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Predicting the Effective Depth of Soil Stabilization for Marine Clay Treated by
Biomass Silica

Article  in  KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering · June 2018

DOI: 10.1007/s12205-018-1294-x

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KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering (0000) 00(0):1-11 Geotechnical Engineering
Copyright ⓒ2018 Korean Society of Civil Engineers
DOI 10.1007/s12205-018-1294-x pISSN 1226-7988, eISSN 1976-3808
www.springer.com/12205
TECHNICAL NOTE

Predicting the Effective Depth of Soil Stabilization for Marine Clay Treated
by Biomass Silica
Lim Jing Jin*, Nor Zurairahetty Mohd Yunus**, Muhammad Azril Hezmi***,
Ahmad Safuan Abdul Rashid****, Amination Marto*****, Roohollah Kalatehjari******,
Faizal Pakir*******, Nordiana Mashros********, and AbideenAdekunle Ganiyu*********
Received August 31, 2017/Revised March 3, 2018/Accepted March 8, 2018/Published Online June 18, 2018

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Abstract
Reclamation and development towards the oceanic area had become a trend of modern days, where the marine soil need to be
treated prior construction. The increase in unconfined compressive strength of marine clay treated by Biomass Silica, ‘SH-85’ has
been demonstrated by several investigations. This paper studies the stress-strain behavior of marine clay treated with 12% of SH-85
with different curing periods and confining pressures. The results show that the strength parameters of the stabilized soil are greatly
improved during the early stage of the curing period under higher confining pressures. In addition, the XRD analysis and
microstructure study confirm the appearance of a new reflection peak at 29° in the treated soils indicating the formation of Calcium
Silicate Hydrate (CSH). The curing period of 7 days at a confining pressure of 400 kPa was found to be an optimum combination for
in situ stabilization. The effective stabilization depth predicted at each location can be defined as the depth ensuing the mentioned
confining pressure. The approach of this research can be applied in construction activities associated with marine clay to help
engineers in risk assessment, feasibility study and planning of the developments.
Keywords: marine clay, biomass silica, non-traditional stabilizer, stress-path analysis
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1. Introduction
Reclamation and development of oceanic areas has become a
modern day trend. The motives for the development of marine
structures are various and they range from land scarcity to
aesthetic requirements. As concerns Nusajaya, Johor Bahru in
Malaysia expansion of the existing civil structures and new
development projects has faced the dilemma of land scarcity in
that crowded and mature area. In spite of the limited land aspect
and the aesthetic perception of the setting, the activities of
development of oceanic areas have dominated the Straits of
Johor, which divides Malaysia from Singapore.
Marine soil is widely available and occupies surficial areas;
however, it is well known to be complicated and hard to deal
with, especially as a foundation for various overhead structures.
Hence, the soil has to be improved with the addition of a stronger
material for better performance under various loads. The physical
characteristics of the marine soil of the area of the study including
Malaysia and Singapore are summarized and presented in Table 1
(Marto et al., 2015).
Different stabilizers have been introduced by researchers
expecting to have the ability to improve the strength of marine
soil, regardless of the surrounding environment (Jawad et al.,
2014; Marto et al., 2015; Zainuddin et al., 2016; Rawat and
Mital, 2015). Among them are cement and lime, which are the
most commonly used (Baker, 2000), while other materials with
various chemical composition and physical formation, either
liquid or solid, have been employed for the treatment of soils in
specific environments with different outcomes (Shahminan et
al., 2014; Rashid et al., 2014; Raftari et al., 2014; Mohd Yunus et

*Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor Bahru, Malaysia (E-mail: limjingjinutm@gmail.com)
**Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor Bahru, Malaysia (E-mail: nzurairahetty@utm.my)
***Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor Bahru, Malaysia (E-mail: azril@utm.my)
****Associate Professor, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor Bahru, Malaysia (E-mail:
ahmadsafuan@utm.my)
*****Professor, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor Bahru, Malaysia (E-mail: aminaton@utm.my)
******Lecturer, Dept. of Built Environment Engineering, School of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences, Auckland University of Tech-
nology, New Zealand (Corresponding Author, E-mail: r.kalatehjari@aut.ac.nz)
*******Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Malaysia
(E-mail: faizalp@uthm.edu.my)
********Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor Bahru, Malaysia (E-mail: mnordiana@utm.my)
*********Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Civil Engineering and Quantity Surveying, Military Technological College, Muscat, Oman (E-mail: abideenganiyu@gmail.com)

