Effect of Fines on the Geotechnical Properties of Cement Treated Sandy Soils

In nature, sandy soils are not pure since they have various amounts of fines. Generally, when designing a cemented soil system for geotechnical purposes, fines content is not considered. In this study, the behaviors of cement-stabilized sandy soils with various fines content are revealed. Four fines contents, i.e., 30%, 40%, 50%, and 60%, and three cement doses, i.e., 5%, 10%, and 15%, were used in this study. The geotechnical tests, proctor density, consolidation, durability, and unconfined shear strength tests were conducted to reveal the effect of cement and fines contents on sandy soils. The results showed that cement and fines significantly affected the sandy soils’ geotechnical properties. The soil strength increased as cement contents increased, whatever the fines content was due to the hydration of cement and the pozzolanic reactions. On the other hand, the strength increased as the fines increased until 40% and then dropped because fines work as filler, and when they increased more than 40%, they pushed the sand particles far from each other.