ACI 230.

1R-09

Report on Soil Cement

Reported by ACI Committee 230

 First Printing
July 2009
American Concrete Institute ®

Advancing concrete knowledge

Report on Soil Cement

Copyright by the American Concrete Institute, Farmington Hills, MI. All rights reserved. This material
may not be reproduced or copied, in whole or part, in any printed, mechanical, electronic, film, or other
distribution and storage media, without the written consent of ACI.

The technical committees responsible for ACI committee reports and standards strive to avoid ambiguities,
omissions, and errors in these documents. In spite of these efforts, the users of ACI documents occasionally
find information or requirements that may be subject to more than one interpretation or may be
incomplete or incorrect. Users who have suggestions for the improvement of ACI documents are
requested to contact ACI. Proper use of this document includes periodically checking for errata at
www.concrete.org/committees/errata.asp for the most up-to-date revisions.

ACI committee documents are intended for the use of individuals who are competent to evaluate the
significance and limitations of its content and recommendations and who will accept responsibility for the
application of the material it contains. Individuals who use this publication in any way assume all risk and
accept total responsibility for the application and use of this information.

All information in this publication is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind, either express or implied,
including but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or
non-infringement.

ACI and its members disclaim liability for damages of any kind, including any special, indirect, incidental,
or consequential damages, including without limitation, lost revenues or lost profits, which may result
from the use of this publication.

It is the responsibility of the user of this document to establish health and safety practices appropriate to
the specific circumstances involved with its use. ACI does not make any representations with regard to
health and safety issues and the use of this document. The user must determine the applicability of all
regulatory limitations before applying the document and must comply with all applicable laws and regulations,
including but not limited to, United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) health
and safety standards.

Order information: ACI documents are available in print, by download, on CD-ROM, through electronic
subscription, or reprint and may be obtained by contacting ACI.

Most ACI standards and committee reports are gathered together in the annually revised ACI Manual of
Concrete Practice (MCP).

American Concrete Institute

38800 Country Club Drive
Farmington Hills, MI 48331
U.S.A.
Phone: 248-848-3700
Fax: 248-848-3701
www.concrete.org

ISBN 978-0-87031-333-2
 ACI 230.1R-09

Report on Soil Cement

Reported by ACI Committee 230

Mark E. Krebs Jan R. Prusinski

Chair Secretary

Wayne S. Adaska David A. Crocker Robert V. Lopez Bruce W. Ramme

Randall P. Bass William Halczak Paul E. Mueller Wilasa Vichit-Vadakan
William N. Brabston Kenneth D. Hansen Ronald L. Peltz David C. Weber
Tim Cost Robert H. Kuhlman Gerald C. Plunk James M. Willson

Soil cement is a densely compacted mixture of portland cement, soil/aggregate, CONTENTS

other cementitious materials (possibly), and water. Used primarily as a Chapter 1—Introduction, p. 230.1R-2
base material for pavements, soil cement has also been used for slope 1.1—Scope
protection, low-permeability liners, foundation stabilization, and other
applications. This report contains information on applications, material
properties, mixture proportioning, construction, and quality-control
Chapter 2—Notation, definitions, and acronyms,
inspection and testing procedures for soil cement. This report’s intent is to
p. 230.1R-2
provide basic information on soil cement technology with an emphasis on
2.1—Notation
current practice regarding design, testing, and construction. 2.2—Definitions
2.3—Acronyms
Keywords: aggregates; base courses; central mixing plant; compacting;
construction; fine aggregates; fly ash; foundation stabilization; lime, Chapter 3—Applications, p. 230.1R-3
linings; mixing; mixture proportioning; moisture content; pavements; 3.1—General
permeability; portland cement; pulverization, slag cement; slope protection; 3.2—Pavements
soil cement; soils; soil stabilization; soil tests; tests; vibration.
3.3—Slope protection
3.4—Bank protection
3.5—Liners
3.6—Foundation stabilization
3.7—Miscellaneous applications
ACI Committee Reports, Guides, Manuals, and Commentaries
are intended for guidance in planning, designing, executing,
and inspecting construction. This document is intended for the Chapter 4—Materials, p. 230.1R-9
use of individuals who are competent to evaluate the 4.1—Soil
significance and limitations of its content and recommendations 4.2—Portland cement
and who will accept responsibility for the application of the
material it contains. The American Concrete Institute disclaims 4.3—Slag cement
any and all responsibility for the stated principles. The Institute
shall not be liable for any loss or damage arising therefrom.
ACI 230.1R-09 supersedes ACI 230.1R-90 (Reapproved 1997) and was adopted
Reference to this document shall not be made in contract and published July 2009.
documents. If items found in this document are desired by the Copyright © 2009, American Concrete Institute.
Architect/Engineer to be a part of the contract documents, they All rights reserved including rights of reproduction and use in any form or by any
shall be restated in mandatory language for incorporation by means, including the making of copies by any photo process, or by electronic or
mechanical device, printed, written, or oral, or recording for sound or visual reproduc-
the Architect/Engineer. tion or for use in any knowledge or retrieval system or device, unless permission in
writing is obtained from the copyright proprietors.

