Experimental Study of the Relationship Between Formation Factor, Porosity, and Cementation
SourceCemented granular soils are classified based on the size and distribution of the individual grains and qualitatively on the basis of cementation. To uniquely classify these types of soils, information about the fabric (pore geometry and/or level of cementation) of the specimen needs to be quantified. Electrical resistivity, or its reciprocal, conductivity, methods have been extensively used both in situ and in the laboratory to provide a means for determining a variety of soil index, structural, erosional, and cyclic properties. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between formation factor (F), porosity (n), and cementation factor (m) of remolded sand-cement specimens. This relationship is shown to provide a mechanism for estimating the level of cementation in undisturbed specimens. The formation factor is the ratio of the electrical resistivity of the sand-water-cement mixture to that of the interstitial water.