The role of moisture content, mixing method and sample size on the swelling of sulfate soil stabilised with lime-silica fume blend.

N. Alsharaa; N. Saleh; M. Ebailila; A. Muhmed

doi:10.58916/jhas.v8i3.167

Authors

N. Alsharaa Department of Civil Engineering/Faculty of Engineering/Bani Waleed University, Libya Author
N. Saleh Department of Civil Engineering/Faculty of Engineering/Bani Waleed University, Libya Author
M. Ebailila Department of Civil Engineering/Faculty of Engineering/Bani Waleed University, Libya Author
A. Muhmed Department of Civil Engineering/Faculty of Engineering/Tobruk University, Libya Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58916/jhas.v8i3.167

Keywords:

Ettringite, soil stabilisation, calcium-based stabiliser, compressive strength, expansion

Abstract

Abstract: Chemical soil stabilisation, a conventional soil treatment technique, is a function of several variables including the mineralogical compositions of soil, the oxide contents of the stabiliser, the sulfate concentration of soil, and the water content used for compaction, among other variables. This paper reports an experimental study investigating the impact of variation in the moisture compaction content, mixing method and specimen size on sulfate soil stabilisation with the co-addition of lime (L) and silica fume (S). A series of artificially gypsum-dosed kaolin specimens were prepared using a binder composition of 3L-7S, two different moisture contents (31 and 33%), two different mixing methods (dry mixing method-DM and slurry mixing method-SM) and two different specimen dimensions; one with 100 mm in height and one with 19 mm in height. Thereafter, a set of physico-mechanical engineering tests including the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) test, linear expansion test and swelling potential test were conducted to examine their physical and mechanical behaviour. The finding of this study indicated that the use of SM instead of DM induced a compromise on both the expansion and UCS performance due to the clumping and the heterogeneity of the formed hydrates. As for the moisture content variation, the result showed that the higher moisture content of 33% yielded a better expansion and lower UCS performance due to the enlargement of voids which reduces the robustness against loading and facilitates the accommodation of ettringite.

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