الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract The geotechnical characteristics of the used backfill materials behind retaining walls influentially govern the intensity of the created active lateral earth pressure as it could be considered the dominant load acting on these walls. Sometimes walls of considerable height, lack the ability to sustain adequate wall stability. In such a case, the commonly examined solution is to either increase the wall and foundation dimensions or use additional resisting elements (i.e. keys, shelves or wings). Nevertheless, discrete units (i.e. sand bags, foam blocks or gabions) and cementitious materials are different backfilling techniques deemed to reduce the lateral earth pressure acting on the retaining walls. This research illustrates the improvement in geotechnical properties of clean sand after mixing with ordinary Portland cement. Through an intensive laboratory program to study the following parameters, cement percentages range from 7% to 10% by weight of dry sand, water-cement ratios range from 1:1 to 2.5:1 for several curing days (1, 2, 7 and 28 days). Results showed a creation of cohesion in sand-cement mix with slight change in angle on internal friction. The geotechnical properties of sand-cement mixture resulted from the laboratory experiments have been used in a numerical parametric application for 2D model of retaining wall with different backfilling to study the effect of cement stabilized sand properties on the stability of retaining structure. |