COMPARATIVE STUDY OF STABILISATION OF EXPANSIVE

SOIL TREATED WITH BRICK DUST AND MARBLE DUST

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the award of the degree of
MASTER OF TECHNOLOGY
By

AJAY KUMAR
Under the guidance of
Er. Vishal Kumar

Er.Ved Parkash

Assistant Professor

Assistant Professor

GIMT, Kanipla, Kurukshetra

GIMT, Kanipla, Kurukshetra

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

GEETA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT & TECHNOLOGY
KURUKSHETRA UNIVERSITY, KURUKSHETRA (HARYANA)

DECEMBER 2014

CANDIDATES DECLARATION
I hereby declare that the work which is being presented in this dissertation titledCOMPARATIVE
STUDY OF STABILISATION OF EXPANSIVE SOIL TREATED WITH BRICK DUST AND MARBLE
DUST toward the partial fulfillment of requirement for the award of degree of Master of

Technology in Civil Engineering with specialization in Geotechnology Engineering submitted in

the department of Civil Engineering at GEETA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT &
TECHNOLOGY, KURUKSHETRA under KURUKSHETRA UNIVERSITY, is an
authentic record of my own work carried out under the supervision of Er. Vishal Kumar and
Er. Ved Parkash.
The material embodied herein is original and has not been submitted earlier for award of any
other degree or diploma of any University.

Date:

(AJAY KUMAR)
M. Tech
Roll No. 36135014

CERTIFICATE
It is certified that AJAY KUMAR, student of Master of Technology, under Roll No. 36135014
for the session 2013-2015, has complete the dissertation entitled COMPARATIVE STUDY OF
STABILISATION OF EXPANSIVE SOIL TREATED WITH BRICK DUST AND MARBLE DUST

under

my supervision. He has attended the Department of Civil Engineering, Geeta Institute of

Management & Technology for required number of days after the theory examination of 3 rd
semester. Student is correct to the best of my knowledge and belief.
I wish his all success in his all endeavors.

(Er. Vishal Kumar)

(Er. Ved parkash)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author is highly grateful to Dr.Dharamvir Mangal, Principal, Geeta Insititute of
Management & Technology, Kanipla, for providing this opportunity to carry out the present
dissertation.
It is a great privilege for me to express deep and sincere gratitude to my Guide Er. Vishal
Kumar and Er. Ved parkash , Department of Civil Engineering, Geeta Institute of Management
& Technology, Kanipla (Haryana) for his generous help and consistent encouragement at every
stage during this work. His painstaking effort in correcting the manuscript, and giving invaluable
time and suggestions for improvement are gratefully acknowledged.
It is also my deep appreciation and sincere thanks to Assistant Prof. Er. Ved parkash, Head,
Department of Civil Engineering, Geeta Insititute of Management & Technology, Kanipla
(Haryana), for making me available all the laboratory equipment well maintained during the
period of my experimental work.
I also express my heartiest regards to the Staff of Soil Mechanics Laboratory, and my classmates
for their valuable assistance and help during the course of experimentation. Sincere thanks are
due to my family members and friends for inspiring the all the time during the compiling stage of
the dissertation work.
I am grateful to my family, especially to my parents Smt. KAMLESH and Sh. NAFE SINGH for
their blessings and prayers.

(AJAY KUMAR)
(36135014)

Abstract
The black cotton soil is known as expansive type of soil which expands suddenly and start
swelling when it comes in contact with moisture. Due to this property of soil the strength and
other properties of soil are very poor. To improve its properties it is necessary to stabilize the soil
by different stabilizers. Expansive type of soil shows unpredictable behavior with different kind
of stabilizers. Soil stabilization is a process to treat a soil to maintain, alter or improve the
performance of soil. In The study the results are compared of potential of burnt brick dust and
marble dust as stabilizing additive to expansive soil is evaluated for the improving engineering
properties of expansive soil. The evaluation involves the determination of the swelling potential,
linear shrinkage, atterbergs limits, & compaction test of expansive soil in its natural state as well
as when mixed with varying proportion of burnt brick dust and marble dust (from 5 to 30%).

CONTENTS
CHAPTER TITLE

PAGE NO.

