Analysis of shear strength of the expansive soil stabilized with kaolin at various soaking times

Abstract

Expansive clay soils are high shrinkage soils that have low bearing capacity. So an effort is needed to reduce the nature of its swelling. One effort that can be done is the method of soil stabilization, where the soil is mixed with materials that can reduce soil swelling and increase the shear strength of the soil. One of the materials that can be used is kaolin powder. Kaolin is a stabilizing agent found in nature so it is easy to obtain. The purpose of this research is to analyse the decrease of expansive soil swelling and the value of its unconfined compression strength at various soaking times. The test was carried out by mixing 9% kaolin powder against dry soil weight. The stabilized soils were then compacted as samples to be soaked with time variations of 0 days, 3 days, 7 days, 10 days, and 14 days. The results of the test after soaking 14 days is a decrease of the stabilized soil swelling value up to 67.78%. The unconfined compression strength is increase up to 77.28% compared to its natural condition.