See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/311910105

Soil Strength improvement by using a new compound stabilizer

Article · January 2013

CITATIONS READS

2 78

5 authors, including:

Younes Bagheri Yahya Atemimi

Universiti Sains Malaysia University of Babylon
2 PUBLICATIONS   11 CITATIONS    10 PUBLICATIONS   12 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Fauziah Ahmad Mohd Ashraf BIN Mohamad Ismail

Universiti Sains Malaysia Universiti Sains Malaysia
106 PUBLICATIONS   549 CITATIONS    55 PUBLICATIONS   55 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Effect of Dates nucleus powder on some engineering properties of clayey soil in comparison to lime View project

RBF Project View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Yahya Atemimi on 26 December 2016.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Caspian Journal of Applied Sciences Research, 2(AICCE'12 & GIZ' 12), pp. 84-90, 2013
Available online at http://www.cjasr.com
ISSN: 2251-9114, ©2012 CJASR

AWAM International Conference on Civil Engineering & Geohazard Information Zonation

Soil Strength improvement by using a new compound stabilizer

Younes Bagheri, Yahya K. Atemimi, Fauziah Ahmad*, Mohd Ashraf Mohamad Ismail
University Sains Malaysia (USM)
*Prof. Fauziah Ahmad: cefahmad@eng.usm.my

Soil is used as a base material in various engineering infrastructures such as roads, canal beds, retaining walls,
embankments, pavements etc. Therefore, improving the soil characteristics is very important in civil engineering
for structural stability purposes. This paper describes the results of geotechnical investigations on treated silty
sand soil with cement, lime and rice husk ash (CLR). treated specimens were prepared with CLR contents
varying from 2.5% to 12.5% by dry weight of the soil and laboratory tests after 7, 28 and 60 days were
conducted including the, plasticity limits, Compaction tests and unconfined compressive tests. From the results,
it was found that by increasing the CLR content both liquid and plastic limits of soil increased. Also, it was found
that maximum dry density of treated soil decreased and optimum moisture content increased with the increase
in CLR content. Finally, it is observed that unconfined compressive strength (q u) of treated soil was increased
significantly by increasing of CLR content and curing time.

Key word: Cement; Lime; Rice husk ash; Soil strength improvement

1. INTRODUCTION waste materials for reducing the consumption of

Soil is used as a base material in various
engineering infrastructures such as roads, canal
beds, retaining walls, embankments, pavements
etc. Therefore, improving the soil characteristics is
very important in civil engineering for structural
stability purposes. Several methods are applied to
improve the soil stability. One of applicable
methods is called soil stabilization (Mcdowell,
1959, Sherwood, 1993, Kolias et al., 2005).
Mechanical stabilization is one type of soil
stabilization which can increase the soil strength
by only physical compaction that is usually
uneconomical and costly. An alternative solution
causes a decrease in costs of physical compaction,
is chemical stabilization by addition of
cementation materials. Cement and lime are the
most common chemical stabilizers being used in
worldwide for soil stabilization (Mcdowell, 1959,
Sariosseiri and muhunthan, 2008, Joel and Agbede,
2011). Many significant engineering properties of
problematic soils can be achieved by cement and
lime treatment as significant reduction in plasticity
index and swell potential, increase in fatigue
strength and modulus of elasticity, improvement
on the compressibility and increase in strength and
durability of soils (Lo and Wardani, 2002, Sharma
et al., 2008). According to environmental issues
and economic problems of using these materials;
some researchers proposed to use agricultural
cement and lime. In agricultural countries, there
are a lot of paddy farms. Paddy farms are
composited of 5–8% of bran, 72% of rice and 20–
22% of husk, on an average by weight, that cause
to generate rice husk ash (RHA) as alternative
additive (Basha et al., 2005, Muthadhi and
Kothandaraman, 2010). Rice husk ash contains
high amount of silica (87–97% of SiO2), hence can
be used as a pozzolanic material in lime and
cement mixture to improving soil strength and
other soil properties (Muthadhi and
Kothandaraman, 2010). The amount of additives
and curing time are important variable parameters
in which have a significant effect on the strength of
treated soils (Ingles and Metcalf, 1972, Puppala et
al., 2005). The majority of previous studies on soil
stabilization have dealt on the soil-cement, soil-
lime, soil-fly ash-lime, soil-fly ash-cement. In fact,
no treated soil performed by combination of
cement-lime and RHA (CLR) has been used up to
now. The aim of present study is to demonstrate
the influence of the curing time period and the
amount of CLR, on the unconfined compressive
strength, compact ability and consistency limits of
CLR-silty sand soil.
2. MATERIALS AND METHODS
2.1. Materials

