Notes GIT 2020 Part 1

ȡçĚȣ ĤȫɮȪͬȧ Ȳèȡ ĮȢ NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SRINAGAR
ͧ ͪ \ͧȡȲǒğȧ ͪȡ DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

¡, ĮȢ-CKBBBH, ȲǗ k æȢ (ȡ) HAZRATBAL, SRINAGAR-190006, J&K (INDIA)

e-Notes_GT_ 2020
No.: NIT/CED/______________
Ph.D. (Geotech-IITB), M. E.* (Geotech-IISc), M.B.A.* (ICM), B. E.* (UoK)
MASCE (USA), MISSMGE (UK), MIGS, MISCMS, MICI, MISTE, MIE (I),
MISWE, MISRMTT, C. Engg. (I), P. Engg (UK), SNM-UASCE (USA) March 27, 2020
Dated: _____________________
KIND ATTN: M. TECH. 2ND SEMESTER STUDENTS OF GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING

M. TECH. 2ND SEMESTER STUDENTS OF TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING
SUB: COURSE NO: CGE-201: GROUND IMPROVEMENT TECHNIQUES

Session: SPRING – 2020 (BATCH- 2019)
Dear All,
As all of us are aware that Complete Lockdown across the UT/State/Country has been strictly
imposed to protect from deadly COVID-19 Virus. Stay @home is the only option to safeguard
ourselves and the society. Therefore, I too suggest all of you to stay @home and be safe. Taking
advantage of this opportunity, I have prepared course material/collected few papers (in two
parts), which you can go through during lockdown period at your home. The main features of
this course material are:
1. Detailed syllabus is given for your reference so that you can prepare accordingly.
2. Some interesting and useful papers will give you an-insight about various ground
improvement techniques after going through each paper seriously.
3. Selected papers cover almost 70% of your syllabus for this session
4. You will learn how to prepare Manuscript, Figures etc for your research work.
Therefore, I advise all of you to go through this course material (both parts) and be in touch for
any query.
Let us hope that situation normalizes at the earliest so that we are back to our work. I am
preparing lecture plan for this course (Ground Improvement Techniques), which will be shared
with you shortly.
Stay @home and stay blessed
With Best wishes,

(Course Instructor)
E-mail: p7mir@nitsri.net / bashiriisc@yahoo.com / bamiriitb@gmail.com; http://profbamir.blogspot.in/

http://new.nitsri.ac.in/Department/Department_FacultyList.aspx; http://www.researcherid.com/rid/F-3770-2017
Cell No.: 09419002500 / 07006416837; Ph. No.: 0194-2429423 ext. 2216 (O), 2145 (O), Fax No.: 0194-2420475
ȡçĚȣ ĤȫɮȪͬȧ Ȳèȡ ĮȢ NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SRINAGAR
ͧ ͪ \ͧȡȲǒğȧ ͪȡ DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
¡, ĮȢ-CKBBBH, ȲǗ k æȢ (ȡ) HAZRATBAL, SRINAGAR-190006, J&K (INDIA)

No.: NIT/CED/______________
Ph.D. (Geotech-IITB), M. E.* (Geotech-IISc), M.B.A.* (ICM), B. E.* (UoK)
MASCE (USA), MISSMGE (UK), MIGS, MISCMS, MICI, MISTE, MIE (I),
MISWE, MISRMTT, C. Engg. (I), P. Engg (UK), SNM-UASCE (USA)
PART-1
Dated: _____________________
M. Tech. 2ND Semester– Geotechnical Engineering

COURSE NO: CGE-201: GROUND IMPROVEMENT TECHNIQUES
Session: SPRING – 2020: BATCH- 2019
(ABOUT COURSE)
Contact details:

)

