Two-staged kinetics of moduli evolution with time of a lime treated soil under different curing temperatures

Abstract

This paper addresses the temperature effects on the kinetics of moduli evolution with time of a silty soil treated with quicklime. The moduli were obtained using different laboratory wave propagation test methods (UPVultrasonic pulse velocity, PZT-piezoelectric transducers, EMM-ARM-elasticity modulus measurement based on ambient response method) and unconfined cyclic compression tests with on-specimen deformation measurements. This experimental work was first carried out under a reference curing temperature of 30°C, allowing the comparison of results obtained by the different test methods, as well as the identification of two stages on the modulus evolutions with time. These two stages were also revealed on additional EMM-ARM tests at 20°C and 40°C. These stages were tentatively explained by two different chemical phenomena and described by a mathematical model integrating two different activation energies. The findings of this work show the potential of using EMM-ARM to estimate the activation energies helping the modelling of temperature effects on the Emodulus evolution with time of complex soil-lime mixtures.