Low carbon cement LC3 formulation study in deep soil mixing

Originally, deep soil mixing involved combining in-situ soil with a hydraulic binder as a ground improvement approach. In the context of deep foundations, it is a cost-effective way for making soils constructible. These days, this technique is applied to the construction of waterproof walls, retaining walls, and other non-structural and structural foundation components in addition to soil improvement. Considering the urgent need for decarbonisation in the building sector, this study primarily focuses on examining the mechanical and physical characteristics of a soil mix including low carbon cement: Limestone Calcined Clay cement (LC3). Made up of calcined clay, limestone powder, and Portland cement clinker, LC3 has been seen as a potential remedy for the problems facing the cement and concrete industry at the moment, including high energy costs, resource scarcity, and carbon emissions. This work uses LC3, slag cement and regular Portland cement as a reference, to conduct a number of experimental examinations of soilcrete mixes, using a constant dosage of the binder and a constant amount of total water. The soil sample used is a low plasticity clayey soil taken from Limon des Plateaux, a city in Beauvais in northern Paris, France. Several tests, such as water accessible porosity, density, unconfined compression, ultrasonic wave propagation and TGA were conducted. The findings show that the various cement kinds had an effect on the physical characteristics of the soil mixture. For a desirable mechanical strength of around 2MPa needed for deep soil mixing, the low carbon mixture LC3 demonstrated favourable compatibility with the soil, exhibiting the desirable mechanical strength throughout the testing period and specifically the mixture using a super plasticizer showed better strength. This work contributes to the decarbonisation efforts in the building industry by highlighting the possibility of low-carbon cement in deep soil mixing.