Office : Room No. 203 (1ST Floor), Main Building Deptt. of Civil Engg
Mobile : 94190 02 500 / 7006416834
Phone : 0194-2429423 Extn: 2216(O), 2211 (Geotech Lab)
E-mail : p7mir@nitsri.net, bashiriisc@yahoo.com, bamiriitb@gmail.com
URL : http://profbamir.blogspot.in/ http://new.nitsri.ac.in/Department_FacultyList.aspx
COURSE PREREQUISITE
Geotechnical Engineering: Topics that are particularly relevant in this course include engineering soil properties
and classifications, geotechnical site and laboratory testing, total and effective stresses in soil, Seepage and
compressibility characteristics, shear strength of soil and Ground Improvement Techniques.
COURSE OVERVIEW
In this course, we will apply the basic principles of soil mechanics to analyze and design foundations for supporting
structural loads (i. e., super-structures) in soft/marginal soil deposits. Tentative outline of the class lectures, which
will cover the following major topic areas are:
• Overview of basic principles of SMFE (Geotechnical Engg)
• Geotechnical site investigations.
• Introduction to Soil Stabilization/Ground Improvement Techniques
• Need for Engineering ground Improvement
• Brief description of each ground improvement techniques in terms of their suitability, feasibility and
desirability
• Factors influencing choice of a method of ground improvement for a particular object

• Methods of Treatment of Unstable Ground: Belt – Butterworths, 1975
• Soil Improvement and Ground Modification Methods: P. G. Nicholson- Butterworth-Heinemann
• Engineering Principles of Ground Modification: R. H. Manfired- Mc-Graw Hill Publishing Co.
• Engineering Treatment of Soils: Bell, F. G
• Geosynthetics for Soil Improvement: ASCE, GST No. 18, New York
• Reinforcement and Soil Structures: Jones, C.J.E.P., Butterworth Publications, 1996
• Designing with Geosynthetics: Koerner, R. M., Prentice Hall Inc. 1998.
• Grouting Theory & Practice : Nonveiller, E
• Soil Stabilization: Principles and Practice - Ingles, O. G. & Metcalf, J. B.
Prof. B A Mir: E-mail: p7mir@nitsri.net / bashiriisc@yahoo.com / bamiriitb@gmail.com, http://www.researcherid.com/rid/F-3770-2017 1

http://new.nitsri.ac.in/Department/FacultyList.aspx; Cell No.: 09419002500; Ph. No.: 0194-2429423:Extn. 2216 (O), Fax No.: 0194-2420475
Instructor`S Remarks
Most of man`s construction is done on, in, or with soil. However, due to rapid urbanization and
huge population increase particularly in developing countries around the world, there is scarcity
of good construction sites as well as construction materials. Hence, there is lot of pressure on
Structural and Geotechnical Engineers to use marginal/weak soils for construction of various
infrastructures. In addition, it is becoming increasingly necessary to strengthen the ground under
existing structures to insure stability against adjacent excavation or tunneling, or to improve
resistance to seismic or other special loadings. Because of the increasinq need to utilize marginal
sites and because many soils can be made into useful construction materials if properly treated,
soil improvement has become a part of many present day civil engineering projects.
This is a graduate level course focused on various techniques available for improving the ground
properties to suit the requirements of structures built on them. This course is relevant to the graduate
students in the areas of Civil Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering and Transportation Engineering
disciplines.
Class Schedule
The class will meet for Two Theory lectures (two hours each lecture) on Tuesday & Thursday
each week. Any class if missed at any time will be scheduled for extra time as per available slot.
Attendance and Class Interaction

