Unconfined compressive strength property and its mechanism of construction waste stabilized lightweight soil

Light construction waste (LCW) particles are pieces of light concrete or insulation wall with light quality and certain strength, containing rich isolated and disconnected pores. Mixing LCW particles with soil can be one of the alternative lightweight soils. It can lighten and stabilize the deep-thick soft soil in-situ. In this study, the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and its mechanism of Construction Waste Stabilized Lightweight Soil (CWSLS) are investigated. According to the prescription design, totally 35 sets of specimens are tested for the index of dry density (DD) and unconfined compressive strength (UCS). The results show that the DD of CWSLS is mainly affected by LCW content, and it decreases obviously with the increase of LCW content, while increases slightly with the increase of cement content. The UCS of CWSLS first increases and then decreases with the increase of LCW content, existing a peak value. The UCS increases linearly with the increase of cement content, while the strength growth rate is dramatically affected by the different LCW contents. The UCS of CWSLS mainly comes from the skeleton impaction of LCW particles and the gelation of soil-cement composite slurry. According to the distribution of LCW particles and soil-cement composite slurry, CWSLS specimens are divided into three structures: