Black Cotton Soil in Highway Construction *

Abstract

The use of naturally available unsuitable soils in the construction of roads will open new avenues in theconstruction industry. The process of making the naturally available unsuitable soil being suitable is known assoil stabilisation. Black cotton (BC) soil is highly expansive in nature when gets in contact with water, thusmaking it unsuitable for construction. The unsuitability of BC soil can be changed by making the soil waterrepellent and exhibiting high bond strength. This can be achieved by application of Terrasil and Zycobond (AZydex product) when added to soil mixed with water. It improves the bond strength between the soil particlesand creates a protective layer by permanently changing the soil properties. It increases the California Bearingratio of the soil mass exponentially over a period of time thus, making it suitable for infrastructure projects andhigh chances to be used as non-expansive BC soil in infrastructure development. This paper demonstrates theuse of organosilane based nano materials and nano acrylic co-polymer to convert expansive BC soil into nonexpansiveBC soil by stabilisation. This will have substantial impact on the use of naturally available unsuitablematerial which can be made suitable by stabilisation process.