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Soil Stabilization Using Bottom Ash and Areca Fiber: Experimental

Investigations and Reliability Analysis

Article  in  Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering · May 2018

DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0002326

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 Soil Stabilization Using Bottom Ash and Areca Fiber:
Experimental Investigations and Reliability Analysis
Sooraj P. Sudhakaran 1; Anil Kumar Sharma, Ph.D., A.M.ASCE 2; and Sreevalsa Kolathayar, Ph.D. 3
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Abstract: The rapid development of urban areas and the increase in construction activities have resulted in a scarcity of land with favorable
soil conditions, necessitating the use of locally available weak soils for construction activities through stabilization techniques. This study
introduces a new material, areca fiber, and its suitability as soil reinforcement. Although areca is available abundantly in many parts of the
world, its application in geotechnical engineering has not been explored. In the present study, bottom ash (BA) is used as a stabilizing agent,
and the suitability of natural areca fiber as reinforcement is demonstrated through detailed experimental investigations and reliability analysis.
The test method includes compaction tests, unconfined compression strength (UCS) tests, California bearing ratio (CBR) tests, and split
tensile strength tests. The BA content was varied from 0 to 40%, the fiber content was varied from 0 to 1.5%, and the corresponding per-
formance assessment was done. A small amount of cement (3%) was also added to improve the pozzolanic reaction. The UCS and split tensile
strength tests were conducted on samples at different curing periods with a maximum curing for 90 days, whereas CBR tests were conducted
after 7 days of curing for both soaked and unsoaked conditions. There was considerable increase in UCS, CBR, and split tensile strength of
the soil with addition of BA, and the strength values increased tremendously in the presence of areca fiber. Mineralogical and microstructural
studies were conducted on the stabilized soil sample using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. These
results confirmed the formation of cementitious compounds in the XRD patterns and showed development of dense matrix in the SEM
images. The performance of the modified subgrade soil was validated using a reliability approach, which found that the soil subgrade with
BA and areca fiber can certainly be used as pavement material for low-volume applications. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0002326.
© 2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
Author keywords: Soil stabilization; Soil subgrade; Areca fiber; Bottom ash; Reliability analysis.

Introduction
The rapid growth of population, fast development of urban areas,
and increase in construction activities have resulted in the scarcity
of land suitable for construction. Structures frequently have to be
built upon problematic (weak or expansive) soils. The stabilization
of soil with chemical additives helps to improve the engineering
properties of the soil. The common admixtures used to stabilize
soil are lime, cement, ground granulated blast furnace slag
(GGBS), fly ash (FA), and bottom ash (BA). However, using lime
and cement raise environmental concerns and are not preferred
nowadays. In the recent past, sustainable binders have also been
developed for the application in soil stabilization (Latifi et al.
2017b; Latifi and Meehan 2017; Rashid et al. 2017). Latifi et al.
(2017a) examined the effectiveness of a new calcium-based addi-
tive developed from biomass silica for stabilizing a residual laterite
soil. They found that the new stabilizer had significant effect on the
strength properties, which was also evident from scanning electron
microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis on the
1
M.Tech Student, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Amrita Univ., Coimbatore,
Tamil Nadu 641112, India. Email: soorajsudakaran@gmail.com
2
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Amrita Univ.,
Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641112, India. Email: ak_sharma@cb.amrita.edu
3
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Amrita Univ.,
Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641112, India (corresponding author). Email:
k_sreevalsa@cb.amrita.edu
Note. This manuscript was submitted on July 4, 2017; approved on
January 9, 2018; published online on May 28, 2018. Discussion period
open until October 28, 2018; separate discussions must be submitted for
individual papers. This paper is part of the Journal of Materials in Civil
Engineering, © ASCE, ISSN 0899-1561.
stabilized samples. GGBS and FA are significantly used in the ce-
ment and concrete industries in addition to soil stabilization. FA
and BA are the major combustion products in the thermal power
plants after the burning process of coal. FA has got much applica-
tion as compared to BA. It has been successfully utilized along with
many other materials in cement and concrete as well as in subgrade
and many other civil engineering uses owing to its better reactivity
and pozzalonic reaction (Kolias et al. 2005; Parsa et al. 1996; Sahu
et al. 2017). Utilization of BA has been quite limited because of its
slow pozzolanic activity and sandlike property (Cheriaf et al.
1999). However, the use of BA has huge potential in soil stabiliza-
tion application, which has not been widely explored. BA gener-
ation varies between 0.6 and 2.10 t/MW from the thermal power
plants, and India’s energy production is more than 307.28 GW
(Kumar et al. 2010). Its exposure results in many environmental
hazards. In the present scenario, less than 30% of coal ash produced
is reused; hence, measures to improve its usage have to be
considered.
Fibers can be used as a reinforcing material in soil to impart
tensile strength. Previous studies reported the suitability of using
synthetic fibers, such as polypropylene (PP), polyvinyl alcohol
(PVA), and natural fibers such as coir, jute, and sisal, among others,
in soft ground applications. The reliability studies conducted by
Moghal et al. (2018) reported the effect of synthetic fiber reinforce-
ment on CBR behavior of lime-blended expansive soils. The study
showed that the concentration and length of the fiber have signifi-
cant influence on the CBR value. Chauhan et al. (2008) studied the
effectiveness of fiber reinforcement in subgrade soil along with fly
ash. They reported that the coir fiber shows better resilient response
with respect to cyclic loading against synthetic fiber owing to a
higher coefficient of friction. Cai et al. (2006) studied the effect

