Construction of Working Platforms on Expansive Soils Using Recycled Concrete and Stabilizers: A Case Study

Abstract

Expansive clay soils are distributed worldwide, and are a source of damages to infrastructure, building foundations and roads due to its low strength, high compressibility and high level of volumetric changes. Due to excessive soil movement, uplift pressure can induce swelling pressure on foundations and shrinkage of clay can result substantial foundation settlements. In order to mitigate such adverse behaviour on structures, underlying clay needs to be improved prior to supporting the structural foundations. This study investigates the capability of enzymatic cement stabilization with recycled concrete to improve soil stability in the application to building foundations. Firstly, a series of experiments was conducted to characterise the Expansive clays obtained from the construction site. Then the experiments were performed on the basis of stabilized soils to investigate the improvement in strength and hydraulic behaviour of expansive soil. Stabilizing mix design obtained from lab tests was applied to construct building foundation on in situ clay base. Structural monitoring of the constructed foundation reveals minimal displacements during drying and wetting periods across 10 years after construction. Results from the current study will assist to derive a new standardized approach for constructing capping layer for buildings and roads using recycled materials and innovative soil stabilization methods.