Unconfined Compressive Strength Characteristics of Treated Peat Soil with Cement and Basalt Fiber

So far many studies have focused on the mechanical behavior of fibre reinforced soils and stabilised soils with conventional chemical stabilisers such as cement and lime, however very limited researches were conducted on the unconfined compressive strength characteristics of fibre reinforced cement stabilised peat soils. Fibre-reinforcement of a stabilised soil resulted in a significant improvement in the ductility and strength characteristics of weak or soft soils. The main objective of the current study is considering the effects of cement content, fibre content, fibre length and curing time on the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of peat soil. The study finds that adding basalt fibre or cement causes a remarkable increase in the UCS values of peat soil. The UCS value of the cement-stabilised sample is observed significantly more than basalt fibre-reinforced ones. However, the sample reinforced with basalt fibers showed more ductile behavior compared to the stabilised sample with cement. The results showed that the increase in UCS values of combined basalt fibre and cement inclusions was more than the increase caused by each of them, individually.