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 of polypropylene fiber and lime admixture on engineering proper- Table 1. Physical properties of the soil
ties of clayey soil. From the test results, the addition of polypro- Physical property Value
pylene fiber and lime improved the engineering properties of clayey
Specific gravity 2.64
soil. Kumar and Gupta (2016) studied the effect of adding rice husk
Liquid limit (%) 64
ash, pond ash, cement, and fiber on the compaction and strength Plastic limit (%) 34
behavior of clay. Several studies showed that the fatigue life is also Plasticity index (%) 30
improved by adding up the cement and fiber, and the method of OMC (%) 28.73
stabilization using fibers (natural and synthetic fibers) will be more MDD (g/cm3) 1.42
economical because it is easily available (Cai et al. 2006; Chauhan
et al. 2008; Kumar and Gupta 2016; Lekha et al. 2015; Moghal
et al. 2018). Test results show that the engineering properties de-
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into pieces to pass through 4.75 mm. The grain-size distribution of

pend on many factors such as fiber content, lime or cement content,
and length of curing.
The present study introduces a promising natural fiber, areca
fiber, which is inexpensive, sufficiently available, and is a very high
potential perennial crop (DASD 2015). In India, areca farming is
at a large scale, and areca nut is used in paint, medicine, chocolate,
and chewable gutka. Areca fiber is in the outer cover of the areca nut
and remains unused and disposed. The studies pertaining to using
areca as fiber reinforcement in soils is very limited. Lekha et al.
(2015) studied the engineering properties of lateritic soil enhanced
with areca fiber with cement as the stabilizing agent. The results
obtained showed sufficient strength characteristics for use as a pave-
ment subgrade for low-volume traffic. However, the studies at nano-
scale level, such as SEM and XRD analyses, were not reported.
In the present study, an attempt has been made to explore the
possibility of using areca fiber and BA in stabilizing the soil.
Extensive experimental investigations, including compaction, un-
confined compressive strength (UCS) tests, California bearing ratio
(CBR) tests, and split tensile strength tests, were carried out on dif-
ferent mix proportions of soil, BA, and areca fiber. The stabilized
soil was also examined using nanocharacterization techniques,
such as SEM and XRD. The effect of inconsistency associated with
strength parameters (CBR) on subgrade strength failure has been
studied using a reliability approach.
Materials
Soil
The soil used in this study was obtained from a construction
site situated in Periyanaickenpalayam Region, Coimbatore,
Tamil Nadu. The collected soil was then air-dehydrated and broken
the soil was found by carrying out both wet sieve and dry sieve
analyses per IS 2720 (BIS 1980). The particle-size distribution
of the soil sample is shown in Fig. 1, which indicates that it
is of a clayey nature. The soil consists of 33.30% sand, 38.57%
silt, and 28.13% clay. Physical properties of the soil are given
in Table 1. According to the Indian standard soil classification
system, IS 1498-1970 (BIS 1970), the soil is silt of high compress-
ibility (MH).
BA
The bottom ash samples used in this study were extracted from
Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC), Neyveli, Tamil Nadu, India.
Bottom ash is a part of the noncombustible residue of the combus-
tion process in a furnace. The specific gravity was determined to be
2.42 per IS 2720, Part 3 (BIS 1980; ASTM 2014). Fig. 1 shows the
grain-size distribution of the BA, which consists mainly of uni-
formly graded sand. Table 2 shows the chemical composition of
the BA. For determining the chemical composition of bottom
ash, energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX) analysis was done.
The samples for EDAX tests were prepared by taking a small
amount of oven-dried BA (5–10 g) and mounting it on a sample
holder using carbon tape. The sample was tested and analyzed
using a Carl Zeiss Evo 18 (Oberkochen, Germany) at the PSG
College of Technology, Coimbatore, India. The elemental compo-
sition was converted to corresponding oxides. In this study, BA was
used as a stabilizing agent along with 3% of 53 grade ordinary
portland cement to improve the pozzalonic activity.
Areca Fiber
Areca is a species of palm that grows in much of the tropical
Pacific, Asia, and parts of East Africa. Areca farming is wide-
spread throughout southern China, Taiwan, India, Bangladesh, the
Maldives, Ceylon, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia,
Indonesia, New Guinea, many of the islands in the Pacific Ocean,
and also in the West Indies. In India, areca is available abundantly
in the states of Karnataka, Kerala, and Assam. For the present

