“STABILIZATION OF BLACK COTTON SOIL USING

FLY ASH AND GEOPOLYMER”

PROJECT REFERENCE NO. : 37S1034

COLLEGE : DAYANANDA SAGAR COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, BANGALORE

BRANCH : CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT
GUIDE : PRAMOD K
STUDENTS : RAGHAVENDRA S.R
GIRISHA Y.A
CHANDRU S THANGADAGI
SUHAIL AHMED

Keywords : BC- Black Cotton Soil, FA- Fly Ash, GP- Geopolymer, LL-Liquid Limit,
SL-Shrinkage Limit

Introduction:
Over the past few decades several factors have led to an increase in the number of people
migrating to large cities. Consequently these large cities are getting over populated and quite
expectedly necessity of business, residential construction has increased the civil engineering
projects located in areas with unsuitable soil is one of the most common problems in many
parts of the world. The unsuitable soil (Black cotton Soil) can be replaced with stronger
material by usual method of soil stabilization.

Soil stabilization is a technique introduced many years ago with the main purpose to render
the soil capable of meeting the requirement of specific engineering projects. The technique of
soil stabilization are often used to obtain desired geotechnical properties by addition of
cementing agents such as lime, cement or industrial by waste products such as fly ash and a
chemical geo polymer etc.

In the present study an attempt is made to improve the engineering properties of Black cotton
soil by industrial products such as fly ash, geo polymer.

1
What is geo-polymer?

It is a heterogeneous material comprising of sodium silicate (NA203SI) & sodium

hydroxide (NAOH) which is adhesive in nature, & has good bonding properties when used
with fly ash.

Background:

Ali and Koranne (2011) presented the effect of stone dust and fly ash on characteristics of fly
ash. They concluded that here is a marked improvement in the properties of expansive soil if
stone dust and fly ash is mixed in equal proportions. There is a significant control in the
swelling behaviour of the expansive clay.

Similarly many researchers Kumar Sabat (2012), Phanikumar et al. (2004), QianGuoping et
al. (2011), Osman Sivrikaya (2013), Rezende, et al. (2003), Kamon et al. (1994), Yorimichi
et al. (1999) have investigated the use of industrial wastes like fly ash, granite mill tailings,
marble dusts, other stone wastes to improve the properties of weak/ expansive soils. They
concluded that these industrial wastes can increase the strength and decrease the swelling
behaviour of expansive soils if used individually or as an admixture to such soils.

Objectives:
• To determine the effects of fly ash and geo polymer on the Black cotton soil
• To check for compaction characteristics of Black cotton soil by addition of 2%, 4%,
and 6% combination of fly ash and geo polymer.
• To evaluate the strength characteristics of Black cotton soil with different proportions
of fly ash and geo polymer.
• To improve the engineering properties of the Black cotton soil and make it stable for
construction.

Methodology:
Materials used are:
 Black cotton soil procured from “Hebsur” near Hubli Karnataka.
 Fly ash.
 Geopolymer- sodium hydroxide+ sodium silicate mixture

2
 Methodology:

 Determining the Specific gravity, liquid limit, shrinkage limit and unconfined
compressive strength of natural Black cotton soil.
 Determining the change in properties of the above mentioned experiments by the
addition of fly ash and geopolymer in different percentages like 2%, 4% and 6% to
its weight.

Results and conclusions:

The following are the conclusions can be drawn from the experimental results on Black
Cotton Soil stabilized with Fly ash and Geopolymer:

 The specific Gravity of the soil for construction purpose should be 2.6 to 2.8, whereas
the Black Cotton soil of this project had a specific gravity of 2.45. Through
experiments by addition of stabilizing agents like Fly ash and Geopolymer in
quantities like 2%, 4% and 6% has showed the increase in specific gravity of the soil
to 2.51, 2.58, and 2.72 respectively.
 The liquid limit of the soil should be less for construction purpose. Black Cotton Soil
of this project had a liquid limit of 84% initially. Further by addition of stabilizing
agents like Fly ash and geopolymer in percentages like 2%, 4% and 6% the liquid
limit was reduced to 70%, 65% and 53% respectively.
 The shrinkage limit is the main factor responsible for volume changes in soil. The
Black Cotton soil exhibits drastic changes in its volume when exposed to water. The
shrinkage limit of the Black cotton soil of this project was 13.16% further by addition
of stabilising agents like Fly ash and geopolymer in percentages like 2%, 4% and 6%
the shrinkage limit of the soil was reduced to 13.05%, 12.78 and 12.07 respectively.
 The Black Cotton soil was subjected to compaction test by Jodhpur mini compacting
mould where the Maximum Dry Density (MDD) and Optimum Moisture Content
obtained is 1.48 g/cc and 21%.
 The soil for construction purpose should have good load bearing characteristics. This
load baring capacities was determined by Unconfined Compression Strength test. The
soil of this project had strength of 0.056 N/mm2. By addition of stabilising agents like
Fly ash and Geopolymer in percentages like 2%, 4% and 6% the results obtained are
0.04 N/mm2, 0.095 N/mm2 and 0.083 N/mm2 respectively.

3
  Here it can be observed that the compressive strength was increasing up to addition of
stabilizing agent till 4% on further addition there will be decrease in the soil strength.
 Finally it can be concluded that the stabilising agents like Fly ash and geopolymer
will help in increasing the engineering properties of the Black Cotton s
 Oil like specific gravity, liquid limit, shrinkage limit, compaction characteristics and
unconfined compressive strength.

Scope for future work:

 Geopolymer can be mixed with other additives and can be used for stabilization soil.
 Higher percentage of FA+GP combination can be used to stabilize the soil and can be
tested.
 Less research work has been carried out and geopolymer can be used to stabilize soil.