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 Lim Jing Jin et al.
Table 1. Physical Characteristics of Marine Soil in the Area of the
Study (After Marto et al., 2015).
Physical Characteristics Malaysia Singapore
Lithology fine grains (majority of silt and clay)
Montmorillonite, Kaolinite,
Mineralogy
kaolinite, illite smectite, illite
Color blackish dark grey
Density, ρ (g/cm3) 2.70 – 2.80
Permeability, k (10−9 m/s) 1.77 – 2.00 NA
Plasticity Index, PI (%) 19 – 77 40 – 60
al., 2016; Rashid et al., 2017). Therefore, a specific location with
distinct soil characteristics should be focused on for detailed
study of soil behavior in terms of its safety, economic and
efficiency aspects when treated with selected stabilizers. Marine
soil is different from continental soil (which requires little
improvement), so it is important to accurately investigate the
geotechnical properties of treated marine soil especially in terms
of its behavior towards applied stresses. In recent years, an
increasing number of non-traditional stabilizers has been developed
for soil stabilization purposes. According to Tingle et al. (2007),
the variety of stabilizers (powder and liquid form) are becoming
popular due to their relatively low cost, ease of application, and
short curing period. The effectiveness of non-traditional stabilizer to
increase the properties of clay soils, particularly in strength, has
been reported by many researchers including Suganya et al.
(2016), Onyejekwe et al. (2016), Phetchuay et al. (2016), Zhang
et al. (2015) and Yi et al. (2015). An impressive example, Lim et
al. (2013) reported the increased of unconfined compressive
strength of low plasticity clay treated with biomass silica (non-
traditional stabilizer) up to 36 times the untreated value. Using
the same non-traditional stabilizer, Latifi et al. (2016) reported
the increased strength of residual soil (high plasticity silt) up to 7
times the untreated value. Furthermore, due to good solubility of
chemical stabilizers, it is possible to deliver them into soil voids
by means of injection with the presence of water. Consequently,
stabilization could be done without significantly disturbing the
structure of the soil particles by mechanical mixing methods.
In a research carried out Marto et al. (2015), the optimum
amount of Biomass Silica (SH-85) to be added to stabilize the
Nusajaya marine clay was found to be 12%. Similar to other
traditional chemical stabilizers (i.e. lime and cement), the chemical
reactions between SH-85 and soil is due to the pozzolanic
reaction between Ca2+ from SH-85 and clay minerals (i.e. Silica
and alumina). Consequently, the new cementations material is
formed. In addition, SH-85 is proved to provide early strength
gain compared to other traditional chemical stabilizers. This
percentage represents the most economical value, in addition to
provide the highest compressive strength in Unconfined
Compressive Strength (UCS) test. Soil behavior under different
treatments is mostly concerned with the maximum strength it can
withstand when subjected to overburden loads. However, more
refinement of the stress-strain behavior is required to depict on-
−2−
Table 2. Properties of Biomass Silica (After Marto et al., 2014)
Properties Findings
Product name Biomass Silica
Commercial name SH – 85
Supplier Probase Manufacturing Sdn Bhd.
Composites Dominated by Calcium Oxide (CaO)
Strength Induce stronger and denser soil
Chemical Properties Findings
CaO (%) 68.2
Al2O3 (%) 12.3
CO2 (%) 10.24
SiO2 (%) 9.25
site conditions. Besides the more refined strength behavior such
as stress-strain, pore pressure, and stress-path analysis,
characterization of the curing periods for the 12% Biomass
Silica stabilization process should also be studied to determine
the economic period.
Through stress-path analysis, detailed soil behavior can be
observed from the start of loading process until its failure.
Although this technique has not been widely used for design
purposes, it can enhance our understanding of soil parameters
and failure behavior, which are considered later in the design
stage. The optimum period for the marine clay stabilization
process can be defined by studying different curing periods. On
the other hand, the optimum confining pressure can be used to
predict the effective depth of on-site stabilization (Colliat-
Dangus et al., 1998). Therefore, from the analysis of stress-
path and pore pressure distribution based on different confining
pressures, the risk assessment and feasibility studies for future
developments can be simplified. A paired “micro-characterization”
was also carried out by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis and
Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to study the mechanisms of
SH-85 in modification of the soil. The mechanism of the
stabilization of marine clay soils with non-traditional stabilizer
is described through the results from macro and micro-
structural studies.
2. Materials and Testing Program
This research is an advance on the previous study of marine
clay stabilization by means of the non-traditional stabilizer,
Biomass Silica, which is a commercial solid stabilizer. Table two
presents the properties and the chemical composition of the
stabilizer used in this research. Table 3 presents the properties of
natural marine clay at the study area, which is the coastal area of
Nusajaya, Johor, Malaysia (Marto et al., 2015; Mohd Yunus et
al., 2015).
The chemical content and performance of Biomass Silica is
similar to that of cement (Marto et al., 2015). Thus, the curing
period was assumed similar to that of concrete; the strength at 7,
14 and 28 days of curing for the treated samples was determined.
The Consolidated Undrained (CU) test was studied in three
KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering
 Predicting the Effective Depth of Soil Stabilization for Marine Clay Treated by Biomass Silica

