Abstract: The use of cement stabilized marine clay (CSMC) as a filling material for land reclamation has received increasing attention and popularity in recent years. In tropical or subtropical areas, the actual curing temperature in the field can be much higher than the standard curing temperature of 20 ℃ in a laboratory, owing to the autogenous heat generated from cement hydration within the large casting volume as well as the relatively higher ambient temperature. This curing temperature difference is not taken into account in current design practice. Therefore, a series of laboratory tests is first conducted to acquire strength development curves of CSMC samples with different mixing proportions and different curing temperatures, and the influencing mechanism of curing temperature on qu development is then studied. The results indicate that the curing temperature has a significant influence on qu gain. A higher curing temperature gives rise to not only a higher short-term strength, but also higher long-term / ultimate strengths. This finding suggests that it is of practical importance, particularly in land reclamation projects where the volume used is often very large, to consider the curing temperature effect on the strength gain of CSMC. As a consequence, a procedure accounting for the curing temperature effect in the design of CSMC mixing proportion is proposed lastly.

Key words: cement stabilized marine clay, curing temperature, strength development, hydration reaction, pozzolanic reaction