Effect on dynamic parameters of waste reinforced soil under vibrations generated through traffic loading: Experimental evaluation

Abstract

The constructive use of agricultural and industrial waste is quite promising, currently, the research areas are highly focusing on agricultural waste and observing their effects on desired materials to enhance the durability properties of specific materials. This research focused on enhancing and observing dynamic characteristics of low plastic silty clay under the condition of traffic loading vibrations through resonant column equipment under sweep and free vibration decay test. The agricultural wastes considered for this study are wheat straw, bagasse, and coir fiber. These fibers were added in a proportion of 0.2%, 0.4%, 0.6%, 0.8%, and 1% of dry soil mass, and their effects were noted on two basic dynamic properties, (i) shear modulus (G) and (ii) damping ratio (D). In addition to that, the optimum content of agricultural waste was also checked under free vibration decay and amplification on the application of loading frequency and strain ranges. The results found bagasse to be the most effective one as it increased the shear modulus by 33% and enhanced the damping by 12.2%.