Efficiency of cement and sand in stabilizing the black cotton soil

Abstract

As the population rises and access to land decreases, an increasing number of buildings and other civil engineering structures must be constructed on weak or soft soil. Because of the soil's poor shear strength and substantial swelling and shrinking, a variety of ground improvement techniques, including soil stabilisation and reinforcing, are implemented to improve the mechanical behavior of the soil, hence boosting construction reliability. One of the most important soils is black cotton soil, which we intend to develop by utilising India's resources of sand and cement. In this research, several tests were conducted to determine the basic properties of soil. Instead of opting for the removal and replacement of unstable soil, soil modification is the only viable option because it saves both time and money. When exposed to changes in moisture content, they exhibit significant swelling and shrinking, making them the most challenging from an engineering standpoint. In this study, 2% cement was added at a steady rate while the sand percentage ranged from 10% to 40% which is utilised for the experiment was clean sand that had been passed through a 425 micron sieve and basic tests were performed to determine soil parameters. The physical properties of Black Cotton Soil determined & where the soil is of clay type & specific gravity is 2.6 and it is classified as CH. After determining the basic properties of virgin soil, the proctor test and CBR tests were performed by stabilizing with cement and sand. Sand is utilized in various percentages, such as 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% of the total soil weight. MDD increased from 1.820 to 1.902 gm/cc. The CBR increased to 5.21% from 0.55% for 2.5mm penetration and 4.12% from 0.48% for 5mm penetration. As the percentage of sand increases, both thickness and cost drop. The CBR design chart yields a pavement thickness of 480mm for 20% sand and 2% cement, which is comparable to the minimum thickness of 475mm.