Table 3. Properties of Natural Marine Clay at the Study Area Table 4. B-value in Previous Research (After Gan and Fredlund, 1994;
(After Marto et al., 2015 and Mohd Yunus et al., 2015) Nishimura, 2005; Deng and Tatsuoka, 2007; Muhunthan and
Physical Properties Findings Sariosseiri, 2008; Lipinski and Wdowska, 2010)
Color Dark grey Back Pressure Induced
B-value Soil Type
Sample condition Disturbed by dredging (kPa)
Liquid limit, LL (%) 58 0.20 - 0.25 100 (1 day saturation) Pure Kaolin
Plastic limit, PL (%) 23 0.26 - 0.63 200 (2 days saturation) Treated Kaolin with Cement
Plasticity index, PI (%) 35 > 0.4 > 800 High Plasticity Clays
Specific gravity 2.62 0.41 - 0.79 210 Decomposed Granite
Maximum dry density (kg/m3) 1600 0.60 - 0.80 100 London Clay
Optimum moisture content (%) 21 0.92 - 0.97 250 London Clay
90% optimum moisture content at wet side (%) 28 0.95 Not stated Everett Soil
Organic content (%) 4.2 Treated Everett Soil with
0.70 Not stated
Cement
Chemical Properties Findings
Treated Aberdeen Soil with
SiO2 (%) 36.8 0.90 Not stated
Cement
Al2O3 (%) 13.3
Fe2O3 (%) 2.61
K2O (%) 2.4
dried and grinded using a pestle mortar and place to aluminum
SO3 1.47
TiO2 0.66
holder. The surfaces of soil samples were kept smooth to prevent
MgO 0.35
any disturbance from the XRD data. The aluminum holder was
Cl 0.32 placed in the Shimadzu XD-D1 X-ray diffractometer with the
Na2O 0.26 angle scan ranging from 10° to 90° with the scan rate of 2° per
ZrO2 0.20 minute. Finally, the mineralogical analysis was carried out based
Strength Properties Findings on the standard Powder diffraction File (JCPDS, 1995).
Unconfined compressive strength (kPa) 23 In this study, a JSM-6380LA JEOL Scanning Electron
Microscopy (SEM) was used to examine the effect of additives
on the morphological changes and topographic features associated
major stages, including saturation, consolidation, and the shearing with clay particles. The equipment involved were field emission
test. The saturation process was carried out to determine the gun, cold cathode, ultra-high vacuum, and advance digital
degree of saturation for each sample. Then the consolidation technologies for high resolution and quality imaging of
process of the samples was observed. Finally, the shearing stage microstructure. The preparation of samples for SEM involved
was conducted by applying load on each sample until failure drying and placing the samples into aluminum stubs and covered
occurred. The shearing stage was analyzed in detail by comparing by double-sided carbon tapes. The specimen were coated with
different curing periods of treated and stabilized samples, as well platinum using a vacuum sputter coater to prevent surface
as different confining pressures applied on the samples. In charging and loss of resolution.
addition, side drains were adopted for speeding up the process
during backpressure throughout the saturation stage. This, results 3. Results and Discussion
from the equalization of pore water pressure in a short radial
drainage path, which improves the rate of consolidation (Oswell Based on the results of UCS tests, Marto et al. (2015) found
et al., 1991). A B-value of 0.70 and maximum backpressure of the optimum amount of Biomass Silica required for the stabilization
400 kPa was accepted for the saturation process (Ahnberg, 2004;
Huang et al., 2012). However, three consecutive similar B-
values were also accepted for a single sample to be taken as
saturated, which particularly not achieved to the threshold. A
summary of the previous research regarding the B-value obtained
for the respective backpressure induced on specific soil to reach
a targeted and sufficient particular degree of saturation is
presented in Table 4, arranged in order of increasing B-values
(Gan and Fredlund, 1994; Nishimura, 2005; Deng and Tatsuoka,
2007; Muhunthan and Sariosseiri, 2008; Lipinski and Wdowska,
2010).
The XRD was used to determine the changes of clay mineral
and identify the crystalline minerals in treated and untreated soil Fig. 1. Relationships between UCS and BS Content (After Marto
using a Shimadzu XD-D1 X-ray diffractometer. Samples were et al., 2015)