Students are expected to attend all class lectures. There will be a review class to to clear any
doubts/clarifications of previous lecture. Also, class interaction will count towards your class
performance. Those who regularly miss class are inviting scholastic difficulty and, with the
approval of the Competent authority, may be dropped from the course.
Examinations
There will be ONE midterm exam and a final End-term examination. All of the examinations
will be closed-book, closed-notes. However, you are permitted to bring IS Codes to each exam.
Make-up examinations will not be given. Students who miss a midterm exam will receive a
grade of zero for that exam. Exceptions to this rule will be made only on a carefully considered
basis, and only if the student contacts the instructor before the exam. In such cases, your score
on the other class exams will count proportionally more in computing your final score.
Grading
Your final letter grade will be determined by your performance relative to others in the class.
Divisions between grade levels, as well as a likely “class curve”, are not pre-determined. Your
final score for this course will be computed using the following weights:
Class performance/attendance : 10 % Mid-Term Exam : 30 %
End-Term Examination : 60 %
Homework Assignments
Homework problems will be assigned almost every week of the semester. Completed
assignments are due at the beginning of class on the date specified; late assignments will not be
accepted for grading. Assignments will be discussed in class room only. The primary purpose of
the assignments is to help you clarify and practice the lecture material, with the additional goal
of developing your engineering skills. As much as possible, your assignments will reflect real-
world engineering practice where one must work with limited data, deal with uncertainty over
site conditions, and generate appropriate design recommendations. I hope you will find that

several of the homework problems are difficult and thought provoking. At the same time, by
encouraging you to work on these problems in small groups, I expect to see a high level of effort
and performance in your homework submissions.
Course and Instructor Evaluation

A course and instructor evaluation will be conducted in class at the end of the semester. In
addition, I welcome your comments (verbal, written, or e-mail) about the course at any time.
Your suggestions for improving the course content or presentation are particularly appreciated,
especially if you identify a subject area that may need clarification for the entire class.
Academic Integrity
Students who violate Institute rules on scholastic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary penalties,
including the possibility of failure in the course and/or dismissal from the Institute. Since such
dishonesty harms the individual, all students, and the integrity of the Institute, policies on
scholastic dishonesty will be strictly enforced. Violations will be reported to the Office of the
Dean, Academic Affairs & Dean R&D. As an Engineering Students, you are held to a high
standard of ethical conduct.
Final Comments
Geotechnical engineers are frequently asked to design foundations for sites where the subsurface
soil and rock conditions are not well understood. Moreover, soil and structures interact in
complex ways that are difficult to analyze using fundamental scientific principles. Still,
successful foundation systems were built for thousands of years before anyone understood soil
mechanics (granted, we do not see all of the ancient structures that were built on inadequate
foundations and collapsed). In foundation engineering, probably much more than in most other
engineering fields, critical designs are based on empirical correlations, designer judgment, and
larger factors of safety.
Professional experience plays an important role in becoming a successful Geotechnical
Engineer. As a student, you may be frustrated by the apparent lack of simple solutions or
definitive answers; there is an exception to every rule, and always a situation where an accepted
procedure will lead you astray. Learn to think critically, use your judgment, and work with
others to create successful foundation designs. It goes without saying that your class
participation is strongly encouraged. Do not hesitate to raise questions, ask for clarification, or
suggest your own ideas during class. You are also invited to submit questions and comments on
paper or via e-mail. If some particular lecture topic is confusing and unclear, please ask for
clarification. You are explicitly encouraged to see me during office hours for help with specific
problems.
Detailed Syllabus for Ground Inprovement Course is given in tabular form for your
ready reference. The lecture Plan will be given shortly to be followed during this
session.
********************************************************************************************************************

Detailed Syllabus for Ground Inprovement Course is given in tabular form below:

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Course Contents Contact Hours
! ! !

• Introduction to soft soils, Soils/Classification of soil deposits, Practical requirements
in the practice of geotechnical engineering, Criteria for defining soft soils, Behavior 2
of soft soils
• Introduction to GIT, Need for Engineered Ground Improvement/Difficult foundation
conditions, Soft ground-available options/Classification of Ground Improvement
Techniques 2
• Ground Modification/Stabilization, Suitability, Feasibility and Desirability of Ground
Improvement Techniques, Current & Future Developments, Methods for measuring 2
improvement
!! !0 1(2

