A series of unconfined compression tests(UCTs) were conducted to investigate the effects of content of reactive magnesia(Mg O) and carbonation time on the engineering properties including apparent characteristics, stress-strain relation, and deformation and strength characteristics of reactive Mg O treated silt soils. The soils treated with reactive Mg O at various contents were subjected to accelerated carbonation for different periods of time and later, UCTs were performed on them. The results demonstrate that the reactive Mg O content and carbonation time have remarkable influences on the aforementioned engineering properties of the soils. It is found that with the increase in reactive Mg O content, the unconfined compressive strength(qu) increases at a given carbonation time(<10 h), whereas the water content and amounts of crack of the soils decrease. A threshold content of reactive Mg O exists at approximately 25% and a critical carbonation time exists at about 10 h for the development of qu. A simple yet practical strength-prediction model, by taking into account two variables of reactive Mg O content and carbonation time, is proposed to estimate qu of carbonated reactive Mg O treated soils. A comparison of the predicated values of qu with the measured ones indicates that the proposed model has satisfactory accuracy.