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 Lim Jing Jin et al.

of the marine clay materials as 12%. Fig. 1 illustrates the findings of targeted B-value of 0.70 at minimal satisfaction for the saturated
previous research depicting relationship between amount of specimen. Therefore, the saturation process was halted at that
Biomass Silica (BS) stabilizer and compressive strength carried specific stage for the later consolidation process to be carried out.
out via UCS test (Jawad et al., 2014). In this study, the same For the 14 days curing soil specimen, when the saturation
percentage of Biomass Silica was adopted and the stabilized soil process was done, the trend-line shows a different increment
was treated and tested based on several variables to determine the manner. The B-value increased gradually at the beginning with a
optimum strength behavior indifferent conditions. Furthermore, the steeper increment towards the point at which the graph becomes
effect of curing period on the stabilization process was flat, and it can be inferred that the soil saturation process has been
investigated along with different confining pressure indicating substantially achieved. The saturation process was terminated in this
different depth of stabilized soil in the field. The soil strength case, although the B-value was yet to achieve the predefined
behavior is presented based on basic failure parameters. Soil ideal value of 0.70. Also, in order to prevent the soil structure
specimens that had previously experienced saturation and and stabilization bonding to be broken at high cell pressure
consolidation processes, were tested under undrained shearing induced beyond 400 kPa, as previously discussed, the saturation
compression with effective confining pressure of 100, 200, and process was ended at a point where the graph flattened by
400 kPa through a strain controlled rate of 0.20 mm per minute degrees to a B-value of 0.53 and a cell pressure of 500 kPa. The
until failure. same situation in the graph projection pattern of the 7 days
curing samples was found for the 28 days curing samples. The
3.1 Degree of Saturation trend-line increased at the beginning at a relatively low cell
The saturation stage was conducted to achieve a specific pressure induced, and gradually flattened at the cell pressure of
degree of saturation enhancing the accuracy for the triaxial 200 kPa. The B-value obtained at the commencement of the
shearing stage. Each increment was carried out after 12-hour saturation process for the soil specimen was a negative value.
(half a day) saturation period. The summary of the saturation The saturation state for the 28 days curing samples was observed
sage data is presented in Table 5, and Fig. 2 illustrates the B- to have the lowest B-value compared with the 7 days and 14
value over different cell pressures after different curing periods. days curing samples. This was achieved by reaching the limited
From Fig. 2, the trend-line of the B-value for the 7 days curing pre-stated pressure of 400 kPa and presented a retarding
soil specimens is found to have a retarding stage that commenced at increment of the B-value for the continued increment in cell
200 kPa of cell pressure and started to rebound into a steeper pressure. The saturation process for a stabilized soil was found to
slope starting from 400 kPa of cell pressure. This suggests that be increasingly difficult with the prolonged days of curing. This
the soil fabric structure and probably the pre-matured internal was shown by the decreasing B-value achieved at similar cell
bonding between the stabilizers and soil had been altered or pressure induced. Besides, the B-value for a stabilized soil of
interfered with at that relatively high cell pressure. The B-value 0.95 was hard to achieve, and the highest B-value obtained
for the 7 days curing soil specimen of 0.79 complied with the among the different curing periods was 0.79 for the 7 days curing
sample. The B-value could be increased through the continuation
of increasing cell pressure, but it caused an unusual pattern to
Table 5. Summarization of Saturation Stage occur in the saturation graph. So, the saturation process was
B-value terminated.
Curing
Period 1stIncre- 2ndIncre- 3rdIncre- 4thIncre- 5thIncre-
ment ment ment ment ment
3.2 Effect of Curing Period
7 days 0.01 0.42 0.53 0.57 0.79
The undrained shearing or the compression stage provided the
14 days 0.01 0.08 0.20 0.46 0.53
detailed information for the strength behavior towards the stress
28 days -0.15 0.03 0.15 0.24 0.48
condition up to failure of the soil specimen. The results are
categorized into three major sections, including the general soil
strength behavior, the effect of the curing period, and the effect
of the confining pressure. Based on the predefined optimum
stabilizer content, which was found to be 12% Biomass Silica
(SH-85) (Marto et al., 2015), a summary of the typical parameters
of soil strength behavior up to the failure condition is presented
in Table 6. The results are discussed based on the stress-strain
graph (q-ε), excess pore water pressure fluctuation (∆u-ε), and
stress paths.
In line with the summary of the effects of different curing
periods on the stabilized soil as interpreted in Table 6, the
distinctive performance of the differently cured stabilized soil
Fig. 2. B-valuesbased on Different Curing Periods was observed and discussed in detail (Figs. 3 to 5). Fig. 3(a)