Mechanical Modification
• Introduction to Mechanical Modification, Zones of soil densification, Need for
mechanical modification, Surface and Lab. compaction processes, Field compaction 2
• Types of Compaction Equipments, Compaction Control, Specification of Compaction
Requirements, Choice of technique 2
• Properties of Compacted Soil, Intelligent Compaction, Structure of Compacted Clays 2
2. Chemical Modification/Stabilization
• Introduction to chemical soil stabilization, Types of Additives, General requirements
2
for use of stabilizers, Criteria for Selection of Chemical Stabilizers
• Effect of various admixtures on Engineering Properties of Soils such as: Lime,
Cement, Fly ash, Bitumen, Cement-Lime-Fly ash 10
• Grouting- Applications to Embankments, Foundations & Sensitive Soils, Admixtures 2
in Pavement Design
$- ," ,

• Objectives & Techniques, Dewatering Systems, Single & Multiple-Well Formulas,
Drainage of Slopes, Filtration & Seepage Control 2
• Pre-loading & Vertical Drains, Electrokinetic Stabilization 2
3" ,.-! 4 56 (2

• Modification by Inclusions & Confinement-Evolution of Soil Reinforcement 2
• Applications of Geosynthetics Material in Civil Engineering
2
• Soil Nailing, Soil Anchors, Soil Confinement by Formwork
• Introduction to Granular piles as an inclusion (SCP, STC etc) 2
• Modification of soils by Exclusion Techniques, Sheet Piles, Contiguous Bored Piles, 2
Slurry Trenches, Diaphragm Walls, Compressed Air 2
7 ( ," ,

• Thermal Properties of Soils, Ground Freezing, Strength & Behavior of Frozen Ground 2
Total 42

COURSE: GROUND IMPROVEMENT TECHNIQUES
Course Code : CGE L T P C
Course No. : 201 2 1 0 3
SESSION: SPRING - 2020 (BATCH-2019)
Prof. B. A. Mir
Department of Civil Engineering
National Institute of Technology
Srinagar-190006, Kashmir (India)
E-mail: p7mir@nitsri.net
URL: http://profbamir.blogspot.in/
Coordinator/Head
PG, Geotechnical Engineering Divn. (CED)
VISION & MISSION OF THE INSTITUTION "
Vision of the Institute
To establish a unique identity of a pioneer technical Institute by developing a high
quality technical manpower and technological resources that aim at economic and
social development of the nation as a whole and the region, in particular, keeping in
view the global challenges
Mission of the Institute

M1: To create a strong and transformative technical educational environment in
which fresh ideas, moral principles, research and excellence nurture with
international standards
M2: To prepare technically educated and broadly talented engineers, future

innovators and entrepreneurs, graduates with understanding of the needs and
problems of the industry, the society, the state and the nation
M3: To inculcate the highest degree of confidence, professionalism, academic

excellence and engineering ethics in budding engineers
VISION & MISSION OF THE DEAPARTMENT "
Vision of the Civil Engineering Department
To create a unique identity of the Department by achieving excellent standards of
quality technical education keeping pace with the rapidly changing technologies
and to produce Civil Engineers of global standards with the capability of accepting
new challenges
Mission of the Civil Engineering Department

M1: To promote academic growth in the field of Civil Engineering by offering
state-of-the art undergraduate and postgraduate programmes
M2: To provide knowledge base and consultancy services in all areas of Civil
Engineering for industry and societal needs
M3: To inculcate higher moral and ethical values among the students to become
competent Civil Engineers with overall leadership qualities
M4: To establish the Centre of Excellence in the emerging areas of research related
to Civil Engineering and its allied fields
PROGRAM EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES OF THE
CIVIL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT?
PEO1: To produce professionally competent Civil Engineers, capable of applying the

