Soil stabilization

About: Soil stabilization is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 3161 publications have been published within this topic receiving 48437 citations.

Beneficial use of waste tire rubber for swelling potential mitigation in expansive soils

Abstract: Approximately 290 million tires are disposed of annually in the United States (EPA 2003). Although markets now exist for about 80% of the US waste tires, it is estimated that about 27 million waste tires still need to be disposed of in landfills (RMA 2004). Waste tire rubber has been used in several applications such as highway backfill, subgrade and embankments; as drainage, landscaping, and sorptive materials; as well as in alternative methods for energy generation (Humphrey et al. 1993; Ahmed and Lovell 1993; Edil 2005). While waste tire rubber has been used to modify the mechanical properties of coarse-grained soils (Edil and Bosscher 1994; Feng and Sutter 2000; Lee et al. 1999), just a limited number of studies have addressed the stabilization of fine-grained soils with rubber (Edil and Bosscher 1994; Ahmed and Lovell 1993; Tatlisoz et al. 1997). None of these studies have tested mixtures of rubber with highly expansive clays, such as the ones widely encountered in Colorado and other western US states. In this study, the effect of adding small particles of waste tire rubber on the swelling potential of an expansive soil from Colorado was evaluated. The index properties and compaction parameters of the rubber, expansive soil, and expansive soil-rubber (ESR) mixture tested were determined. One-dimensional swell-consolidation tests were performed to assess the feasibility of using small particles of waste tire rubber as a mechanical additive to mitigate the swelling potential of the expansive soil. While the ESR mixture is more compressible than the untreated soil, both the swell percent and the swelling pressure are significantly reduced by the addition of rubber to the expansive soil.

Stabilization of fuel oil contaminated soil—A case study

Abstract: Fuel oil contamination brings adverse effect on basic geotechnical properties of foundation soil. The present study pertains to one such case, from the petrochemical complex near Vadodara City in Gujarat State, India. Here, the fuel oil contaminated soil samples exhibit drastic changes in their geotechnical parameters. Noteworthy among such deleterious changes are: decrease in maximum dry density (−4%), cohesion (−66%), angle of internal friction (−23%) and unconfined compressive strength (UCS) (−35%) and increase in liquid limit (+11%). An attempt has been made to stabilize the contaminated soil using various additives viz., lime, fly ash and cement independently as well as an admixture of different combinations. It is apparent from the test results that the stabilization agents improved the geo-technical properties of the soil by way of cation exchange, agglomeration, and pozzuolanic actions. The best results were observed when a combination of 10% lime, 5% fly ash and 5% cement was added to the contaminated soil. The improvement in unconfined compressive strength (UCS), cohesion and angle of internal friction can be attributed to neo-formations such as Calcium Silicate Hydrates (CSH, CSH-1) that coats and binds the soil particles. Formation of stable complex between oil and metallic cations, results in reduction of leachableoil.

Strength behavior and microstructural characteristics of tropical laterite soil treated with sodium silicate-based liquid stabilizer

Abstract: Although the effects of nontraditional stabilizers on the geotechnical properties of tropical soils has been the issue of investigation in recent years, the micro-structural characteristics of nontraditional soil additives and in particular selected additive (TX-85) have not been fully studied. Nontraditional soil stabilization additives are widely used for stabilizing marginal materials. These additives are low-cost alternatives to traditional construction materials and have different compositions. They also differ from one another while interacting with soil. In line with that, it was the objective of this research to investigate the strength properties and physicochemical mechanisms related to tropical laterite soil mixed with the liquid stabilizer TX-85. Macro-structure study, i.e., compaction, and unconfined compression strength test were used to assess the engineering and shear properties of the stabilized laterite soil. In addition, the possible mechanisms that contributed to the stabilization process were discussed using various spectroscopic and microscopic techniques such as X-ray diffractometry (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. From engineering point of view, the results indicated that the strength of TX-85 stabilized laterite soil improved significantly. The degree of improvement was approximately four times stronger than natural soil after a 7-day curing period. The XRD showed no crystalline products (gel form). Moreover, weathering effects were obvious in TX-85 treated samples in most of clay minerals’ peak intensities. These effects were reduced especially for kaolinite mineral inside the soil with curing time.

A review of stabilization of soft soils by injection of chemical grouting.

Abstract: Soil stabilization has become one of the useful solutions to treat the soft soils to achieve the required engineering properties and specification so that structures can be placed safely without undergoing large settlements. The use of admixture such as lime, cement, oils and bitumen is one of oldest and most widespread method for improving soil. When mixed with soil, it forms a material called soil-cement. The original technique known internationally as the deep mixing method (DMM). It is an in-situ soil treatment technology whereby the soil is blended with cementitious and/or other materials. Jet Grouting is suitable to be used as the injection method for the DMM. It utilizes a fluid jet (air, water and/or grout) to erode and mix the in-situ soft or loose soils with grout. Chemical stabilization is the effective method to improve the soil properties by mixing additives to soils.Usually the additives are cement, lime, fly ash and bituminous material. The chemicals usually used are sodium silicate, acrylamide, N-methylolacrylamide, polyurethane epoxy resins, aminoplasts, phenoplasts, lignosulfonates, among others. The choice of a particular chemical for soil stabilization will depend upon many factors like, purpose, soil strength desired, toxicity, rheology among others.This paper is aiming to show the difference between the some famous chemical grouts and the usage of them in the field.