Development of the sustainable and innovative ground improvement technique via environmentally friendly low-carbon rapid-hardening cements in Kazakhstan

Faculty Development Competitive Research Grant Program 2019-2021

The objective of the proposed research is to examine the effectiveness of Calcium Sulfoaluminate (CSA) in geotechnical applications, especially targeting cement-treated ground improvement. The carbon footprint of the widely used Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) is much higher than CSA, which is examined as a new alternative with a lesser carbon footprint concerning global warming and climate change. In this project, our particular efforts will focus on: (1) fundamental understanding on characteristics of CSA and evolution of CSA-treated soil (e.g., chemo-mechanical behavior through microstructure analysis), (2) identifying critical influence factors on strength and stiffness development of CSA-treated soil (e.g., various parameters such as geomaterial type, curing time, curing type- wet or dry, initial water content, water to cement ratio, etc.), (3) examining difference on short-term and long-term strength evolution between OPC-treated soil and CSA-treated soil, (4) proposing practical guidelines or design criteria on CSA application for sustainable geotechnical ground improvement.