Stabilization of Locally Available Soil using CNSA and Glass Industry Waste

Abstract

Soil is one of the most important components used in a variety of construction activities. The soil available in particular site may or not be suitable for the construction works mainly because of low bearing capacity. When soil is weak which creates many problems and it is difficult task for civil engineers to overcome this problems. In such case it is proposed to stabilize such soil so that it can be effectively used. There are various methods of soil stabilization such as physical stabilization, chemical stabilization etc. The present work is carried out to study the effect of industrial glass waste and Cashew nut shell-ash (CNSA) as a stabilizer in lateritic soil. The main objective of this study is to obtain a best percentage of Cashew nut shell ash and glass industry waste that can be added with locally available lateritic soil as a stabilizing agent for pavement sub-grades. The experimental program included grain-size analysis, specific gravity, heavy- compaction, unconfined compressive strength test (UCC) and California bearing ratio test (CBR) tests on soil mixture prepared with lateritic soil at various proportions of CNSA and glass industry waste (GIW). Specimens for CBR tests were prepared at optimum moisture content and soaked for 4 days before testing. From the experimental investigations, the optimum dosage of GIW and CNSA were obtained as dual blend of 2% GIW along with the addition of 4% CNSA by weight of the soil. But the result of this dosage is only a marginal improvement in the engineering properties of the soil. Thus, it can be concluded that there is no much effect of CNSA and GIW in the stabilization of the lateritic soil. However, if any a marginal improvement is expected, then it could be used as a stabilizer, since these two stabilizers are available in free of cost as they are the industrial by-products.