84
 Bagheri et al.
Soil Strength improvement by using a new compound stabilizer
The soil selected for this investigation was
obtained locally. According to the Unified Soil
Classification System (USCS) this soil can be
classified as silty sand (SM) (ASTM Standard
D2487, 2007). The grain-size distribution is 37.7%
of medium sand (0.425 mm < diameter < 2 mm),
14% of fine sand (0.075 mm< diameter < 0.0425
mm), 28.6% of silt (0.002 mm < diameter < 0.075
mm) and 7.8% of clay (particles diameter < 0.002
mm). The geotechnical properties of the silty sand
soil used in this experiment are summarized in
Table 1 and the gradation curve is also shown in
Fig. 1. The soil pH is 4.73.
The cement used in this study was ordinary
portland cement and Hydrated high calcium lime
[Ca (OH) 2] was used throughout in this
investigation. Lime and cement were passed
through No. 40 sieve before usage.
The ashes used in this investigation are
obtained from burning of rice husk in the gas
furnace. Rice husk ash shows high pozzolanicity, if
incinerated in controlled conditions (James and
Rao, 1986, Muthadhi and Kothandaraman, 2010).
Muthadhi reported that incineration condition of
500oC-120 minutes is the optimum combination to
produce ash with maximum fineness, density,
pozzolanicity and silica content and the least
energy production. So in this study Rice husks are
burned in the gas furnace for 2 hours at 500oC.
The RHA used showed high silica content of 90%,
which is an indication of a good pozzolanic
material.
Fig. 1. Gradation curve for soil
85
In this study the combination of cement, lime
and rice husk ash (CLR) are used. To find the best
mixture of cement, lime and rice husk ash in
combination with soil, unconfined compression
strength test (UCS) was employed for different
percentage of the studied mixtures. Tests were
conducted on similar conditions which is  d =17
kN/m3, CLR by 10% weight and 28 days curing
time. The mixtures with higher values of cement
show a considerable value of qu (kPa) but resulted
in negative economical and environmental issues
(Table 2). Therefore, the combination of 25%
cement, 50% lime and 25% rice husk ash as the
best mixture was selected for this investigation
(Table 2). The properties of the CLR are
summarized in Table 2 as well.
2.2 Methods
2.2.1 Atterberg limits tests
The fall cone test is a method to determine the
liquid limit of soils based on penetration of a
standard cone (shape and mass) into the soils. In
the fall cone test, a cone with an apex angle of 30°
and total mass of 80 grams is suspended above, but
just in contact with the sample. The cone is
permitted to fall freely for a period of 5 seconds.
The water content corresponding to a cone
penetration of 20 mm is defined by British
Standard Institution, Part 2 (1994) as the liquid
limit.
 Caspian Journal of Applied Sciences Research, 2(AICCE'12 & GIZ' 12), pp. 84-90, 2013

Table 1. Summary of soil properties used in the study

Properties Value

Specific gravity 2.55

Sand (%) 51.70
Silt (%) 28.60
Clay (%) 7.80
USCS Classification SM

Consistency limit :
Liquid limit (%) 48.10
Plastic limit (%) 31.50
Plasticity index 16.60

Compaction Test :
Optimum moisture content (%) 16.30
Maximum dry density (kN/m3)
17.52

Table 2. Summary of the properties of the investigated additives and mixture

Quantity/ Mixture percentage;
Additives Properties qu(kPa)
Qualitative CLR [A/B/C]*
Specific gravity 2.17 [15/50/35] 673
Cement (% by weight) 25 [25/50/25] 1014
Lime (% by weight) 50 [35/50/15] 1582
RHA (% by weight) 25 [25/40/35] 1005
Fineness passing 45 µm (%) 76 [35/40/25] 1649
Ph 12.43 [35/30/35] 1898
Color Gray [15/60/25] 457
[25/60/15] 828
*The signs of A, B and C show the percentage of the cement, lime and RHA, respectively