Table 2. Chemical composition of BA

Oxides Composition (%)
Al2 O3 22.2
SiO2 51.2
SO3 0.23
CaO 1.20
Fe2 O3 20.3
MgO 0.8
Na2 O 0.25
P2 O5 0.35
K2 O 2.26
TiO2 1.1
Fig. 1. Particle-size distribution curves of soil and BA. Loss on ignition 0.11

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 fiber treatment, which spanned 45 days, is represented in Fig. 3.
The preliminary treatment was done by soaking the fibers in
water at room temperature for 15 days [Fig. 3(a)]. The fibers were
then dried at room temperature for 15 days and were soaked in
KOH solution for 15 days [Fig. 3(b)]. Then it was washed with
CH3 COOH. Finally, it was again washed with water and kept
for drying in normal temperature [Fig. 3(c)]. An increase in tensile
strength of areca fiber by 32% was observed after the aforemen-
tioned treatment.
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Experimental Program

Compaction Tests
Optimum moisture content (OMC) and maximum dry density
(MDD) for different proportions of soil and BA were determined
using a series of minicompaction tests. The minicompaction appa-
Fig. 2. Areca fibers. ratus consists of a mold of 3.81 cm internal diameter and height of
10 cm, with a falling hammer weight 1.0 kg with 36 blows=layer in
three layers for the Proctor compaction curve. The minicompaction
apparatus requires only about one-tenth the volume of soil needed
Table 3. Physical properties of areca fiber when compared with the standard and modified Proctor test. More-
Physical property Value over, the time and effort involved in carrying out the minicompac-
tion test is much less (Sridharan and Sivapullaiah 2005).
Young’s modulus (MPa) 2,770
Maximum tensile force (N) 3.21
Diameter (mm) 0.25–0.35 Unconfined Compression Strength Tests
Length (mm) 50 to 80
Elongation at the maximum tensile force (%) 2.4
Three specimens were prepared for each test according to the MDD
and OMC of the mix obtained from the minicompaction tests. The
soil-BA mixture was prepared by adding the required amount of
water and mixing properly in a wet state. The mixing was done
study, areca fibers were collected from Kannur district in the state by hand and good care was provided to prepare a uniform mix.
of Kerala, India. The dry areca nut shells, which are brown in color, The specimens (38-mm inner diameter and 76 mm long) were pre-
were collected for the present work, and the fiber from the shell was pared and tested per IS 2720, Part 10 (BIS 1991). The prepared
extracted manually in the laboratory. Fig. 2 shows the physical mixes were then placed inside the mold and compacted. The spec-
appearance of areca nut fiber, and the physical properties of areca imens were then extracted from the mold. Some of the prepared
nut fiber are tabulated in Table 3. A dried fiber of length 5 cm was samples are shown in Fig. 4. The specimens were preserved by
used for estimating the tensile strength of the areca fiber using ten- wrapping them up in polyethylene bags and then placing them
sile testing equipment available at PSG College of Technology, inside gunny bags with a regular sprinkling of water to maintain
Coimbatore, India. humidity. The UCS tests were conducted on soil-BA mix samples
(with varying percentage of BA) to arrive at the optimum content
of BA.
Treatment of Areca Fibers
BA is a pozzolanic material and may require external activators
The areca fiber used in the study was chemically treated so that to improve the pozzolanic action. Hence, in the present study,
its flexural strength and durability properties are improved 3% of cement was added to increase the pozzolanic reactivity of
(Venkateshappa et al. 2010). The step-by-step process of the areca the mixture. Once the BA and cement contents were fixed, further

Fig. 3. Process of areca fiber treatment: (a) areca fiber soaked in water for 15 days; (b) drying for 15 days and keeping in KOH for 15 days; and
(c) treated fiber after drying.

