467.4
1394.0
842.7
800.6
327.5
311.1
Mean Absolute Percent Error, MAPE

207.6
135.0
33.2
207.6
135.0
33.2
207.6
135.0
33.2

961.4
573.8
106.4
733.3
425.4
70.0
589.4
331.9
47.0

998.6
590.3
104.2
722.1
385.8
88.4
665.3
281.8
38.0

3.7
2.8
2.1
1.6
10.3
20.8
11.4
17.8
23.7

282.9
178.2
81.1
282.9
178.2
81.1
282.9
178.2
81.1

1394.0
800.6
311.1
1083.2
604.8
222.0
887.1
481.2
165.8

1442.7
831.4
298.7
1126.4
627.1
267.4
907.3
462.8
197.2

3.4
3.7
4.2
3.8
3.6
17.0
2.2
4.0
15.9
6.3

MAPE 1n

Pn

i1

!
jquwdM  quwdP j
 100
quwdM

6. Conclusions

Acknowledgements

This research investigates the viability of using waste materials

(clay and FA) for developing sustainable construction LCC materials. Results of this study suggest that the initial soaked strength
is critical for analysis of wetdry cycle strength of LCC clay. The following conclusions can be drawn from this research study.

This work was nancially supported by the Thailand Research

Fund under the TRF Senior Research Scholar program Grant No.
RTA5680002, the Ph.D. Royal Jubilee program, Suranaree University of Technology and the Ofce of Higher Education Commission
under NRU project of Thailand. The authors acknowledge the
reviewer for a valuable suggestion on future sustainable research.

(1) FA improves owability of LCC mixture (before hardening)

and durability of LCC material. For the same owability,
the initial soaked strength and wd cycle strength increase
with increasing FA. Signicant improvement is found when
FA replacement ratio is greater than 40%.
(2) The strength reduction with number of wd cycles is caused
by the swelling and shrinkage of clay particles, which in turn
leads to crack development (degradation of cemented structure). Due to the cracks, the pore space in the samples
increases and carries more water content.
(3) The degradation of cemented soil structure is controlled by
the initial structure strength. The degradation index (b) is
proposed to qualify the strength reduction with number of
wd cycles.
(4) The wd cycle strength and number of wd cycle relationship is represented by linear function for 01 cycle and logarithmic function for 16 cycles. Based on the proposed
functions and the degradation index, the predictive wd
strength equation is proposed and veried. This equation
facilitates mix design to attain the required strength at a target service life, which is very useful for civil engineering
practitioners since the durability test is time-consuming.
The formulation of the proposed equation is based on sound
engineering principles and can be used for a fundamental
understanding of soft soils. The empirical equation can be
further rened with the analysis of more data.
(5) Because the cemented soil structure controls the engineering
properties at different wd cycles, it is logical to relate E50 in
term of qu(wd). The E50 and qu(wd) relationship is found to be
essentially independent of cement content, water content,
air content, FA replacement ratio and number of wd cycle.
The relationship is similar to that of LCC clay without wd
cycle. Using the proposed equation, E50 at any number of w
d cycle can be estimated once qu(wd) is predicted.

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