knowledge of contemporary Science and Technology, to meet the challenges in the
field of Civil Engineering and to serve the Society
PEO2: To prepare the Civil Engineering graduates to work in industry, government or other
organizations in different capacities involving individual and team work
PEO3: To inculcate among the students the sense of ethics, morality, creativity, leadership,
professionalism, self-confidence and independent thinking
PEO4: To impart the training in problem visualization, surveying, analysis and planning for
its solution
PEO5: To impart training for development of laboratory and design skills, communication
skills and skills for software and other modern tool usage among the students
PEO6: To inculcate in the students the ability to take up the innovative research projects
and to conduct investigations of complex Civil Engineering problems using research
based methods, thus urging them for higher studies
PROGRAM SPECIFIC OUTCOME (PSOS): DEPARTMENT OF
CIVIL ENGINEERING?
PSO1: Ability to demonstrate professional engineering approach, including

application of principles and utilization of technical resources such as
softwares, towards solving technical problems requiring Civil Engineering
interventions
PSO2: Ability to furnish and/or analyze designs and construct structural systems,
produce related documents, drawings and reports, and present objective
estimates of the related quantities
PSO3: Ability to conduct field and laboratory investigations pertaining to Civil
Engineering domain, and utilize modern tools and techniques
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE COURSE

Î This is a graduate level course focused on various techniques available for improving
the ground properties to suit the requirements of structures built on them
Î This course is relevant to the graduate students in the areas of Civil Engineering,
Geotechnical Engineering and Transportation Engineering discipline
COURSE/PROGRAM EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES:
GROUND IMPROVEMENT TECHNIQUES (PEOGI)?
PEOGI1: To apply the basic knowledge of science and engineering to analyze and
design geotechnical problems for various engineering infrastructures
PEOGI2: To design techno-economic infrastructure in difficult terrains for

improvement of problematic ground conditions
PEOGI3: To design techno-economic infrastructure in high altitude and cold

regions
PEOGI4: To communicate effectively and demonstrate leadership skills for

identification and use local and environmental friendly materials in civil
engineering projects
PEOGI5: To engage in team work and lifelong learning for professional

advancement to meet the challenges in the field of Geotechnical
Engineering in particular and Civil Engineering in general for the
benefit of the Society
COURSE/PROGRAMME OUTCOMES (POGI) - AT THE END OF
THIS COURSE?
At the end of this course, the students will able to:
POGI1: Identify difficult ground conditions (problematic soils) in engineering
practice, e. g., what kind of soils need improvement?
POGI2: Identify different ground improvement techniques, e. g., what kind of
various ground improvement techniques are available?
POGI3: Select site specific method of improvement and its design, e. g., what are
the specific infrastructural projects where ground improvement is
mandatory and goes deep into explaining various ground improvement
techniques including stabilization with admixtures?
POGI4: Application of techno – economical construction techniques, e.g., use of
light weight materials such as geosynthetics, reinforced soil structures,
sand drains, PVDs etc
Î The contents give background on what kind of soils need improvement, what are the
specific infrastructural projects where ground improvement is mandatory and goes deep
into explaining various ground improvement techniques including stabilization with
admixtures, freezing, compaction, grouting, sand and stone columns, blasting, heavy
tamping and polymeric reinforcing materials called geosynthetics
MAPPING OF MISSION STATEMENTS WITH PROGRAM
EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES:: M v/sPOGIs?
Mission Statement PEOGI1 PEOGI2 PEOGI3 PEOGI4 PEOGI5
M1
M2
M3
M4
GI: Ground Improvement Course

MAPPING OF PROGRAM OUTCOMES (POGIS) WITH
PROGRAM EDUCATION OUTCOMES:: PEGIs v/s PEOGIs?
POGIs PEOGI1 PEOGI2 PEOGI3 PEOGI4 PEOGI5
POGI1
POGE2
POGI3
POGI4
PEOGI: Program/course education outcomes in Ground Improvement Course

