Experimental study on the p -wave velocity characteristics of the cement-stabilized soil

Cement-stabilized soils, as a typical representative of soil improvement methods, significantly enhance the performance of soft soil. Since the demand for non-destructive assessment of the compressive and shear strength of cement-stabilized soil (CSS) is increasing rapidly, the ultrasonic wave velocity has been studied in this paper. In this work, many laboratory tests on the p-wave velocity (PWV) characteristics of the CSS were conducted. Through comprehensive tests, the PWV can generally reflect the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and the shear strength (i.e., the cohesion and the internal friction angle) of the CSS. There is an exponential functional relationship between the UCS of the CSS and the PWV. Moreover, the internal friction angle also exhibits a good exponential functional relationship with the PWV, while the cohesion presents a good linear functional relationship with the PWV. These results prove the feasibility and effectiveness of this non-destructive testing method.