Experimental Investigation and Performance Evaluation of Lithomargic Clay Stabilized with Granulated Blast Furnace Slag and Calcium Chloride

Lakkimsetti, B and Nayak, S (2022) Experimental Investigation and Performance Evaluation of Lithomargic Clay Stabilized with Granulated Blast Furnace Slag and Calcium Chloride. In: International Journal of Geosynthetics and Ground Engineering, 8 (1).

PDF int_jou_geo_gro_eng_2022.pdf - Published Version Restricted to Registered users only Download (3MB) | Request a copy

Abstract

South-western coast of India has vast deposits of highly problematic silty soil normally referred to as lithomargic clay in the literature. This problematic silty soil is characterized by its high sensitivity to moisture content with high erosion potential and low shear strength. This paper attempts to address this problem by chemical stabilization of lithomargic clay using Calcium chloride (CaCl2) and an industrial by-product obtained from the iron industry, i.e., granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS). Disposing of huge quantities of GBFS poses a severe impact on the environment. GBFS has high pozzolanic activity, and utilizing it for the stabilization of soils would be a sustainable and eco-friendly solution. To optimize CaCl2 and GBFS contents for achieving better geotechnical properties of the stabilized soil and to understand the mechanism governing the improvement, a series of laboratory experiments were performed on lithomargic clay by stabilizing it with different amounts of CaCl2 and GBFS. Optimum CaCl2 and GBFS contents obtained from the laboratory experiments are 6 and 20, respectively, and a significant increase in strength was achieved with this optimized mix. Scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffraction analyses were carried out on the powdered samples of the treated soil, and the improvement in strength was justified through the microstructural changes observed due to the formation of cementitious compounds. Response of strip footings lying on unstabilized, and stabilized soils was analyzed using PLAXIS-2D. Numerical simulations showed a significant increase in the allowable bearing pressure with stabilization of lithomargic clay with GBFS and CaCl2. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	International Journal of Geosynthetics and Ground Engineering
Publisher:	Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Additional Information:	The copyright for this article belongs to Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Keywords:	Blast furnaces; Clay; Scanning electron microscopy; Slags; Soil mechanics; Stabilization; X ray diffraction analysis, Experimental investigations; Granulated blast furnace slag; Granulated blast-furnace slags; Laboratory experiments; Lithomargic clays; Performances evaluation; PLAXIS-2d; Silty soils; Soil stabilization; Stabilized soils, Calcium chloride
Department/Centre:	Division of Mechanical Sciences > Civil Engineering
Date Deposited:	07 Mar 2022 04:52
Last Modified:	07 Mar 2022 04:52
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/71399

Actions (login required)

View Item