−4− KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering

 Predicting the Effective Depth of Soil Stabilization for Marine Clay Treated by Biomass Silica

Table 6. General Failure Parameters of Soil (critical state condition)

Curing Confining
p’peak qpeak
Specimen* Period Pressure,
(kPa) (kPa)
(days) σ3(kPa)
CU12%7dA 7 100 234.6 668.3
CU12%7dB 7 200 340.2 775.0
CU12%7dC 7 400 535.2 955.5
CU12%14dA 14 100 283.2 705.0
CU12%14dB 14 200 375.5 849.2
CU12%14dC 14 400 647.0 1109.6
CU12%28dA 28 100 322.5 850.2
CU12%28dB 28 200 470.7 993.2
CU12%28dB 28 400 737.8 1273.5
*
The interpretation of specimen should be read as CU = Consolidated
Undrained, 12% = 12% of Biomass Silica added, Xd = Number of days
(X) of curing period, and A, B, and C = different confining pressures
induced (A: 100 kPa, B: 200 kPa, C: 400 kPa)

shows the comparison of the effect of the curing period for 100
kPa confining pressure, where the stress–strain diagram depicts a
reduction of strain with an increased stress for longer curing
periods. The 7 days curing sample was observed to have a
preliminary plateaued condition, followed by a rapid decrease in
deviator stress towards the residual strength condition; the
sample straining continued until a stable peak deviator stress was
observed. The 14 days cured sample was found to have a stress-
strain response similar to that of the 28 days cured sample.
However, the 14 days cured sample has a similar stress-strain
distribution to the 7 days cured sample. This trend allows the
interpretation that the 14 days cured sample had yet to gain more
additional strength than the 7 days cured sample; however, the
internal bonding of the stabilized soil structure had improved
towards a mature basic soil structure like that of the 28 days
cured sample. The following diagrams further strengthen this
explanation. Figs. 3(a) and 3(b) show the excess pore pressure
and stress-path developments of the stabilized soil, respectively.
The 14 days cured sample’s behavior showed a similar pattern to Fig. 3. (a) Stress-strain, (b) Excess Pore Pressure, (c) Stress Path
that of the 28 days cured sample in excess pore pressure Diagrams for Different Curing Periods at 100 kPa Confining
Pressure
development. However, the 7 days cured sample experienced a
negative excess pore pressure development over the strain
created. This also promoted the dilation condition in the sample worth mentioning that a noticeable difference in the stress-path
at the critical state and after failure for this particular short curing behavior for the 7 days cured sample was observed from that of
period of atypical ‘remolded samples’ (Hobbs and Freeborough, the 14 days and 28 days cured samples. A turning of the stress
2006). Moreover, the stress-path distribution of the cured stabilized path towards the left (Fig. 4(c)), where it met the Critical State
soil was observed to have a constant path of typical strain- Line (CSL) after the peak deviator stress, was encountered for
hardening for curing periods from 7 days to 28 days. Besides, the 7 days cured sample. This is apparently distinctive from the
there was an increase in peak deviator stress towards the stress path of the 14 days and 28 days cured samples. This
effective stress with the increasing number of curing days of the distribution is believed to be due to the behavior of the stabilized
samples. soil specimen, where strain softening was encountered in this
The comparison of the effects of different curing periods at the condition for the short curing period, and at this particular
moderate confining pressure of 200 kPa is presented in Fig. 4. confining pressure. Fig. 5 presents the comparison of effect of
The graph projection patterns for stress-strain behavior (Fig. 4(a)) the stabilized soil-curing period, as analyzed at the high
and excess pore pressure development (Fig. 4(b)) were observed confining pressure of 400 kPa. The stress-strain development of
to show the same trend of increasing strength and decreasing the stabilized sample presented a consistent projection for the 7
excess pore pressure with longer curing periods. However, it is days, 14 days and 28 days curing periods, with a steady strength