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Fig. 4. Typical specimens for UCS test.

UCS tests were conducted at different percentages of areca fibers
(0, 0.5, 1, and 1.5%) on the soil-BA-cement mixtures after curing
for 7, 14, 28, 48, and 90 days. The details of the different mix
proportions of the samples tested for UCS are shown in Table 4.
For every combination of mixes, three samples each were tested,
and mean values were reported.
Split Tensile Strength Tests
Tensile strength is an important parameter in predicting the suitabil-
ity of a subgrade material in pavement construction. The simple and
easy procedure to determine tensile strength is the split tensile
strength test (Das et al. 1995). The specimens were prepared in
a similar way as mentioned for UCS test samples and cured for
the same period of time. For testing, the specimen was laid diamet-
rically on the Universal Testing Machine (New Delhi, India) and
the load was applied until its failure. The split tensile strength is
calculated according to IS 5816 (BIS 1999), as below:
2Pmax
T¼ ð1Þ
πdL
condition. Later the specimens were soaked in water for 4 days and
tested for soaked CBR value.
Microstructural and Mineralogical Studies
An XRD technique was used to determine the mineralogical
changes in the stabilized soil, using Rigaku Ultima (Tokyo, Japan)
at a scan speed of 0.5°=min from 2θ ¼ 5 to 85° with a wavelength
of about 1.54 × 10−10 Å. Scanning electron microscopic analysis
was done to observe the microstructural alterations happened dur-
ing the stabilization process using a Carl Zeiss Evo 18 scanning
electron microscope.
Results and Discussions
Compaction Test
Figs. 5 and 6 present the variation of MDD and OMC, respectively,
against the varying percentage of the BA from 0 to 40%. From

where T = split tensile strength; Pmax = maximum applied load; and

L and d = length and diameter of the specimen, respectively.

California Bearing Ratio Tests

The CBR test is a widely used method to evaluate the suitability of
soil subgrade and other pavement layer materials. The CBR tests on
different mixes of soil, BA, cement, and areca fiber were conducted
per IS 2720, Part 16 (BIS 1987). The specimens were prepared at
their respective MDD and OMC and cured for 7 days in a humidity
chamber maintained at 27°C and 95% humidity for the unsoaked

Table 4. Mix design of samples for UCS tests

Soil (%) BA (%) Fiber (%) Cement (%)
67.00 30 0.00 3
66.50 30 0.50 3
66.00 30 1.00 3
65.50 30 1.50 3 Fig. 5. MDD versus percentage of BA.

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Fig. 6. OMC versus percentage of BA. Fig. 7. UCS versus percentage of BA.

