Stabilization of Black Cotton Soil Using Portland Pozzolana Cement and GGBS - A Case Study

Abstract

Soil is the most commonly available natural material. The knowledge of the soil mechanics has application in many field of civil engineering like foundation, underground and earth-retaining structures, Pavement design, Excavations, Embankments and Dams. The particular, to highway engineering, soil used as sub-grade, sub-base and sometime embankment material. Construction of road in a black cotton soil is a challenging task in the civil engineering field. The B.C. soils are expansive in nature and possess high swelling and shrinkage properties. Such soil can be stabilized using waste materials like fly ash, Ground Granulated Blast furnace slag, bagasse ash, pond ash etc to make the soil to be stable. As Ground granulated blast furnace slag is freely available, for projects in the vicinity of a Thermal Power Plant, the properties of expansive soil with cement and Ground granulated blast furnace slag in varying percentages can be used. In the present study laboratory studies are carried out on two combinations of black cotton soil and binders -10% stabilizing agent with soil (70% GGBS + 30% cement) and 20% stabilizing agent with soil (75% GGBS + 25% cement). The effect of various combinations on strength and durability has been discussed here. The main objective of this research work is to obtain an improved construction material by making the best use of available clayey soil and to make the effective utilization of Ground Granulated Blast Furnace slag and Portland Pozzolana cement.