Novel Proposal for Strength Prediction of Cement-Stabilized Soils Considering Porosity, Cement Index, and Curing Time

Stabilized soils are used as structural components in pavement construction and highway engineering. Due to their broad application, practical methods for predicting their strength are essential. The unconfined compressive strength (UCS) test is a fundamental technique for assessing mechanical properties. This study focuses on the development of a new method for predicting the strength of cement-stabilized soils. The analysis was based on three series of tests. The first series examined the effect of variable initial moisture content, ranging from 6% to 13%. The second series focused on the impact of cement content, ranging from 1% to 9%. The third series examined the effect of cement content on strength increase over a period of 1 to 56 days of curing. Based on the collected data, an empirical relationship was developed to predict strength using three key parameters: porosity (n), cement index (Ci), and curing time (TC). Nomograms were created using this relationship, allowing strength to be easily predicted. Additionally, the study presents correlations between the proposed model and deformation parameters, as determined by both destructive testing (DT) and non-destructive testing (NDT), including the E50 modulus, EUPV, and GUPV. The statistical validation of the determined empirical relationship showed a MAPE value of 15.928% and an RMSE value of 0.318 MPa. The results confirm the accuracy of the developed model and the derived correlations.