TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS........................................................................................................................... III
ABSTRACT............................................................................................................................................. IV
LIST OF FIGURES.................................................................................................................................. VIII
LIST OF TABLES....................................................................................................................................... X
1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................. 1
1.1 GENERAL......................................................................................................................................1
1.2 OBJECTIVES..................................................................................................................................1
1.3 SCOPE OF RESEARCH...................................................................................................................2
1.4 THESIS OVER VIEW......................................................................................................................2
2 LITERATURE REVIEW..................................................................................................................... 4
2.1 GENERAL...........................................................................................................................................4
2.2 CLAY MINERALS...........................................................................................................................5
2.2.1 Clay Minerals Formation...........................................................................................................6
2.2.2 Clay Minerals Structures...........................................................................................................6
2.2.3 Clay Minerals Specific Surface..................................................................................................8
2.2.4 Cation Exchange Capacity.........................................................................................................8
2.3 IDENTIFICATION OF MINERALS..............................................................................................................9
2.4 EXPANSIVE SOILS AND THEIR OCCURANCE................................................................................11
2.5 PROPERTIES OF EXPANSIVE SOILS.............................................................................................11
2.6 IDENTIFICATION OF EXPANSIVE SOILS.......................................................................................13
2.6.1 Field Observations..................................................................................................................13
2.6.2 Laboratory Tests Data Analysis..............................................................................................15
2.7 STABILIZATION OF EXPANSIVE SOILS.........................................................................................15
2.7.1 Prewetting...............................................................................................................................16
2.7.2 Constant Water Maintenance................................................................................................16
2.7.3 Chemical stabilization.............................................................................................................17
2.7.4 Compaction control................................................................................................................19
2.8 CURRENT RESEARCH AREA; A REVIEW......................................................................................21
3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY......................................................................................................... 23
3.1 GENERAL.........................................................................................................................................23
3.2 TEST SITES.....................................................................................................................................23
3.3 SOIL SAMPLING................................................................................................................................25
3.4 LABORATORY TESTING....................................................................................................................26
3.4.1 Moisture Content Determination...........................................................................................27
3.4.2 In-place Density Determination..............................................................................................27
3.4.3 Sieve Analysis..........................................................................................................................27
3.4.4 Hydrometer Analysis...............................................................................................................27
3.4.5 Atterberg’s Limits test.............................................................................................................27
3.4.6 Unconfined Compression Test................................................................................................28
3.4.7 Compaction Tests....................................................................................................................28
3.4.8 Swell Potential tests................................................................................................................30
 3.4.9 Swell Pressure Tests................................................................................................................31
4 RESULTS OF THE RESEARCH STUDY.............................................................................................. 33
4.1 GENERAL....................................................................................................................................33
4.2 TEST RESULTS AND DISCUSSION................................................................................................33
4.2.1 Natural Moisture Content.......................................................................................................33
4.2.2 In-place Density......................................................................................................................33
4.2.3 Sieve Analysis and Hydrometer Analysis................................................................................34
4.2.4 Atterbergs Limits.....................................................................................................................35
4.2.5 Soil Classification....................................................................................................................38
4.2.6 Soil Selection...........................................................................................................................38
4.2.7 Unconfined Compression Test................................................................................................39
4.2.8 Compaction Tests....................................................................................................................40
4.2.9 Selected Compaction tests......................................................................................................40
4.2.10 Comparison of Compaction tests.......................................................................................46
4.2.11 Swell potential Tests..........................................................................................................46
4.2.12 Swell Pressure Tests...........................................................................................................51
4.3 COMPARISON WITH OTHER RESEARCHERS.............................................................................................57
5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMENDATIONS......................................................................................59
5.1 CONCLUSIONS..................................................................................................................................59
5.2 RECOMMENDATION FOR FIELD COMPACTION.........................................................................................59
5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH.........................................................................................60
REFERENCES......................................................................................................................................... 62