CANDIDATES DECLARATION

(i)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

(II)

ABSTRACT

(III)

CONTENTS

(IV)

INTRODUCTION
1.1
General
1.2
Black cotton soil characteristics
1.3
Effect of water content
1.4
Fly ash characteristics
1.5
Applications of Fly Ash
1.6
Rice husk Ash Characteristics
1.7
Application of Rice Husk Ash
1.8
Objective of the Work
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1
Introduction
2.2
Stabilisation By Using Fly Ash
2.3
Stabilisation By Waste Material
EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAMAND METHODOLOGY
3.1
Introduction
3.2
Material used
3.3
Experimantal program
3.3.1 Standard Proctor Test
3.3.2 Unconfined Compression Test
ANALYSIS OF RESULTS
4.1
Comparison Curve

7 to10
7
7
8
8
9
9
10
10
11 to15
11
11
12
16 to 58
16
16
16
16
38
59 to 63
59

4.1.1Standard Proctor test

59

4.1.2 Unconfined Compression Test

61

CONCLUSION

64 to 65

REFRENCES

66 to 67

(vi)
Chapter 1

Introduction
1.1

General

The wetting and drying process of a subgrade layer composed of black cotton (BC) soil result
into failure of pavements in form of settlement and cracking. Therefore, prior to construction of a
road on such subgrade, it is important either to remove the existing soil and replace it with a nonexpansive soil or to improve the engineering properties of the existing soil by stabilization.
Replacing the existing soil might not be a feasible option. Therefore the best available approach
is to stabilize the soil with suitable stabilizers. Various types of soil stabilizers (i.e., fly ash,
cement kiln dust, lime) and locally available materials (i.e. slate dust, rice husk ash) are being
used for stabilization of soil. However, the selection of a particular type of stabilizer depends
upon the type of sub grade soil and availability of stabilisers. Several researchers have reported
the benefits of stabilisers for modifying the engineering properties of soil. Recognizing the
benefits of stabilizer in improving the strength characteristics of soil, the present study has been
undertaken to study the change in the index and strength properties of the BC soil by adding
various proportions of FA and RHA. Furthermore, a thorough laboratory investigation has been
conducted to determine the optimum amount of stabilizers.
1.2

BLACK COTTON SOIL CHARACTERISTICS

This is the Indian name given to the expansive soil deposits in the central part of the country.
They cover an area of approximate 3,00,000 sq. km which extends over the state of maharastra,
madhyapardesh, Karnataka, andarapardesh, tamilnadu, and uttarpardesh. This soil have been
formed from basalt or trap and contain the clay mineral montmorillonite . which is responsible
for the excessive swelling shrinkage characteristics of the soil lightly loaded structure are not
susceptible to damage as a result of the volume change in soil. Under reamed piles are
considered most suitable as foundation for house and light structure. These piles are taken to
depths below the seasonal variation in moisture content black cotton soil(BC soil) is a highly
clayey soil . it is so hard that the clods cannot be easily pulverized for treatment for it is used in
road construction. This poses serious problem as regards to subsequent performance of the road.
Moreover, the softened subgrade has a tendency to up have into the upper layers of the pavement
especially when the sub base consist of stone soling with lot of voids. Gradual intrusion of black
cotton soil in variably leads to failure of the roads . the roads laid on the black cotton soil bases
develop undulations at the road surface due to loss of strength of the sub grade through softening
during monsoon. The black color in black cotton soil is due to the presence of titanium oxide in
small concentration. The black cotton soil has a high percentage of clay, which is predominantly
montmorillonite in structure and black or blackish grey in color. The physical properties of BCS
vary from pace to place. 40to60 percentage of the BCS has the size less than 0.001 mm. at the
liquid limit the volume change in the odor of 200 to 300% and result in swelling pressure as high

as 8 kg/cm2. To 10kg/cm2. As such BCS has very bearing capacity and high swelling and
shrinkage.
1.3

EFFECT OF WATER CONTENT

It is a well-known fact that water is the worst enemy of road pavement, particularly in expensive
soil areas. Water penetrates into the road pavement from three sides viz. top surface side berms
and from sub grade due to capillary action. Therefore, road specifications in expansive soil areas
most take these factor into consideration. It has been found during handling of various road
investigation project assignments for assessing causes of road failures that water has got easy
access into the pavement. It saturates the subgrade soil and thus lowers its bearing capacity,
ultimately resulting in heavy depressions and settlement. In the base course layers comprising of
water bound macadam (WBM), water lubricates the binding material and makes the mechanical
interlock unstable. In the top bituminous surfacing, raveling, stripping and cracking develop due
to water stagnation and its seepage into these layers. Generally, road construction agencies do not
pay sufficient attention to the aspects of construction and maintenance of side berms. It is
emphasized that road formation consisting of carriageway and berms must be considered as one
single unit. In expansive soil areas, unpaved berms pose the maximum problem as they become
slushy during rains, as they are most neglected lot development of alligator cracks and extensive
depression as well as upheavals respectively in bituminous surfacing in black cotton soil (BC
soil).
1.4

