Effect of Marble Dust for Stabilization of Expansive Soil
Abstract
Sub grade materials are expected to have basic desirable characteristics related to strength, stiffness and permeability. If these properties are not fulfilled, engineers are expected to come up with ground improvement methods. Due to growing cost of traditional stabilizing agents like lime and cement, the need for the economical utilization of industrial and agricultural wastes for beneficial engineering purposes have prompted an investigation into the stabilizing potential of marble dust in highly expansive clay soil. Marble dust is an industrial waste which can be incorporated with road construction materials if it has possesses the desired physical, chemical and mechanical properties. This research work is aimed to evaluate the effect of marble dust for stabilization of expansive clay soil. The laboratory work involved index properties to classify the soil samples. The preliminary investigation of the soil samples showed that it belongs to A-7-5 class of soil in the AASHTO soil classification system. Soils under this class are generally poor for sub grade material. Atterberg limits, Grain size analysis, Specific Gravity, free swell test, compaction, and CBR tests were used to evaluate the geotechnical properties of stabilized soil and to compare with standards. The soil stabilized with marble dust in stepped concentration of 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% and 30% by dry weight of the soil. Analysis of the results showed that marble dust has a potential to improve the engineering characteristics of expansive soil. Marble dust reduces plasticity index, swelling and OMC with increase in MDD and CBR at higher marble dust contents. From this study it was found out that marble dust stabilized soil for samples 1 and 2 it meets the minimum requirement of ERA pavement manual. However, it has fair to poor as pavement manual specification for use as a sub-grade material in road construction. Soil with 25-30% marble dust combination is found to become the best soil-marble dust combination for both sample 1 and sample 2.
FAQs
AI
What engineering properties of expansive soil improve with marble dust stabilization?
The study demonstrates that adding 30% marble dust significantly reduces plasticity index and free swell, improving the properties of expansive soils.
How does marble dust affect the California Bearing Ratio of expansive soil?
Results indicate that CBR values increase from 1.61% to 4.1% for sample 1 and 1.85% to 5.35% for sample 2 with 30% marble dust addition.
What is the impact of marble dust on the optimum moisture content of expansive soil?
Optimum moisture content decreases from 33% to 26.1% for sample 1 and from 33.4% to 28.2% for sample 2 with 30% marble dust.
How does the addition of marble dust change the compaction characteristics of expansive soil?
Maximum dry density increases from 1.308 g/cm³ to 1.424 g/cm³ for sample 1 with 30% marble dust, evidencing improved compaction.
What explains the reduction in plasticity indices with marble dust treatment?
Increasing marble dust content replaces plastic soil particles with non-plastic aggregates, leading to a notable decrease in plasticity index.
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