An investigation of mechanical behavior of cement-stabilized crushed rock material using different compaction methods

The mechanical behavior, e.g. compressive strength, tensile strength and resilient modulus, plays an important role in the performance of cement-stabilized crushed rock material (CCRM). This paper presents an investigation on the mechanical behavior of CCRM based on the quasi-static compaction method (QSCM) and the vertical vibration compaction method (VVCM), respectively. The unconfined compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and resilient modulus of laboratory produced CCRM using QSCM and VVCM are measured and compared. The effects of cement content and curing time on the mechanical behavior are studied. Field measurements are subsequently carried out to validate the laboratory investigations. The results show that the compressive strength, tensile strength and resilient modulus of CCRM by VVCM are 2.5, 1.9 and 1.6 times of the CCRM by QSCM, respectively. In addition, the compressive strength, tensile strength and resilient modulus all increase as the cement content and curing time increase, while the ratio of compressive strength to tensile strength decreases as the curing time increases. The results also show that the mechanical behavior of laboratory produced CCRM by VVCM has a better agreement with the field measurements than the laboratory produced CCRM by QSCM. The laboratory produced CCRM by VVCM can be used to imitate the practical CCRM for approximate calculation.