charactestics of burnt brick dust

Burnt brick powder is a waste powder generated from the burning of bricks with the soil covered by surroundings.
Due to burning of soil bricks it hardened and at the time of removal the set up we get the powder form of brick. It
has red colour and fine in nature. It has great ability to reduce the swelling potential of black cotton soil.

Red Brick Dust also known as Reddening, Brick Dust, Red Powder and Red Dust. Red Brick Dust
use came from the traditional use of ochre (red earth color/pigment) which is known and used
for coloring or reddening, an ancient use for Rune Crafters and spiritual crafters.
Additional bonus, this was collected from old Civil War cemetery bricks (discarded due to
cemetery repair).
Red Brick Dust uses come from the traditional use of ochre (red earth clay pigment) which is
known and used for coloring or reddening, an ancient use for Rune Crafters and spiritual crafters.
Magical Uses:

1.5

Protection for Home and Business

Protect entrance ways to home and work.

Keep away those who you do not want to cross your threshold.

Keep away evil and negatives.

Reversing jinxes, hexes and other negativities.

Bring in Cash - Quick and Continuous.

Floor Wash for Protection.

Stop a Trick cast at you.

Protect entrance ways.

characterstic of marble dust

Marble is a non-foliated metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most
commonly calcite or dolomite. Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone;
however, stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.[1] Marble is
commonly used for sculpture and as a building material.

. Dry grinding reduces it to a powder without destroying its particle structure, which is
important in making strong grounds and providing tooth on the surface of the grounds.
The low surface area of our marble (when compared to precipitated chalk) keeps oil
absorption low, which is ideal when adding it to paint and painting mediums. In painting
grounds it makes a durable surface with tooth for egg and casein tempera, distemper,
encaustic, oil paint, and watercolors.
Both limestone and marble are calcium carbonate (CaCO 3), which is also the
composition of the mineral calcite. Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of
recrystallized calcite. The metamorphism of limestone causes the calcite grains to grow
in size and to interlock with one another. The result is that marble is noticeably more
dense and harder than limestone. Limestone forms under deep marine conditions from

the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates (coccoliths) shed from microorganisms called coccolithophores and hence contains invertebrate fossils. However,
these fossils are almost always destroyed by the metamorphic changes that convert
limestone to marble.
Add to paint and mediums to create textural and bodying qualities to paint without
affecting the color. Marble dust has little color in drying oils, so it can be added to oil
paint without affecting the tint of the color.
1.6 uses

of marble dust

Marble dust has various contemporary uses, both in the arts and in industry.
According to the Sinopia Pigments website, marble is what is known as a
metamorphic rock, which is created when tremendous pressure and heat is
applied to a mass of rock. Perhaps one reason that marble from certain areas of
the world is more prized for fine art use than others results from the elemental
makeup of the original rock mass. Read on to discover the components of marble
and the applications of its dust.

1.

Components of Marble

Calcium carbonate appears in such natural materials as limestone, gypsum,

chalk, and marble. The mineral content of marble results from the original
makeup of its rock mass, which often includes manganese, magnesium, and
iron. The level of these elements is partially what determines the hardness
and whiteness of the marble, according to the Sinopia Pigments website.
Other ingredients that may be found in marble dust are alumina and silica.

Photos.com/Photos.com/Ge
tty Images

Famous Quarries

The whiter, or brighter, the marble, the more it is sought after by artists. The
"world-class deposit" in Carrara, Italy is famous for its brightness, according
to the Natural Pigments website, which indicates that it has, in fact, "been
famous since ancient Rome" Carrara marble has been prized by artists such
as Michelangelo for its transparent qualities, and it was of this marble that he
sculpted "David." Michelangelo also used a quarry in Pietrasanta, Italy.
Carrara marble dust is sold as a material for artists.

