Laboratory Characterization of Fine Aggregate Cementitious Material: Fid-Bau Portal

Laboratory Characterization of Fine Aggregate Cementitious Material

E. M. Williams / S. A. Akers / P. A. Reed

Personnel of the Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, conducted a laboratory investigation to characterize the strength and constitutive property behavior of a fine aggregate cemented material (FACM). The FACM was designed to have a 34-MPa (5, 000-psi) unconfined strength and to contain no coarse aggregate. Forty-three mechanical property tests two hydrostatic compression tests (HC), four unconfined compression tests (UC), 16 triaxial compression tests (TXC), two uniaxial strain tests (UX), four uniaxial strain load/biaxial strain unloading tests (UX/BX), three uniaxial strain load/constant volume tests (UX/CV), three uniaxial strain load/constant strain path tests (UX/SP), five direct pull tests (DP), one conventional triaxial extension test (CTE), and three reduced triaxial extension tests (RTE) were successfully completed. In addition to the mechanical property tests, nondestructive pulse-velocity measurements were performed on each specimen. The TXC tests exhibited a continuous increase in principal stress difference with increasing confining stress. A recommended compression failure surface was developed from the TXC and UC test results. Test data from the RTE, CTE, and DP tests were used to develop a recommended extension failure surface for FACM. Results from the stress paths of the strain path tests and the recommended compression failure surface exhibited good agreement.