Geotechnical Characteristics of Soil Stabilised with Waste Steel Dust for Soil Improvement Works

Abstract

This paper reports on the research carried out onto a kind of waste material from the medication supply industry viz, the waste steel dust. This research focuses on the potential of the waste steel dust as soil stabiliser agent based on strength improvement. Soil stabilisation is conducted to enhance the geotechnical characteristics of the problematic soil, such as marine clay soil. The engineering properties of the marine clay soil has been determined such as particle size distribution, particle density and plasticity of the soil. The soil sample was mixed and compacted with different amount of the waste steel dust i.e. 5%, 10% and 15% for compaction and strength test. Dry weight technique was used to prepare these samples. Standard Proctor Test has been executed to determine the Optimum Moisture Content (OMC) and Maximum Dry Density (MDD) of the stabilised soil sample. Meanwhile, Unconsolidated Undrained Triaxial Test (UUT) has been done to obtain the undrained cohesion, cu of the stabilised soil. Findings from this study shows that additional of waste steel dust in the marine clay soil is unbeneficial, because as the content of the waste steel dust increased, the value OMC increased and both of MDD cu and decreased. Therefore, the waste steel dust alone incapable to become a soil stabiliser agent. However, based on the comparison with previous study, it is found out that the presence of activated agent could potentially increase the performance of the waste steel dust as soil stabilizer. Significant findings from this study would contribute additional literature knowledge related to soil improvement works using waste material.