Art Materials and Filler

Marble dust is a primary ingredient in acrylic gesso, a surface primer for
canvases and other surfaces intended for painting. The dust is also used to
make plasters such as Marmorino and Venetian plaster, as a filler in paint, or
in frescoes to replace sand. Some artists use the dust to harden surfaces for
oil pastels. Marble dust is sold in bags weighing about one kilogram,
depending on the distributor, and usually retails for $8 to $10 per bag.

Art Reproductions
Ecomarble is a project funded by the European Commission. An indirect
method of preserving fragile and ancient sculpture, the project uses remote
measurement technologies to build a replica of the object using marble dust.
According to the European Commission's website, the marble dust is used to
build up the replica layer by layer. Since the resulting object is high in quality
yet cheaper to produce than hand-carved replicas, they are quickly gaining
in popularity with museums and visitors alike.

Getty
Images/Photodisc/Getty Images

Industrial Uses

Marble dust has various industrial uses. It is used as filler in concrete and
paving materials, and provides a valuable use for what is otherwise a waste
material, according to an abstract reprinted on the Science Direct website. In
areas such as Turkey, where marble is harvested from quarries, the amount
of waste material in the form of marble dust is increasing. The material is
also used to create carbonic acid gas (carbon dioxide) which is used in the
bottling of beverages.

1.6

OBJECTIVE OF WORK

As we know, the bearing capacity of soil can be improved form various ground improvement
techniques and one of the effective methods is using the soil stabilization. The degree of
improvement in bearing capacity depends on various factors like degree of interaction between
brick dust and marble dust with surrounding the soil, shape of footing, embankment variations in
number and depth variation of embankment with footing.
With the above in view, it is planned to study the effect of brick dust and marble dust as a
material in improving the characteristics of black cotton soil.
The present investigation presents the result of laboratory tests using standard proctor test,
unconfined compression, test with aim to increase the bearing capacity, shear strength of black
cotton soil by using the different proportion of brick dust and marble dust

CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 INTRODUCTION
Burnt brick dust by itself has little cementatious value but in the presence of moisture it react,
chemically and forms cementatious compounds and attributes to the improvement of strength
and compressibility characteristics of soils. It has a long history of use as an engineering material
and has beenuccessfully employed in geotechnical applications.
2.2 STABILISATION BY USING FLY ASH
ErdalCokca (2001) Effect of Flyash on expansive soil was studied by ErdalCokca,
Flyashconsists of often hollow spheres of silicon, aluminium and iron oxides and unoxidized
carbon. Thereare two major classes of flyash, class C and class F. The former is produced from
burning anthracite or bituminous coal and the latter is produced from burning lignite and sub
bituminous coal. Both the classes of fly ash are puzzolans, which are defined as siliceous and
aluminous materials. Thus Fly ash can provide an array of divalent and trivalent cations
(Ca2.A13+ Fe3+etc) under ionized conditions that can promote flocculation of dispersed clay
particles. Thus expansive soils can he potentially stabilized effectively by cation exchange using
flyash. He carried out investigations using, Soma Flyash and Tuncbilekfly ash and added it to
expansive soil at 0-25%. Specimens with flyash were cured for 7days and 28 days after which
they were subjected to Oedometer free swell tests. And his experimental findings confirmed that
the plasticity index, activity and selling potential of the samples decreased with increasing
percent stabilizer and curing time and the optimum content of flyash in decreasing the swell
potential was found to be 20%.
Pandian et.al. (2002). Studied the effect of two types of fly ashes Raichur fly ash (class F) and
Neyveli fly ash (Class C ) on the CBR characteristics of the black cotton soil. The fly ash
content was increased from 0 to 100%, Generally the CBR/Strength is contributed by its
cohesion and friction. The CBR of BC soil,which consists of predominantly of coarser particles,
is contributed by its frictional component. The CBR of BC soil, which consists of predominantly
of coarser particles, is contributed hy its frictional components. The low CBR of BC soil is
attributed to the inherent low strength, which is due to the dominance of clay fraction. The
addition of fly ash to BC soil increases the CBR of the mix up to the first optimum level due to
the frictional resistance from fly ash in addition to the cohesion from BC soil. Further addition of
fly ash beyond the optimum level causes a decrease up to 60% and then up to thesecond
optimum level there is an increase. Thus the variation of CBR of fly ash-BC soil mixes can be
attributed to the relative contribution of frictional or cohesive resistance from fly ash or BC soil.
Phanikumar and Sharma (2004) A similar study vas carried out k Phanikumar and Sharma and
the effect of fly ash on engineering properties of expansive soil through an experimental