Fig. 5, it is clear that as the BA content increases, the MDD of the a great effect on the strength, and this is attributed to the hydration
mixtures also increases; beyond 30% BA, a decrease in MDD was process of the cement with soil and BA. In previous studies, similar
observed. It is possible that the soil-BA mixture becomes well- strength improvement was reported (Cai et al. 2006; Chauhan et al.
graded with the addition of BA up to 30% and enhances the 2008; Kumar and Gupta 2016; Lekha et al. 2015; Moghal et al.
MDD, whereas a higher amount of BA disturbs the intergranular 2018; Parsa et al. 1996; Sahu et al. 2017).
packing leading to the reduction in MDD. OMC was found to re- There was increase of 191% in UCS value with the addition of
duce with an increase in BA up to 30% and increased beyond 30% 1.5% fiber to the soil-BA mix for the 90-day curing period, whereas
of BA (Fig. 6). Similar trends in OMC and MDD were reported by the percentage increase in UCS value owing to the addition 1.5%
several previous studies (Ibraim and Fourmont 2007; Osinubi fiber was 210% for the 48-day curing period.
2000). Additionally, the replacement of soil with excess bottom
ash may lead to a reduction in MDD because bottom ash has lower
specific gravity in comparison to the soil. The decrease in optimum Split Tensile Strength
water content gives an indication that the soil can be stabilized even The performance of the soil mix under tensile load was studied
at lower water content. On the other hand, the increase in MDD through the split tensile strength test. The split tensile strength for
demonstrates the suitability of soil-BA mixtures for use as subgrade the soil-BA-cement mix with and without fiber was determined
and embankment material. In IRC (2007), the density of material for specimens cured up to 7, 14, 28, 48, and 90 days. Fig. 9 shows
used for subgrade construction should not be less than 1.64 g=cm3 , the variation of split tensile strength with curing period for
and the present mix satisfies the criteria. the soil-BA-cement mix with and without fiber. The results ob-
tained in the present study were similar to previous findings
UCS Test
Fig. 7 shows the variation of UCS at different percentages of BA
without any curing. From the UCS tests, it is clear that the strength
of the soil improves nominally as the percentage of BA increases up
to 30%, whereas there is a drastic reduction in UCS at 40% of BA.
The reduction in UCS after 30% may be attributed to the reduction
in MDD that was observed in minicompaction test results. The
reduction in density reduces the particle packing; as result, the un-
drained shear strength reduces with 40% BA content. Based on the
results of compaction and UCS tests, 30% BA can be considered as
optimum content for further detailed investigations.
Fig. 8 shows the UCS variation of the soil-BA-cement mix with
a varying percentage of fiber for curing periods of 7, 14, 28, 48, and
90 days. The test results show that as the percentage of areca fiber
was increased, the UCS value greatly improved. Notably, the
increase in UCS up to 1% of fiber content is nominal, whereas
the UCS increases tremendously with 1.5% fiber content. This
is attributed to the improvement in the cohesion, better gradation,
and interlocking or packing of soil and BA. A similar observation
was reported by Lekha et al. (2015) when laterite soil was mixed
Fig. 8. UCS versus percentage of fiber content.
with areca fiber and cement. Fig. 8 shows that the proper curing has

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Fig. 10. Load penetration curve for the unsoaked condition.

Fig. 9. Split tensile strength versus curing period.

(Kumar and Gupta 2016; Sahu et al. 2017). Generally, the fiber fibers. In the present investigation, CBR behavior of both soaked
inclusion improves the tensile behavior property because of the and unsoaked conditions fulfills the criteria of a minimum CBR of
interlinking property. Different quantities of fiber can cause dif- 15% for subgrade applications (IRC 2007). However, CBR showed
ferent effects on the strength behavior of the soil sample. An in- a 24% decrease under soaked condition, as obvious because the
sufficient quantity of fiber may lead to less stabilization of the sample becomes loose and soft in the presence of water.
soil, whereas an excess quantity may result in ineffective stabi-
lization and decrease the strength of the soil. The study by Kumar
Mineralogical and Microstructural Studies
and Gupta (2016) using polypropylene fibers showed that the
maximum strength obtained was in the range of 60–65 kPa. Li Fig. 12 shows the XRD diffraction patterns for the optimum sta-
et al. (2014) also found that the tensile strength of the Nanjing bilized mix (soil mixed with 30% BA, 3% cement, and 1.5% fiber)
soil mixed with polypropylene fiber increased significantly with sample cured for 28 and 90 days along with the untreated soil sam-
the addition of only 0.2% of fiber. In the present study, the tensile ple. XRD studies showed that with 28 days of curing, cementitious
strength of the mix with the addition of fiber is improved up to compounds like tobermorite are formed as a result of pozzolanic
905 kPa after 90 days of curing. This is well above the minimum reaction. Tobermorite is a form of calcium silicate hydrate that
tensile strength of 469 kPa required for subgrade pavement gives strength to the stabilized mix (Solanki and Zaman 2012).
applications (Osinubi 2000). The peak intensities are increased with the 90 days of curing.
Emergences of new peaks are also observed in the 90-day cured
CBR Test samples. Additionally, calcite peaks, which are formed along with
the cementitious compounds, are also identified (Solanki and
CBR for the optimum mix composite for unsoaked and soaked con- Zaman 2012). The calcium hydroxide peak is found at 2θ − 47°,
ditions after 7 days of curing is provided in Table 5. The load pen- which is the result of the hydration of cement. Calcium hydroxide
etration curves for unsoaked and soaked conditions are shown in
Figs. 10 and 11, respectively. With the proposed modifications
regarding the addition of BA, cement, and fiber, the CBR was ob-
served to increase from 2.25 to 39.45% for the unsoaked condition,
whereas the increase was from 1.20 to 29.98% under the soaked
condition. The similar kind of decrease was also noticed in previous
studies (Sahu et al. 2017). Ravishankar and Raghavan (2004) found
that the CBR of the coir-stabilized soil increased up to 10% of the
coir content, but it further reduced beyond this amount. The thick-
ness of the base course can be reduced considerably by using ran-
domly distributed fibers as reinforcement (Gosavi and Patil 2004).
Sarbaz et al. (2014) did thorough experimental studies on CBR
behavior on soil stabilized with date palm fibers and found that
the longer fibers had a greater impact on CBR behavior than shorter

