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Shear Strength Properties of a Lateritic Fine-Grained Soil Treated with Cement and Polyethylene Strips

The addition of cement as a stabilization technique is widely discussed in the literature, as well as the addition of PET strips in the soil. In the case of simultaneous inclusion of cement and plastic strips, the literature shows that higher strip content gives greater post-cracking resistance to the soil and a smaller cracking size. This research evaluated the influence of cement and Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) fibers in the shear strength of a lateritic fine-grained soil. Direct shear tests were conducted with cement-treated soils in the contents of 2, 6 and 10% (in relation to soil dry mass). In order to evaluate the influence of PET strips, direct shear tests were conducted on the lowest content of cement addition (corresponding to 2%). Strips, taken from disposable bottles length presented the highest values of friction interface and, in relation to the cohesive intercept, the highest values presenting lengths of 10, 15, 20 and 30 mm and width of 1.5 mm were randomly added to the soil in percentages of 0.75,1.0,1.5 and 2.0%. The results showed that the higher the percentage of cement increment, the greater was the increase in soil shear strength. In the case of soilcement- strip, it was verified that the inclusion of 1.0% of strips of 15 mm in obtained were obtained when using 2.0% of fibersand length of 20 mm. Overall, the behavior of the strips showed that longer lengths lead to a higher shear strength of the composite.