programme. The effect on parameters like free swell index (FSI), swell potential, swelling
pressure. plasticity, compaction, strength and by hydraulic conductivity of expansive soil was
studied. The ash blended expansive soil with flyash content of 0, 5, 10,15 and 20% on a weight
basis and the inferred that increase in flyash contents reduces plasticity characteristics and the
FSI was reduced by about 50% by the addition of 20% fly ash. The hydraulic conductivity of
expansive soils mixed flyash decreases with an increase in flyash content, due to the increase in
maximum dry unit weight with an increase in flyash content. When the fly ash content increases
there is a decrease in the optimum moisture content and the maximum dry unit weight increases.
S. Bhuvaneshwari& R. G. Robinson (2005): Infrastructure projects such as highways,
railways, water reservoirs. reclamation etc. requires earth material in very large quantity. In
urban areas, borrow, earth is not easily available which has to be hauled from long distance.
Quite often, large areas are covered with highly plastic and expansive soil, which is not suitable
for such purpose. Extensive laboratory/ field trials have been carried out by various researchers
and have shown promising results for application of such expansive soil after stabilisation with
additives such as sand, silt, lime, fly ash, etc. it can be used for stabilisation of expansive soils
for various uses.
1. The natural soil used for construction shall be dried with moisture content below 7%. If soil
has more moisture it is difficult to mix with FA. Such soil shall he spread on surface andallowed
to dry before construction.
2. Presence of dry clay lumps in the borrow soil increases the number of passes of disc harrowfor
mixing. It is therefore necessary to eliminate such soil lumps in the construction.
3. It is observed that placing of two different materials (local soil and FA) in three layers with
FA layer sandwiched between soil layers and mixing them with disc harrow is workable.
2.3 STABILISATION BY WASTE MATERIAL
T. K. Roy & B.C. Chattopadhyay (2008) In recent times the demand for subgrade materials has
increased due to increased constructional activities in the road sector and due to paucity of
available nearby lands to allow excavate fill materials for making subgrade. In this situation, a
means to overcome this problem is to utilize the different alternative generated waste materials,
which cause not only environmental hazards and also the depositional problems. Using this
viewpoint. a study was undertaken to examine the improvement in the properties of alluvial soil
when mixed with large quantity of pond ash,rice husk ash and small quantity of cement.
Experimental results indicated improvements in index properties and significant improvement in
the soaked CBR value of mixed soil of alluvial soil. pond ash and rice husk ash and the most cost
effective proportion of this mix was found to be 20:40:40.
1. Utilization of waste materials e.g. pond ash, rice husk ash in bulk quantity in the construction
of road project will he reduced the accumulation hazard and environmental pollution.

2. LL and PL increase with the increasing percentage of cement and pond ash when soil added
with the decreasing proportion. However the lowest value of PI of the mixed soil indicated as
1.07 when the proportion of RHA, pond ash and sodas 20%. 40% and 40% respectively and
these ratios can he considered as better combination of soil when mixed with rice husk ash and
pond ash but without addition of cement,
S.K Roy & T.K Roy (2009) procurement of conventional materials in huge quantity required for
construction of subgrade of road becoming very difficult in many locations due to various
problems. A huge quantity of waste materials generated needs land for disposal and from that
generally creates problems for public health ecology. So need has arisen for proper disposal of
the waste materials. utilizing these materials in the area of road construction after improving
their characteristics suitably can provide useful solution of this problem. So keeping this in view,
an experimental study was undertaken to explore the possibility of utilization of the alternative
materials like rice husk ash by mixing with local alluvial soil by adding small percentage of lime
for the construction of road subgrade as cost effective mix.
1. consumption of rice husk ash in bulk quantity in the construction of road project can be made
with reducing the accumulation hazard and environmental pollution of this waste.
2.additon of rice husk ash in increasing proportion with the alluvial soil decreases the maximum
dry density of the mixed soil with or without mixing of lime. However theoptimum moisture
content of the mixed soil increasing gradually with the increased percentage of lime and rice
husk ash reaspective.
Hilmi Bin Mahmud, NorjidahAnjang Abdul Hamid (2010)Rice husk which is an agricultural
waste, constitutes about one-fifth of the 500 million tonnes of rice produced annually worldwide.
Normally, the residue is disposed off by burning at the mill sites and the resultant rice husk ash
(RHA) is dumped on a waste land. This generates environmental, pollution and land dereliction
Problems. under controlled burning and if sufficiently ground, the highly reactive ash that is
produced can he used as supplementary cementing material or in the production of high strength
concrete (HSC).
1.
2.
3.

