Abstract

The chemical stabilization of soils has been applied worldwide with great success to improve the mechanical properties of soils. However, it is known that chemical stabilization of soils induces poor tensile and flexural strength and a brittle behavior which prevents its application in seismic areas and where the material is subjected to horizontal displacements. One of the possible ways to tackle with this limitation is to reinforce the composite material with fibers. This work aims to study the influence of the cyclic loading, namely the frequency impact, on the mechanical behavior of a soft soil chemically stabilized and reinforced or unreinforced with synthetic fibers. Unconfined compressive strength tests were carried out before and after the cyclic loading, changing the frequency of the cyclic loading (0.25, 0.5, 1, 2 and 4 Hz). The laboratory work was complemented with the study of the accumulated permanent axial strain during the cyclic stage. The results indicate that the addition of synthetic fibers decreases the brittleness of the composite material inducing a residual strength to the material. It was also observed that the strength decreases with the increment of the frequency, however this effect is amplified for the unreinforced material. Moreover, the accumulated permanent axial strain observed during the cyclic stage suggests a deterioration of the mechanical behavior as the frequency applied increases.