230.1R-1
230.1R-2 ACI COMMITTEE REPORT

4.4—Fly ash CHAPTER 2—NOTATION, DEFINITIONS,

4.5—Lime AND ACRONYMS
4.6—Chemical admixtures 2.1—Notation
Cw = weight of cement
4.7—Water
R = flexural strength, psi
4.8—Cementitious materials not conforming to specifications
fc′ = unconfined compressive strength, psi
Chapter 5—Properties, p. 230.1R-11 SN = structural number
5.1—General a1, a2, and a3 = layer coefficients of surface, base,
5.2—Density and subbase, respectively
5.3—Compressive strength D1, D2, and D3 = corresponding layer thicknesses
5.4—Flexural and tensile strength
5.5—Permeability 2.2—Definitions
5.6—Shrinkage and cracking The following terms are used throughout the report:
5.7—Structural design cement content—cement content is normally expressed
in percentage on a weight basis. The cement content by
Chapter 6—Mixture proportioning, p. 230.1R-15 weight is based on the oven-dry weight of soil according to
6.1—General the formula (PCA 1992a)
6.2—Proportioning criteria
6.3—Special considerations weight of cement
C w = -------------------------------------------------------- × 100
oven-dry weight of soil
Chapter 7—Construction, p. 230.1R-17
7.1—General cement-modified soil—a soil or aggregate treated with a
7.2—Materials handling and mixing relatively small proportion of portland cement with the
7.3—Compaction objective of amending undesirable properties of problem
7.4—Finishing soils or substandard materials so that they are suitable for use
7.5—Joints in construction. The amount of cement added to the soil is
7.6—Curing and protection less than that required to produce a hardened mass (that is,
soil cement), but is enough to improve the engineering
Chapter 8—Quality-control testing and inspection, properties of a soil (for example, plasticity index reduction,
p. 230.1R-24 bearing strength improvement). Cement-modified soil is
8.1—General
typically not required to achieve this high level of perfor-
8.2—Pulverization (mixed in place)
mance, and is normally used in lower load situations (for
8.3—Cement content control
example, pavement subgrade improvement and plasticity
8.4—Moisture content
reduction of a marginal aggregate with plastic fines).
8.5—Mixing uniformity
Cement-modified soil is beyond the scope of, and therefore
8.6—Compaction
not included in, this report.
8.7—Lift thickness and surface tolerance
cement-treated base—a form of soil cement that uses
graded aggregate, rather than soil, to serve as the inert material
Chapter 9—References, p. 230.1R-26
9.1—Referenced standards and reports bound by cement plus, possibly, pozzolans. Figure 2.1
9.2—Cited references illustrates the aggregate gradation band for minimum binder
requirements. Cement-treated base is also referred to as
CHAPTER 1—INTRODUCTION cement-treated aggregate base, cement-stabilized aggregate
1.1—Scope base, or other similar terms.
This report contains information on applications, materials, optimum moisture—the water content at which the soil
properties, mixture proportioning, design, construction, and cement can be compacted to a maximum dry density by a
quality-control inspection and testing procedures for soil given compactive effort.
cement. The intent of this report is to provide basic information recycled flexible pavement—recycled flexible pavement
on soil cement technology with an emphasis on current is a form of soil cement pavement base that is constructed
practice regarding mixture proportioning, properties, using existing flexible pavement layers that might consist of
testing, and construction. a deteriorated bituminous wearing surface, granular base
This report does not provide information on fluid or plastic material, and underlying subgrade. Some or all of these
soil cement, which has a mortar-like consistency at the time materials are blended with cement and possibly other
of mixing and placing. Information on this type of material cementitious materials to produce a hardened, durable
is provided by ACI Committee 229. Roller-compacted concrete pavement base for a bituminous surface or subbase for a
(RCC), a type of no-slump concrete compacted by vibratory concrete pavement. This material is also referred to as
roller, is not covered in this report. ACI Committees 207 and recycled failed flexible pavement, recycled aggregate base,
327 addressed the subject of roller-compacted concrete (ACI full-depth reclamation, full-depth recycling, or cement-
207.5R and 325.10R). stabilized recycled asphalt pavement.