4.

To achieve a required workability, the use of RHA will not require any much more
superplasticizing admixture than that of silica fume.
Concrete containing RHA, either as an additional admixture or as partial replacement
of cement can routinely produce strength of 80 N/mm2 at 28days.
Irrespective of age and type of curing, for similar pozzolanic content, strength of RHA
concrete is marginally lower than that of SF concrete. However difference in strength
between the two is insignificantly small (between I -5%).
Both RHA and SF mixtures enhanced the durability of concrete by reducing its water
absorption characteristics.

Saranjeet Rajesh Soni & P. P. Dahale (2011) Application of solid waste (fly ash and rice husk)
disposal for soil stabilisation is significant project which serves various benefits to the
environment. The term solid waste includes all those solid and semi-solid materials that iscarded
by the community. Improper management of solid waste causes adverse effects on ecology
which may lead to cause possible outbreaks of diseases and epidemics. FA is a waste product
from thermal power plants and is available in form of fine dust. FA contains trace amounts of
toxic metals (U, Th, Cr, Pb,Hg, Cd etc.), which may have negative effect on human health and on
plants.
1. The primary benefits of using these additives for soil stabilisation are
i. Cost savings, because fly ash is typically cheaper than cement and lime;and
ii. Availability, because fly ash sources are distributed geographically across the state.
2. Waste management can be done economically.
3. Use of FA and RHP as an admixture for improving engineering properties of the soils is an
economical solution for Vidarbha region of Maharashtra as it is available in large quantity.
4. It is observed from fig. 4 that combination of FA and RHP with lime increases more stability
of soil as compared to the FA, RHP and Lime alone.
VenkateshGanja&Venkateshjagarlamudi (2012)The problems with expansive soils have been
recorded all over the world. In monsoon they imbibe water and swell and in summer they shrink
on evaporation of water there from. Because of this alternative swelling and shrinkage lightly
loaded civil engineering structures like residential buildings, pavements and canal linings are
severely damaged. It is, therefore, necessary to mitigate the problems posed by expansive soils
and prevent cracking of structures. Many innovative foundation techniques have been devised as
a solution to the problem of expansive soils. The chief among them are sand cushion technique,
cohesive non-swelling (CNS) layer technique and under reamed piles. Stabilisation of expansive
clays with various additives has also attained lot of success. The various additives used for
stabilizing expansive soils are lime, calcium chloride, fly ash, GBfS, gypsum. Rice husk ash
and others. The following conclusions are drawn based on the laboratory studies carried out in
this investigation.
1. It was observed that the 20% flyash +80 % expansive soil mix gives optimum CBR value for
the first layeof the embankment.
2. It was observed from the compaction test results that the CBR value was optimum for the
5% fly ash + 15% expansive soil +80% GBFS mix and it can be used for the pavement sub
grade.

3. It was observed that the CBR value was optimum by the addition of 5 % flyash with the
GBFS.
Stabilization of soil with brick dust
Sachin N. Bhavsar, Hiral B. Joshi, Priyanka k. Shrof, Ankit J. Patel
From the results it is concluded that the impact of brick dust on black cotton soil is positive. By replacing soil by
half of its dry weight by brick dust it gives maximum improvement in the engineering properties of black cotton
soil. So use of brick dust is preferable for stabilization because it gives positive results as stabilizer and also it is a
waste utilization.
Swell-Shrink Behavior of Expansive Soils, Damage and Control [1] Masoumeh Mokhtari & Masoud Dehghani
The paper gives detail information about the identifying the black cotton soil, about its swell shrink behavior,
factors affecting swelling and shrinkage , reasons of swell shrink behavior and the controlling measures. The
author has listed three methods to resolve this problem of swelling and shrinkage of clayey soil. They also described
their conclusion that Control of the swell-shrink behavior can be accomplished in several ways, for example by
Replace existing expansive soil with non-expansive soil, Maintain constant moisture content and Improve the
expansive soils by stabilization from which stabilization is a better option to choose as per economic and
improvisational consideration.
Effect of Locus Bean Waste Ash on Lime Modified Black Cotton Soil [3] Ovuarume, ufoma Bernard
B.Eng(ABU) Black cotton soil classified as an A-7-6(24) soil on the AASHTO classification collected from New
Marte area of Borno State was modified with up to 4% lime and locust bean waste ash (LBWA) up to 8% by weight
of dry soil.

