Contribution to the study of properties of the self-compacting soil-cement for construction of monolithic walls

Abstract This study investigates the physical-mechanical properties of self-compacting soil-cement (SCSC) in order to develop mixtures of soil, cement, water and additives to achieve its minimal performance for its application on monolithic walls without mechanical compaction and densification. The influence of the soil/water proportion, the percentage and the type of additives in SCSC mixtures in the ratios 1:8 and 1:12 (cement:soil, in mass) were investigated, and the SCSC fluid consistency adopted in the test to determine the consistency index of the mortar was a 250mm-scatter diameter. Subsequently, mechanical strength, shrinkage and cracking tests were undertaken to analyse physical-mechanical performance. The results showed that SCSC achieves self-compacting properties - through the use of superplasticizer additives - ranging from 0.8% to 1.2% in relation to the cement mass, with the relevant parameters for manufacturing SCSC that meets the usual demands on monolithic walls being a minimum cement dosage of 8% in relation to sandy soil mass; and the Atterberg Limits as a reference for the water/soil ratio.