Table 5. Unsoaked and soaked CBR values of optimum mix sample

Unsoaked Soaked
Mix composition CBR CBR
Soil 2.25 1.2
Soil þ 30% BA þ 3% cement 33.27 23.83
Soil þ 30% BA þ 3% cement þ 1.5% fiber 39.45 29.98 Fig. 11. Load penetration curve for the soaked condition.

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Fig. 12. X-ray diffraction pattern of (a) untreated soil; (b) stabilized
mix cured for 28 days; and (c) stabilized mix cured for 90 days.
helps in increasing the pH of the system, which further enhances
the pozzolanic reaction. Some of the high intensity quartz peaks
that were observed in the untreated soil diffraction patterns
(2θ − 63°) is now found to reduce with stabilization and curing
periods. It is quite possible that the quartz is being consumed as
a result of pozzolanic reaction, thereby forming new compounds
such as tobermorite and CH, among others (Sharma and
Sivapullaiah 2016).
Fig. 13(a) shows the micrograph of the untreated soil. The gen-
eral fabric of the untreated sample resembles a clay matrix con-
nected with visible pore spaces (Al-Rawas 2002). However, no
aggregation of clay particles is observed in the absence of additives.
SEM micrographs of the soil stabilized with 30% BA, 3% cement,
and 1.5% of fiber at 28 days is shown in Fig. 13(b). The hydration
process of BA is enhanced by adding up the cement, which results
in the formation of hydration products such as tobermorite, CH,
and other hydrates (Mohamed 2002). However, few pores are also
observed along with the dense matrix for the samples cured for
28 days. Fig. 13(c) displays the interaction between areca fiber-
stabilized soil for a 28-day curing period. The bond between the
soil and the fiber is clearly visible. It is observed clearly that
the areca fibers have rough texture, which induces resistance be-
tween the soil grains owing to an interfacial interaction. This en-
hances strength in the BA-stabilized soil in the presence of fiber.
Further, the formation of cementitious compounds with curing
makes the microstructure denser with increased resistance between
the fiber and hydration products (Tang et al. 2014). It is interesting
to note that the areca fibers are intact even after the failure occurred
in the specimen. After 90 days [Fig. 13(d)], the amount of hydra-
tion products continued to increase, resulting in a higher strength of
the mix, which was reflected in UCS test results. Moreover, a much
denser matrix is observed with fewer pores, showing continuous
mass of the stabilized soil, which further increased the strength
of the sample.
Reliability Analysis
Reliability-based methods are used to account for the uncertainties
in the design process. Flexible pavements are analyzed according
© ASCE 04018169-7
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to rutting and fatigue failure. The failure mainly occurs by the ap-
plication of a repetitive traffic load to the pavement surface, and the
cracks start at the bottom of the layer and propagate upward. The
horizontal tensile strain at the bottom of the bound layer is consid-
ered as the governing parameter for fatigue failure. The vertical
strains on the top of the subgrade layer are considered as the gov-
erning factor for rutting failure. Generally, the fatigue and rutting
are represented by a number of load repetitions to cause the failure
of the pavement. Based on design traffic and the number of load
repetitions that can withstand the load, the thickness of each layer is
determined. In reliability analysis, input variables are treated as
normal or log-normally distributed continuous random variables,
and the performance assessment or the uncertainty of the structural
component is assessed through reliability index (β) (Ayyub and
McCuen 2011; Sahu et al. 2017). The assessment of uncertainty
relies on number (n) of measured data (xi) and its sample mean
(μ) and sample variance (σ2 ) (Ayyub and McCuen 2011). The
sample mean is represented by the following:
1X n
μ¼ ðx Þ ð2Þ
n i¼1 i
The sample variance is
1 X n
σ2 ¼ ðx − μÞ2 ð3Þ
ðn − 1Þ i¼1 i
From the variables, the μ (sample mean) and σ (standard
deviation) are determined. Coefficient of variation (expressed as
a percentage), which is defined as the ratios of standard deviation
(σ) to the sample mean (μ), is also determined. The coefficient of
variation can be defined as the spread that describes the amount
of variability relative to the mean commonly used to quantify
the uncertainty related to a problem (Ayyub and McCuen 2011).
Information on mean and variance is used for calculating the reli-
ability of the system expressed in terms of reliability index (β).
First-order reliability method (FORM) is used to determine
the reliability index of the problem. If C and D are the capacity
and demand of a system and performance function is defined as
gðxÞ ¼ C=D; for log-normally distributed C and D, the reliability
index (β) is obtained as follows:
h qffiffiffiffiffiffiffi2ffi i
ln μμdc 1þδ c
1þδ 2d
β ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ð4Þ
ln½ð1 þ δ 2c Þð1 þ δ 2d Þ
where μc , μd are the mean; and δ c , δ d are coefficient of variation
in capacity c (N f and N r ) and demand d (design traffic load),
respectively. The coefficient of variation in demand is taken as
40% in the present study. According to USACE (1999) guidelines,
a reliability index (β) of 3 is acceptable for above average perfor-
mance and 5 for excellent performance. Based on the obtained val-
ues of reliability index, the performance of the pavement can be
analyzed.
In the present study, numerical analysis of a three-layered flex-
ible pavement was performed through ANSYS 3D, and maximum
tensile strain at the bottom of the surface course (εt ) and maximum
compressive strain (εc ) at the top of the subgrade layer was deter-
mined. The values of the number of load repetitions for fatigue and
rutting failure (N f and N r ) were estimated through Eqs. (5) and (6),
respectively, per IRC 37-2001 (IRC 2013) guidelines. The pave-
ment under consideration is of unit length and 3.5-m width, con-
sisting of three-layered systems. The subgrade depth was taken as
500 mm, whereas the base layer and surface course depth were
J. Mater. Civ. Eng.
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Fig. 13. SEM micrographs of (a) untreated soil; (b) stabilized mix cured for 28 days; (c) fiber-stabilized mix interface cured for 28 days; and
(d) stabilized mix cured for 90 days.

