Stabilization of Clay Subgrade Soils for Pavements Using Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag

  Mubarak Mohammadia,  Dr.H.M.Mallikarjuna,  Aijaz Hussain

Abstract—About 20% of total land area in India is covered predominantly by Black Cotton soil. The BC soil is well known to exhibit typical character of high swell potential due to dramatic volume changes influenced by the moisture content and also it is known for its low shear strength. India is a developing country with remarkable development in Infrastructure. In this scenario, in Construction industry, Soil stabilization has gained serious attention becoming the major issue. In this project, the objective is to utilize GGBS; which is a locally available plentiful industrial by product, for stabilizing the BC soil. The main focus is to verify the suitability of GGBS as a soil stabilizer in the local construction industry for road, embankment and structural fills in a way beneficial to the environment by putting an industrial waste to good use as well as minimizing the amount of waste to be disposed to the environment. To evaluate the effectiveness of GGBS in improving properties of existing soil to meet specified engineering requirements, experimental investigations were undertaken on the index properties (Consistency Limits proposed by Atterberg, Specific gravity and Hydrometer analysis), compaction characteristics (MDD and OMC), strength characteristics ( Swelling pressure, Direct shear and CBR). Tests were carried on the natural soil and also on treated soil. GGBS is added ranging from 0% to 40% of the amount of dry weight of natural soil. Test results indicate that Atterberg limits generally decreased, whereas specific gravity of stabilized soil increased with higher GGBS content. There was increase in the MDD observed and the OMC values decreased with the increase in GGBS content and at 20%, the optimum value for dry density is achieved. The CBR values increased with increasing GGBS content. The laboratory results obtained illustrate that at 20% optimum GGBS content, stabilization of the poor Black Cotton soil with GGBS satisfactorily meets the general specifications for subgrade materials.

Keywords- Keywords: Expansive soil, GGBS, Compaction, CBR, Swelling Pressure.

Unique Identification Number - IJEDR1704126
Page Number(s) - 764-773
Pubished in - Volume 5 | Issue 4 | November 2017
DOI (Digital Object Identifier) -   
Publisher - IJEDR (ISSN - 2321-9939)

  Mubarak Mohammadia,  Dr.H.M.Mallikarjuna,  Aijaz Hussain,   "Stabilization of Clay Subgrade Soils for Pavements Using Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag", International Journal of Engineering Development and Research (IJEDR), ISSN:2321-9939, Volume.5, Issue 4, pp.764-773, November 2017, Available at :http://www.ijedr.org/papers/IJEDR1704126.pdf