Vol. 00, No. 0 / 000 0000 −5−

 Lim Jing Jin et al.
Fig. 4. (a) Stress-strain, (b) Excess Pore Pressure, (c) Stress Path
Diagrams for Different Curing Periods at 200 kPa Confining
Pressure
improvement for longer curing periods (Fig. 5(a)). It was
observed that the peak deviator stress increased from 955.5 kPa
for 7 days cured sample to 1273.5 kPa for 28 days cured sample.
A slight improvement in soil strength was observed in the small
increment of peak deviator stress of approximately 30% in
response to the minimal increase in strain created, as well as a
slight alteration in the stress-strain graph projection towards a
steeper increment under high confining pressure. In view of the
excess pore pressure development, more differences that are
remarkable were observed as great reduction of approximately
50% of excess pore pressure from the 7 days cured sample to the
28 days cured sample, generated during the loading stage (Fig. 5(b)).
The gradually smoothing graph pattern for the excess pore
pressure development diagram that progressed towards the
longer curing period indicates hardening and densification of the
−6−
Fig. 5. (a) Stress-strain, (b) Excess Pore Pressure, (c) Stress Path
Diagrams for Different Curing Periods at 400 kPa Confining
Pressure
treated samples with regard to the compressing attempts. This
explains the contrary in expectation from the hardening of the
soil to produce a sharp and steep excess pore pressure development
pattern, and the reality that it gives a relatively smooth excess
pore pressure development pattern. Hence, this can be linked to
the origin of the remolded and compacted sample in this study.
The origin of the soil contributes to the alteration in structural
arrangement of the soil fabric, which became densified and
enhanced the soil-stabilizer interaction process. Therefore, the
saturation state, which shows a low value towards saturation,
was greatly reduced to that condition when the deviator stress
was applied for the long cured samples.
The 7 days cured sample that exhibited a relatively sharp and
steep excess pore pressure development pattern can be explained
as a hardened stabilized sample, which is yet to gain sufficient
KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering
 Predicting the Effective Depth of Soil Stabilization for Marine Clay Treated by Biomass Silica
strength and densification. It is prone to be affected by the soil
fabric structure at the high confining pressure. Besides, the
difference in strength behavior as the effect of the curing period
is only distinctively found from the stress-path distribution (Fig.
5(c)). In this typical high confining pressure induced condition, the
7 days cured sample behaved similar to the 14 days cured sample.
However, the 28 days cured sample, which was believed to gain
sufficient strength through the long curing period, behaved as if in
the low confining pressure condition. Therefore, the stress-path
distribution pattern promotes the anticipation of soil strain-
hardening. This is further explained by the shape of the stress path,
which is less rounded for the longer curing period than indicated for
the strength gaining and overconsolidation conditions.
Fig. 6. (a) Stress-strain, (b) Excess Pore-pressure, (c) Stress Path
Diagrams for Different Confining Pressures at 7 days Cur-
ing Period
Vol. 00, No. 0 / 000 0000
3.3 Effect of Confining Pressure
As mentioned before, three different confining pressures 100,
200, and 400 kPa were used in this research. The dry density of
the soil is 1600 kg/m3 and the moisture content is 21%. Based on
these values, the confining pressure of 100 kPa was assumed
similar to that of the stabilized soil at 5 m depth in the field.
Similarly, the 200 and 400 kPa induced confining pressures were
assumed approximately equal to that of the stabilized soil at 10
m and 20 m depth in the field condition, respectively. The
summary of soil strength behavior through the relative confining
pressure induced in relation to the anticipated depth of soil in the
field is presented in Figs. 6 to 8.
The interpretation of results for the confining pressure is
Fig. 7. Summarization of: (a) Stress-strain, (b) Excess Pore-pres-
sure, (c) Stress Path Diagrams for Different Confining Pres-
sures at 14 days Curing Period
−7−
 Lim Jing Jin et al.

