Microstructural Assessment of Lime Consumption Rate and Pozzolanic Reaction Progress of a Lime-Stabilized Dispersive Soil

The existence of soft clay and dispersive soft clay at the site of engineering structures is regarded as one of the geotechnical problems. This study is performed on silty soft clay that according to the experimental results showed 100% dispersivity potential. Due to the low bearing capacity of this type of soil in the site, the slaked lime was used to stabilize the soil geotechnical properties, to increase its strength, to decrease plasticity behaviour of soil, and to overcome its dispersive properties. The main goal of the present study is to determine the growth rate and progress of lime-soil pozzolanic reactions in short and long terms from micro- and macro- structural point of view, as well as the measurement of the consumed lime rate over the time and its effect on mechanical parameters of the stabilized soil. The results of this study allow determining the minimum percentage of the lime that is necessary to react with clay minerals for making an acceptable change in long-term properties of stabilized soil. In this regard, a number of tests carried out with different percentages (0 to 10 percent) of hydrated lime. The pH, electric conductivity (EC), unconfined compressive strength, and lime consumption rate determination by X-ray diffraction analysis were the tests used in this study to observe the progress of lime reaction with clay. In order to determine the microstructural and mineralogical changes, and reaction products formed in the modified soil, X-ray diffraction (XRD) evaluation and scanning electron microscopy images have been used. Among the most important results of the present study, this paper propose a simple criterion for the onset of pozzolanic reactions and determination of the consumed lime rate during the pozzolanic reaction process based on pH and electric conductivity measurements. Based on the results from pH, EC, XRD, and unconfined compressive strength (UCS) tests, the pozzolanic reaction occurs at EC ≥ 4 mS/cm. Following that, the formation of new components such as calcium silicate hydrate (CSH) and calcium aluminate hydrate (CAH) causes an increase in soil strength. Over the time, with the reduction of EC ≤ 4 mS/cm and pH ≤ 12.4, the progress rate of pozzolanic reaction and the progress rate in soil strength suspend. The results show that for the dispersive soil around 3-4% lime is sufficient for its short-term reaction, which includes cation exchange. Based on the achieved results, the use of 6% lime for stabilization of sample gives EC ≥ 4.0 mS/cm and pH ≥ 12 after the first 14 days period. The unconfined compressive strength of the stabilized sample increased around 10 times in the same period, while only 5% increase in strength observed after 14 days (EC ≤ 4.0 mS/cm and pH ≤ 12).