Authors: P. Tirumala1, B. Ganesh2
Abstract: In developing countries like India, due to the remarkable development in road infrastructure, Soil stabilization has become the major issue in construction activity. Stabilization is not only a method of altering or modifying of one or more soil properties to improve the engineering characteristics and performance of a soil, but also processing available materials for the production of low-cost design and construction. Expansive soils are known for their low plasticity and low shear strength. These soils present significant geotechnical and structural engineering challenges all over the world, with costs associated with expansive behavior estimated to run in to several billions annually. Expansive soils are the soils that experience significant volume change associated with changes in water content which means they are volumetrically unstable due to seasonal moisture variation. Their strength decreases and compressibility increases tremendously on wetting. By keeping the above problem in view, the cohesive natured clayey soil was chosen and checked for compaction properties along with other general soil characteristics by varying the content of ground granulated blast furnace slag, which is waste by-product released during the processing of iron and steel metals. From the present study, it deduced that there is a significant decrease in compressibility characteristics of the clay with the increase in ggbs content. Ultimately, the composite soil which is stabilized with ggbs content proves to be good construction material for complex civil engineering structures such as embankment, earthen dams and runways. The usage of ggbs for soil stabilization is not only economical, but also beneficial to the environment by putting an industrial waste to good use.
Keywords: Soil Stabilization, Expansive Soil, Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS), Strength Properties.
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