illustrated in a similar manner to that of the effect of the curing
period. For the curing period of 7 days (Fig. 6), the effect of
confining pressure showed less distinctive performance on the
stress-strain distribution (Fig. 6(a)). A difference was found in
the excess pore pressure development (Fig. 6(b)) and the stress-
path distribution (Fig. 6(c)) for 100 kPa when compared with
200 kPa and 400 kPa for the 7 days cured sample. The excess
pore pressure shown for the 100 kPa confining pressure showed
a decrease to the negative excess pore pressure that developed
after a steady increase at low straining conformation by anticipating
soil dilation. The observation of overconsolidation at relatively
low confining pressure was found to be similar to previous
research by Balasubramaniam and Buensuceso (1989) and Ahnberg
et al. (1995). In the stress-path distribution, the stabilized soil
induced with low confining pressure presented a strain-hardening
path that developed at failure, while the stabilized soil induced
with high confining pressure presented a strain-softening
condition with the path developing towards a failure plane to the
left.
For the 14 days cured sample shown in Fig. 7, the distributions
between different confining pressures were gradually normalized
towards each other in terms of pattern development. The consistent
strengthening of the stabilized soil performance towards the stress
induced was improved with increasing confining pressure at
higher deviator stress (Fig. 7(a)) and higher excess pore pressure
(Fig. 7(b)) generated with strain. On the other hand, the stress-
path distribution (Fig. 7(c)) also presented a trend-line that was
similar for the different confining pressures. For the 28 days
cured sample (Fig. 8), the strength of the samples was observed
to have no significant effect on the soil strength behavior besides
the steady state of strength improvement at higher confining
pressure.
On the other hand, the relative critical state parameters were
found from the stress-path distribution between different confining
pressures based on different curing periods from plotting of the
critical state lines (Figs. 5(c), 6(c) and 7(c)). The critical state
parameters, including effective cohesion, c' and effective internal
friction angle, φ', are calculated by Eqs. (1) and (2). The calculated
parameters are summarized in Table 7 and the relationship
between the critical state parameters and the confining pressure
is illustrated in Fig. 9.
–1
φ′ = sin [ 3M ⁄ ( 6 + M ) ] (1)
c′ = ( a × tanφ′ ) ⁄ M (2)

Fig. 9. Effective Cohesion and Effective Internal Friction Angle for

Different Curing Periods

Table 7. The Critical State Parameters Based on Different Curing

Periods
Effective Effective Internal
Curing Period Gradient,
Cohesion, Friction Angle,
(days) M (q/p')
c' (kPa) φ' (deg)
7 213 24 0.94
Fig. 8. Summarization of: (a) Stress-strain, (b) Excess Pore-pres-
14 237 24 0.94
sure, (c) Stress Path Diagrams for Different Confining Pres-
sures at 28 days Curing Period 28 262 25 0.98

