Experimental study on improvement of seawall filler materials composed of sea sand and sea mud

Abstract

The coastal area of Fujian Province in China is rich in both sea sand and sea mud. However, sea sand and sea mud are both unsuitable as direct filler materials for seawalls due to their poor geotechnical properties. To turn waste into a useful product, a mixture composed of sea sand and sea mud is proposed as a filler material for seawalls. The strength, compressibility, moisture sensitivity, and permeability of the mixture are investigated experimentally. The results show that when the mass ratio of sea sand to limed sea mud is 1:2, the mixture exhibits good engineering properties and can serve as a filler material for general engineering purposes in dry environments. To apply the mixture under saturated conditions, both cement and lime are used to improve the engineering properties of the mixture. The improvements in the properties increase with both the binding agent content and the curing time, and the improvement with the addition of cement to the mixture is better than that with the addition of lime. The engineering requirements of seawalls can be satisfied by adding cement, and the cement content can be chosen according to considerations of the construction period and engineering costs.