assumed as 150 and 75 mm, respectively. The analysis was focused Elastic modulus of the bituminous layer (E) was considered
on low-volume traffic roads; hence, IRC (2007) was followed for as a constant value of 5,000 MPa. The vehicle loading was approxi-
the guidelines. mated as circular loading of 550 kPa with the radius of contact
The number of load repetitions for fatigue failure (N f ) is area as 110 mm for the standard axial load of 80 kN. For the differ-
 3.89  0.854 ent set of E and μ values, the maximum strain values at critical
−4 1 1
N f ¼ 2.21 × 10 × ð5Þ locations were obtained through the analysis using ANSYS 3D
ϵt E (Fig. 14).
The number of load repetitions for rutting failure (N r ) is The corresponding N f and N r were then estimated using Eqs. (4)
 4.5337 and (5), respectively. The number (N) of N f and N r values were
−8 1 obtained through this method. The coefficient of variation in capac-
N r ¼ 4.1656 × 10 ð6Þ
ϵc ity was obtained for the fatigue and rutting. By knowing the mean
and coefficient of variation of capacity and demand, the reliability
Randomly distributed variables (N), i.e., elastic modulus of index values with respect to fatigue (β f ) and rutting (β r ) can be
subgrade (Es ) and elastic modulus of base materials (EB ) were determined. The pavement performance based on the reliability
estimated by Eqs. (6)–(8) as given in IRC (2013), using MATLAB index are tabulated in Table 6.
programing; the modulus of elasticity of subgrade is From Table 6, it is observed that the performance of the pave-
Es ¼ 10 × ðCBRÞ For CBR ≤ 5 ð7Þ ment will be excellent (β f and β r > 5) for 0.6 million standard
axles (MSA) of design traffic load. Up to the 1 MSA performance
(β f and β r > 3) of the subgrade is acceptable and can take a maxi-
Es ¼ 17.6ðCBRÞ0.64 For CBR ≥ 5 ð8Þ
mum load up to 1 MSA. IRC-SP: 72-2007 clearly states that the
The modulus of elasticity of the base layer is traffic volume of a low-volume road varies from 10,000 to 1 MSA,
and particularly, it is at a range of 50,000 repetitions throughout the
EB ¼ ES × 0.2 × h.45 ð9Þ design life.