−8− KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering

 Predicting the Effective Depth of Soil Stabilization for Marine Clay Treated by Biomass Silica
Table 8. Shear Strength of the Soil for Different Curing Periods
and Confining Pressures
Confining Curing Period (days)
pressure (kPa) 7 14 28
100 305 kPa 322 kPa 385 kPa
200 354 kPa 388 kPa 450 kPa
400 436 kPa 507 kPa 577 kPa
Fig. 10. Shear Strength of the Soil for Different Curing Periods at
Different Confining Pressures
Where, M is the gradient of the critical state line, and a is the
intercept at the y-axis.
The confining pressure was found to affect the critical state
parameters to a higher degree at the initial curing stage. The
parameters improved at a steady yet insignificant rate for the
longer curing periods than 7 days. According to the calculated
critical state parameters, the shear strength of soil is summarized
in Table 8, and the illustration of the shear strength at different
confining pressures based on different curing periods is presented in
Fig. 10. Accordingly, the shear strength of the soil was found to
increase relatively with a higher confining pressure and longer
curing period. However, the increment pattern for that of the 14
days curing sample and the 28 days curing sample was relatively
similar and closely related.
4. Microstructure Study
The mineralogical alteration with the addition of 12% SH-85
content were examined by performing X-Ray Diffraction (XRD)
analysis on samples of untreated and treated soils to detect
possible formation of new compounds. Fig. 11 shows XRD
patterns for samples of untreated soil and SH-85 treated soils.
The appearance of a new reflection peak at 29° in samples of
treated soils confirms the formation of calcium silicate hydrate
(CSH) (JCPDS, 1995). The absence of this peak in the untreated
soil indicates that the stabilization is due to pozzolanic reaction.
In this reaction, calcium from SH-85 reacts with soluble silica
from clay in presence of water to produce stable CSH, which
generates long-term strength gain and improves the geotechnical
properties of the soil. These results are in good agreement with
previous research conducted by Sharma et al. (2012) and Ouhadi
et al. (2014).
Vol. 00, No. 0 / 000 0000
Fig. 11. XRD Pattern for the Untreated Soil and Soils Treated with
12% of SH-85 at Different Curing Periods
In addition to the XRD analysis, Scanning Electron Microscopy
(SEM) tests were carried out to determine microstructures of
untreated and treated soil samples. Fig. 12(a) shows the micrograph
of untreated marine clay soils. The untreated soils shows an open
microstructure with noticeable voids and conceivably high
porosity, as well as dispersed structure arrangement of platy clay
particles. Figs. 12(b) to 12(d) show the micrograph of treated
soils specimens with 12% SH-85 at 7 days, 14 days and 28 days
curing period, respectively. In general, the soil fabric has
transformed from platy particle form into a more flocculated
nature due to the treatment. In addition, it is evident that a new
cementing product formation is carried out during the curing
period. It should be noted that these compounds were identified
as Calcium Silicate Hydrate (CSH) by XRD analysis. The
formation of cementitious product in the treated soil causes the
soil particles to become denser and stronger due to the new
interlocked arrangement and filling the void spaces between
particles. This is believed to increase the strength of the soil.
5. Conclusions
This research adopted Biomass Silica (12%) as a stabilizer for
the marine clay to investigate its strength behavior under different
stress levels using consolidated undrained triaxial laboratory test.
It was found that the treated marine clay reached the expected
saturation condition and a standard threshold of 0.95 B-value at
high confinement pressure. The results showed that different
curing periods have relatively insignificant effect on resistance
behavior of the stabilized soil. However, it is possible to observe
the influence of the curing period together with the effect of the
confining pressure in terms of the stress path and the degree of
overconsolidation, revealed as the strain-softening or strain-
hardening conditions. The dilation condition found in samples
from the short curing period during compression led to the state
of overconsolidation of the specimens. However, it was normalized
for longer curing periods based on the “retracted sample” relation.
−9−
 Lim Jing Jin et al.
Fig. 12. SEM of: (a) Untreated Soils, (b) 12% SH-85-treated Soil after 7 days, (c) 12% SH-85-treated Soil after 14 days, (d) 12% SH-85-
treated Soil after 28 days
A progressively consistent strength behavior was observed by
increasing confinement pressure, which is directly related to the
increase in depth in the field condition. However, overconsolidation
at a relatively low confining pressure was observed to be similar
to the results of previous investigations. The critical state
parameters have a great impact on the stabilized marine clay in
the early stage of the curing period. They showed a significant
improvement compared to the ordinary marine soil characteristics,
reported in previous studies. The improvement of critical state
parameters was stable, but insignificant during the longer curing
period. In contrast, the shear strength was found to relatively
increase during the longer curing times and with higher confining
pressures. In overall, the curing period of 7 days at a confining
pressure of 400 kPa can be used as an optimum stabilizer recipe
to predict the effective depth and duration of in situ stabilization.
A similar approach can be developed to determine the optimum
period of curing at different depths. The outcome of this study is
expected to simplify risk assessment, feasibility study, and
construction planning associated with marine clay.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledged the financial supports
given by the Ministry of Education (MOE) under the Fundamental
Research Grant Scheme (FRGS-Vot No. R.J130000.7822.4F885)
for financial support and contribution. The authors declare that
− 10 −
there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this
paper.
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