POGIs: Program/course outcomes in Ground Improvement Course
COURSE CONTENTS "
INTRODUCTION
Introduction to soft soils, Criteria for defining soft soils, Behavior of soft soils
Introduction to GIT, Need for Engineered Ground Improvement,
Classification of Ground Improvement Techniques, Ground
Modification/Stabilization, Suitability, Feasibility and Desirability of Ground
Improvement Techniques, Current & Future Developments, Methods for
measuring improvement
Ground Improvement Techniques

1. Mechanical Modification
2. Chemical Modification/Stabilization
3. Hydraulic Modification
4. Modification by Inclusions & Confinement
5. Modification by Exclusion Techniques
6. Thermal Modification
COURSE: RECOMMENDED REFERENCES?
BOOKS:
• Methods of Treatment of Unstable Ground: Belt – Butterworths, 1975
• Soil Improvement and Ground Modification Methods: P. G. Nicholson-
Butterworth-Heinemann
• Engineering Principles of Ground Modification: R. H. Manfired- Mc-Graw
Hill Publishing Co.
• Engineering Treatment of Soils: Bell, F. G
• Geosynthetics for Soil Improvement: ASCE, GST No. 18, New York
• Reinforcement and Soil Structures: Jones, C.J.E.P., Butterworth
Publications, 1996
• Designing with Geosynthetics: Koerner, R. M.,, Prentice Hall Inc. 1998.
• Grouting Theory & Practice : Nonveiller, E
• Soil Stabilization: Principles and practice - Ingles, O. G. & Metcalf, J. B.
NPTEL : https://nptel.ac.in/courses/105/108/105108075/
Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yhW3CbArQc
COURSE PREREQUISITE/ OVERVIEW"
GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING
Topics that are particularly relevant in this course include engineering soil
properties and classifications, geotechnical site and laboratory testing, total and
effective stresses in soil, Seepage and compressibility characteristics, shear
strength of soil and Ground Improvement Techniques.
COURSE OVERVIEW
In this course, we will apply the basic principles of soil mechanics to analyze and design
foundations for supporting structural loads (i. e., super-structures) in soft/marginal soil
deposits
Tentative outline of the class lectures, which will cover the following major topic areas
are:
1. Overview of basic principles of SMFE (Geotechnical Engg)
2. Geotechnical site investigations.
3. Introduction to Soil Stabilization/Ground Improvement Techniques
4. Need for Engineering ground Improvement
5. Brief description of each ground improvement techniques in terms of their
suitability, feasibility and desirability
6. Factors influencing choice of a method of ground improvement for a particular object
COURSE GRADING POLICY"
COURSE GRADING POLICY:

