Strength and compaction behavior of copper slag stabilized soil

Abstract

Soil is a unique material. This paper helps in identifying the usage of industrial by-product copper slag as a stabilizing agent. The properties of the soils may affect roads built on unstable subgrade with substantial plasticity. Weak sub-grade soils undergo volume changes as a result of variations in the moisture content, which leads to pavement problems such as cracking, settlement, and heaving. It is important to stabilize these weak sub-grade soils in order to prevent its swelling, strength improvement and performance enhancement. The main aim of this research is to study the effect of copper slag (CS) with clay by performing one of the soil stabilization techniques. In this paper, strength and compaction behavior of kaolin clay (KC) stabilized with CS is studied. For strength characteristics, unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and split tensile strength (STS) tests are carried out. Similarly, for compaction characteristics, modified proctor compaction tests are carried out. Total 7 mixes are prepared using different proportions of CS and KC. The first five mixes are of CS and KC with varying content of CS from 0 to 50 % with an increment of 10% in the mix. The remaining two mixes were of 100% CS and 100%KC each. From the test results, it is observed that the inclusion of CS in KC significantly affected its compaction and strength characteristics.