2.2.2 Standard proctor (compaction)
In order to investigate the effect of addition of
CLR on optimum water content and maximum dry
unit weight of the selected soils, a series of
standard proctor tests on non-treated and CLR
treated soils were conducted according to British
Standard Institution, Part 4 (1994). CLR was added
to oven dried soils and mixed until uniform color
was observed before compaction. It must be noted
that tests were completed in less than an hour.
2.2.3 Unconfined Compression Tests (UCS)
First, dried soil was passed through a sieve # 6
because according to (ASTM Standard D2166,
2007) standard, the largest soil particle diameter
must be smaller than 1/6 mold diameter in
unconfined compression test. Test specimens were
obtained by mixing oven-dry soil and determined
quantities of CLR until the mixture acquired a
uniform color and consistency, the amount of
additives for each specimen was determined based
on the weight of dry soil. Then required quantity of
water was added and the mixing continued till a
homogeneous mixture was achieved. The tests
were carried on soils treated with 5%, 7.5%, 10%
and 12.5% of CLR by weight. Each specimen used

86
 Bagheri et al.
Soil Strength improvement by using a new compound stabilizer
for the determination of UCS was compacted in 3
layers of 25mm thickness in a rigid cylindrical
mould to a target dry density with optimum water
content of the untreated soil (16.3%). The height
and diameter of the samples prepared for the UCS
test were 76 mm and 38 mm, respectively. After
completion of the compaction, specimens were
immediately cured in a covered container with a
wet sponge in a humid room at 24°C 2°C to avoid
significant changes in moisture content until
testing at 7, 28 and 60 days. The similar samples
prepared for this investigation were kept in the
same condition (moisture content, density and
curing time) to diminish effects on test results.
Fig. 2. Variation of plastic behavior of soil for different CLR content
3.2 Effect on the compact ability
The effect of CLR treatment on optimum water
content and maximum dry unit weight of soils
were determined from standard compaction tests
and are as shown in Figure 3. It can be observed,
generally, as CLR content increased, optimum
moisture content increased whereas maximum dry
unit weight decreased.
From Figure 4 also can observe the variation of
optimum moisture content (OMC) and maximum
dry density (MDD). It can also be seen that,
87
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1. Effect on the consistency limits
Variation of liquid and plastic limits for different
CLR content for soil is shown in Figure 2. It can be
seen that liquid limit and plastic limit increased
slightly with increasing in CLR content.
Accordingly, the plasticity index (Plascticty index
= LL- PL) is decreasing with CLR percent.
This is probably due to the substitution of Ca
ions with Na and K ions in the soil minerals,
causing a reduction in soil water content, as
explained by Hilt (Hilt et al., 1961).
changes in compaction characteristics are
significant at lower percentages of CLR content.
Basically, the increase in OMC is probably a
consequence of the additional water held with the
flocculant soil structure and more than water
absorption by RHA. For explain the reduction in
dry density, it may be related to the change of
particles size and specific gravity of the soil after
mixing. Decreasing dry density shows that it need
low compactive energy (CE) to achieve a
maximum dry density. As a result, the cost of
compaction becomes economical
 Caspian Journal of Applied Sciences Research, 2(AICCE'12 & GIZ' 12), pp. 84-90, 2013

Fig. 3. Effect of CLR treatment on compaction test result

Fig. 4. Variation of compaction characteristics for treated soil

3.3 Effect of the CLR Content, Porosity and
curing time on UCS test
Fig. 5(a)-5(c) present the effect of CLR on the
unconfined compression tests (UCS) of silty sand
specimens compacted at different dry densities
with CLR percentages and cured for 7, 28, and 60
days, respectively. Results of the UCS tests shows
that considerably higher compressive strengths (qu)
are obtained with the higher dry unit weight.
Another feature that can be seen is the rate of
strength (qu) increased with increasing CLR
content and curing time. For example, at  d =16
kN/m3 the qu increased by 261% when the CLR
content was increased from 5 to 10% at curing
time of 28 days. As shown by the results presented
in Fig. 5(a)-5(c), increase of CLR is certainly a
very effective additive to increase the strength of
treated soils. Also, it can be seen that a linear
function exists between unconfined compression
strength and CLR content (5%, 7.5%, 10%, and
12.5%) for each dry density (14 kN/m3, 15kN/m3,
16 kN/m3, and 17 kN/m3).
To explain the mechanism of CLR effect on
silty sand it is attributed that, Rice husk ash used
for this investigation have high silica content
(90%). Therefore, addition of RHA to soil-lime
blended with water increases pozzolanic reaction
due to the reaction between Ca(OH)2 and SiO2

