Abstract: The saturated silty fine sand soils encountered in the engineering projects usually has low bearing capacity and poor stability, so it needs to be strengthened to increase the engineering properties. In this paper, experimental studies on the mechanical properties of the saturated silty fine sand soil reinforced by the GS solidification agent are performed. The comparative studies used the cement as the solidification agent as the reference group, the mechanical properties, such as, unconfined compressive strength tests, direct shear tests and scanning electron microscope studies, are conducted to study the mechanical properties of solidified sand with different curing ages and mixing content of the solidification agent from both macro and micro perspectives. The results show that the compressive strength and shear strength of saturated silty fine sand improved by the GS solidification agent strengthen with the increase of curing age and solidification agent content. The increase of macro mechanical strength of the solidified sand is due to the enhancement of microstructure cementation integrity. Compared with the cement solidified sand, the GS solidified sand has higher strength and longer strength growth duration. These research findings can provide the theoretical and experimental basis for the practical application of GS solidification agent.

Key words: Saturated Silty Fine Sand, GS Solidification Agent, Solidified Sand, Microstructure