Abstract
An on-going research at the University of Texas at Arlington has attempted to develop correlations between Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (DCP) test measurements and strength results of cement and lime stabilized expansive soils. The DCP is used in this research since it is a simple, portable, fast and inexpensive method and can provide rapid assessments of strength enhancements with chemical treatments. The DCP device has a conical tip, which is connected to a series of slender rods along with a 15 pound sliding hammer. DCP tests were conducted on control (untreated), cement- and lime- treated soil specimens at four different time periods, 0, 3, 7 and 14 days after stabilization. The number of blows per selected depth of penetration was measured along the depth of treated soil specimen. The measured DCP data was correlated with laboratory strength measurements. Effects of stabilizer, dosages, and curing period on the DCP measurements were addressed. Both cement and lime treatments provided strong DCP correlations with high coefficients of determinations.