88
 Bagheri et al.
Soil Strength improvement by using a new compound stabilizer

(Sharma et al., 2008), leads to the formation of larger aggregates in CLR-Silty sand blends (Yin et
cementations bonds by producing cementing al, 1961).
material including calcium-silicate-hydrates
(Equation 1). Subsequently, cement helps to Ca(OH ) 2  SiO2  CaO  SiO2  H 2O (1
compound the finer particles together to form

Fig. 5. Variation of unconfined compressive strength with CLR content: (a) Soil-CLR (7 days) specimens,
(b) Soil-CLR (28 days) specimens, (c) Soil-CLR (60 days) specimens

4. CONCLUSION • It was shown that also the unconfined

The following conclusions can be drawn from this
study:
• The liquid limit and plastic limit increased
slightly with increasing in CLR content and CLR
reduced the plasticity of soil.
• The maximum dry density of CLR-
stabilized soil decreases with the increase in CLR
content and the cost of compaction become
economical. The optimum moisture content is
increased steeply by increasing in CLR content
percentage.
compressive strength increased linearly with an
increase in the CLR content and curing time.
REFERENCES
ASTM Standard D2487 (2007). Standard Practice
for Classification of Soils for Engineering
Purposes (Unified Soil Classification
System)” ASTM International, West
Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM Standard D2166 (2007). Standard test
method for unconfined compressive strength
of cohesive soil. ASTM International, West
Conshohocken.

89
 Caspian Journal of Applied Sciences Research, 2(AICCE'12 & GIZ' 12), pp. 84-90, 2013
Basha, E. A., Hashim, R., Mahmud, H. B.
Muntohar, A.S (2005). Stabilization of
residual soil with RHA and cement.
Construction and Building Material, 19:
448-453.
British Standard Institution (1994). Methods of test
for soils for civil engineering purposes. BS
1377–1990: Part 2.
British Standard Institution (1994). Methods of test
for soils for civil engineering purposes. BS
1377–1990: Part 4.
Hilt, G. H., Davidson, D. T (1961). Isolation and
investigation of a lime-montmorillonite
crystalline reaction product. High-way
Research Board, 304:51–64.
Ingles, O. G., Metcalf, J. B (1972). Soil
stabilization-Principles and practice”
Butterworths, Melbourne, Australia.
James, J. Rao, S. M (1986). Silica from rice husk
through thermal decomposition.
Thermochim Acta, 97: 329-36.
Joel, M., Agbede, I. O (2011). Mechanical cement
stabilization of laterite for use as flexible
pavement material. Journal of materials in
civil engineering, ASCE, 23(2):146-152.
Kolias, S., Kasselouri-Rigopoulou, V. Karahalios,
A (2005) Stabilisation of clayey soils with
high calcium fly ash and cement. Cement &
Concrete Composites, 27: 301-313.
Lo, S. R., Wardani, S. P. R (2002). Strength and
dilatancy of a stabilized by a cement and fly
ash mixture. Canadian Geotechnical Journal,
39(1): 77-89.
90
View publication stats
Mcdowell, C. (1959). Stabilization of soils with
lime, lime-fly ash and other lime reactive
materials. Highway Research Board, 23: 60-
66.
Muthadhi, A. Kothandaraman, S (2010). Optimum
production conditions for reactive rice husk
ash. Materials and Structures Journal,
43(9):1303-1315.
Puppala, A. J., Intharasombat, N.Vempati, R. K
(2005). Experimental studies on ettringite-
induced heaving in soils. Journal of
Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental
Engineering, 131(3), No. 3: 325-337.
Sariosseiri, F. Muhunthan, B (2008). Effect of
cement treatment on geotechnical properties
of someWashington State soils. Engineering
Geology, 104: 119-125.
Sharma, R. S., Phanikumar, B. R. Varaprasada, R.
B (2008). Engineering behavior of a
remolded expansive clay blended with Lime,
Calcium Chloride, and Rice-Husk Ash.
Journal of materials in civil engineering,
ASCE, 20(8): 509-515.
Sherwood, P (1993). Soil stabilization with cement
and lime. State of the art review. Transport
Research Laboratory.
Yin, C. Y., Hilmi, M. Shaaban, M. G (1961).
Stabilization/solidification of lead
contaminated soil using cement and rice
husk ash. Journal of Hazardous Materials,
137: 1758-1764.