Utilization of MgCl2 solution to control collapse potential of soil

Abstract

Collapsible soil is categorized as problematic soil that creates construction difficulties in geotechnical applications. Extensive land development due to urbanization has increased construction on problematic soil which forced engineers and researchers to explore stabilization techniques to be used efficiently on such soil. In this study, different percentages of MgCl2 solutions were mixed with locally acquired collapsible soil and series of oedometer tests were performed to quantify collapse potential of raw soil and MgCl2-soil mix specimens. In addition, the effect of curing time on collapse potential were studied for samples cured at 0, 1, 3, 7 and 28 days. Results indicate that at a lower percentage of MgCl2 solution, longer curing time was required to reduce collapse potential as compared to the value obtained for the raw soil. Overall, 7% of MgCl2 and 28 days curing time results showed the best effect on stabilization of collapsibility of soil.