CHAPTER 3
EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM AND METHODOLOGY
3.1 INTRODUCTION
The field test would be an ideal method for simulation of any experimental study, it has been
generally averted because it is expensive as well as time consuming. So as the substitute,
carefully conducted model tests can be employed with advantage in order to obtain useful
qualitative and sometimes quantitative results. Moreover, the laboratory testing has the
advantage of better control over various parameters which may influence the problem under
consideration. For example, it is possible in a model to undertake parametric study by keeping all
other the variables as constant while the effect of one particular parameter is being studied.
3.2 MATERIALS USED
TABLE 3.1 MATERIALS USED
Sr.no
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Property
soil type plasticity index
liquid limit
plastic limit
plasticity index
specific gravity of marble dust
specific gravity of burnt brick dust
specific gravity of Rice Husk Ash

Value
CH
67%
30%
37%
2.5
1.7
2
1.49gm/c
c
26.70%

3.3 EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM

3.3.1 STANDARD PROCTOR TEST

The test was conducted in the

laboratory at black cotton soil as parent
soil and also by making different
8
MDD of Black cotton soil
combinations of black cotton soil,
9
OMC of black cotton soil
marble dust and burnt brick dust. First
the soil was oven dried for 24hr and then the lumps of dry soil was pulverised in a pulverisation
machine. The pulverised soil was passed through 475 micron IS sieve and a sample of 3 Kg was
taken for Standard Proctor Test. The amount of water to be added originally depends upon the
probable optimum water content for the soil. The empty mould attached with the base plate was
weighted without collar. The collar was then attached to the mould. The mixed and matured soil
was placed in the mould and compacted by giving 25 blows of the rammer homogeneously
distributed over the surface, such that the compacted height of the soil was about 1/3 the height
of the mould. The second and the third layer were similarly compacted, each layer being given
25blows. The collar was separated and the top layer was trimmed off to make it level with the
top of mould. The dry density obtained in each test was determined by knowing the mass of the
compacted soil and its water content.
The proctor tests were conducted on various combinations, which are given below:

COMBINATION OF SAMPLE
Sample 1
Sample 2
Sample 3
Sample 4
Sample 5
Sample 6
Sample 7

BCS-100%(3000g)+brick dust-0%
BCS-95%(2850g)+brick dust-5%
BCS-90%(2700g)+ brick dust 10%(300g)
BCS-85%(2550g)+ brick dust 15%(450g)
BCS-80%(2400g)+ brick dust 20%(600g)
BCS-85%(2250g)+ brick dust 25%(750g)
BCS-80%(2100g)+ brick dust 30%(900g)

Sample 1
Sample 2
Sample 3
Sample 4
Sample 5
Sample 6
Sample 7

BCS-100%(3000g)+marble dust-0%
BCS-95%(2850g)+marble dust-5%
BCS-90%(2700g)+ marble dust 10%(300g)
BCS-85%(2550g)+ marble dust 15%(450g)
BCS-80%(2400g)+ marble dust 20%(600g)
BCS-85%(2250g)+ marble dust 25%(750g)
BCS-80%(2100g)+ marble dust 30%(900g)

SAMPLE-1 (PARENTSOIL

Container No.
Wt.of empty container.W1
Wt of container+soil,W2
Wt. of wet soil,W3(W2-W1)
Wt.of dry soil+container.W4
Wt.of dry soil,(W4-W10
Volume of mould(cc)
Wt.of mould (g)
mould+soil wt (g)
Bulk Density+t
Dry density d
Water content w

49
27.38
115.3
88.92
104.5
78.40
1000
2405.48
4050
1.644
1.45
13.41%

62
25.75
111.05
86.34
97.81
71.07
1000
2405.48
4200
1.794
1.48
21.48%

87
25.86
108.24
81.37
91.09
64.22
1000
2405.48
4290
1.884
1.49
26.70%

89
26.24
119.0
93.86
96.17
72.96
1000
2405.48
4255
1.849
1.44
28.64%