© ASCE 04018169-8 J. Mater. Civ. Eng.

J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 2018, 30(8): 04018169


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Fig. 14. Deformation of the pavement layers.
Table 6. Reliability index for fatigue and rutting
Cumulative axial load
repetitions (MSA) βf
0.01 16.84
0.03 13.78
0.06 11.86
0.1 10.44
0.2 8.51
0.3 7.39
0.6 5.46
1 4.04
2 2.11
3 0.99
Conclusion
The following main conclusions can be drawn from the present
study:
• OMC was found to decrease and MDD increased with the ad-
dition of BA up to 30% to the soil, whereas this trend reversed
with addition of 40% BA. This may be attributed to the well-
graded of the soil-BA mixture with the addition of BA up to
30%, whereas with a higher amount of BA, the disturbance
in the intergranular packing can lead to a decrease in MDD.
Moreover, the replacement of soil with excess bottom ash
may lead to reduction in MDD because bottom ash has lower
specific gravity in comparison with the soil.
• UCS of the soil-BA mix was also found to increase up to 30%
BA content, and there was a reduction in UCS with 40% BA.
The results of UCS tests on the soil-BA-cement mix with vary-
ing percentage of areca fibers showed that the addition of fiber
improved the strength of the soil-BA-cement mix significantly.
The increase in UCS for the mix with addition of 1.5% areca
fiber was 191% for a curing period of 90 days.
• The study confirms that curing has a significant influence on the
strength behavior of the soil-BA-cement mix, and this can be
attributed to the hydration process of the cement with soil
and BA.
• There was a 17-fold increase in the unsoaked CBR of soil with
addition of 30% BA, 3% cement, and 1.5% areca fiber, whereas
the increase was 25-fold for soaked condition. These results
© ASCE
J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 2018, 30(8): 04018169
indicate its suitability for applications in the subgrade layer
of pavement.
• In the present study, the split tensile strength of the mix with
the addition of fiber is improved up to 905 kPa after 90 days
of curing. This is well above the minimum tensile strength of
469 kPa required for subgrade pavement applications.
• XRD studies showed formation of cementitious compounds
such as tobermorite (CSH) which provides strength to the mix
for 28- and 90-day cured samples. SEM investigation shows a
dense matrix in the sample after 28 days of curing along with
few pores. However, the pores disappeared after 90 days of cur-
ing, which demonstrates the progress of the pozzolanic reaction.
The rough texture of the areca fibers induced strength signifi-
cantly owing to the interfacial interaction between the fiber and
the reaction products that was observed in the SEM analysis.
• According to the reliability analysis, the pavement shows a sa-
tisfactory reliability index (β f and β r > 3) for 2 MSA of design
traffic load. It is observed that the performance of the pavement
will be excellent (β f and β r > 5) for 0.6 MSA of design traffic
load. The proposed composite mix can be suitably applied as
subgrade layer for low-traffic volume applications.
In general, the present investigation revealed that using BA and
areca fiber in soil stabilization can lead to ecofriendly and cost-
effective construction. Areca fibers, which are presently dumped
βr in large amounts, were found to be suitable for use as an effective
15.19 soil reinforcing material. Areca fibers impart good tensile strength
12.66 and CBR strength to the subgrade soil and can reduce the overall
11.07 thickness of the pavement. The outcomes of this study can be ben-
9.9 eficial to practicing engineers and researchers working in the field
8.31 of soil stabilization. Although the long-term durability studies have
7.38 not been conducted in this investigation, the treatment process pro-
5.78 posed in the study will aid in increasing the durability of areca fiber
4.61
for potential use as soil reinforcement material. The soil stabiliza-
3.02
2.09 tion using BA and areca fiber would be more economical because
they are abundantly available as industrial/agricultural waste, and
only a small amount of cement is sufficient to stabilize the soil
effectively. Hence, with proposed modifications, overall cost of
the road construction can be considerably reduced while also
satisfactorily meeting the strength requirements.
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