Course assessment is devised as below:
• Class Performance/Attendance/Assignments/Quiz etc : 10 Marks
• Mid-Term Exam (approx. after completing 40% course) : 30 Marks
• End-Term Exam (after completing whole course) : 60 Marks
• Class performance will comprise of:
a. Review of Previous class lecture
b. Class interaction during class lectures
c. Attendance Marks will be given only to those students who will take
active part during Class Interaction/Quiz tests
d. Assignments given, will not be accepted in hard copy, students
will be asked to explain their assignments in the class
e. Tutorials will be assigned in the form of Lab. Tests on stabilized soils
for comparison of soil properties with untreated soils
INTRODUCTION TO SOFT SOILS:
A BRIEF REVIEW
X Soft clays belong to the well known category of problematic soils
X Such soils are mainly encountered under layered deposits in coastal areas
X Soft soils are defined as normally consolidated or under consolidated or lightly over-
consolidated fine grain soils with very soft to soft consistency
X However, the term “Soft Soil“ is defined as clay or silty clay soil which is geologically
young, and come to an equilibrium under its own weight but has not undergone significant
secondary or delayed consolidation since its formation
X The lack of bearing capacity, high compressibility and very long time of consolidation are
three typical properties of soft clays
INTRODUCTION TO SOFT SOILS:
A BRIEF REVIEW
X Soft soil layers are extended to a depth of more than 30 m
X Most often several silt and sand seams may be encountered in nature in post glacial
deposits such as lacustrine clays in which initial excess pore pressure may still exist
X Soft soils are complex, rate-dependent non-linear multi-phase materials, which were
considered unsuitable for construction just a couple of decades ago
X Geotechnical design and execution of civil engineering structures on/in soft to very soft
soils are usually associated with substantial difficulties
PROBLEMATIC GEOMATERIALS
X Geomaterials include all the materials used for geotechnical applications, which consist of
natural geomaterials, processed or manufactured geomaterials, and improved
geomaterials
X O’Neill and Reese (1999) proposed a terminology of intermediate geomaterial, which has
properties and behavior between soil and rock
X Cohesive intermediate geomaterial has an unconfined compressive strength from 0.5 to 5.0
MPa, while a cohesionless intermediate geomaterial has the number of blow counts of a
standard penetration test (SPT) between 50 and 100
X Most rocks and intermediate geomaterials are strong and stiff and therefore suitable for
geotechnical applications
X Processed or manufactured geomaterials are produced from other materials, for example,
crushed stone aggregates are produced from rock
X Processed or manufactured geomaterials are mainly used for fill materials, which have a
wide variety, ranging from granular fill, lightweight fill, uncontrolled fill, recycled
material, fly ash, solid waste, and bio-based byproducts to dredged material
X Improved geomaterials are the geomaterials treated hydraulically, mechanically,
chemically, and biologically, for example, fibers can be mechanically mixed with sand or
clay to form fiber-reinforced soil
PROBLEMATIC CONDITIONS
X In addition to problematic geomaterials, geotechnical problems may occur due to

problematic conditions induced naturally and/or by human activities
X Natural conditions include geologic, hydraulic, and climatic conditions, such as

earthquakes, cavities and sinkholes, floods, wind, and freeze-thaw cycles
X Geotechnical conditions are part of geologic conditions, which exist close to the ground
surface and are more related to construction and human activities
X Table 1 lists problematic geomaterials and their potential problems
Î Geotechnical Problems and Failures

X Common geotechnical problems include bearing failure, large total and differential
settlements, hydrocompression, ground heave, instability, liquefaction, erosion, and water
seepage
X The theoretical bases and reasons for these geotechnical problems are provided in Table 2.
TABLE 1. LISTS PROBLEMATIC GEOMATERIALS AND THEIR
POTENTIAL PROBLEMS
Type of Name of
Potential Problems
Geomaterial soil type
Low strength, high compressibility, large creep deformation, low
1. Soft clay
permeability
Low strength, high compressibility, high liquefaction potential, low
2. Silt
permeability, high erodibility
Natural 3. Organic soil High compressibility, large creep deformation
Geomaterial
Low strength, high compressibility, high liquefaction potential, high
4. Loose sand
permeability, high erodibility
5. Expansive soil Large volume change
6. Loess Large volume change, high collapsible potential
Low strength, high compressibility, non-uniformity, high collapsible
1. Uncontrolled fill
potential
2. Dredged
High water content, low strength, high compressibility
material
3. Reclaimed fill High water content, high compressibility, low strength
Fill Geomaterial 4. Recycled
Nonuniformity, high variability of properties
material
Low strength, high compressibility, non-uniformity, and high
5. Solid waste
degradation potential
6. Bio-based by-
Low strength, high compressibility, and high degradation potential
product
TABLE 2. GEOTECHNICAL PROBLEMS AND FAILURES
Sr. No. Problem Theoretical Basis Possible Causes
• High applied pressure

Applied pressure is higher
• Inclined load
1 Bearing failure than ultimate bearing
• Small loading area
capacity of soil
• Low-strength soil

Large total and • Large loading area
Hooke’s law and particle re-
2 differential • Highly compressible soil
arrangement
settlements • Non-uniform soil
• Large creep deformation
• Large creep deformation

High applied pressure is
3 Hydrocompression higher than threshold
• Collapsible soil
collapse stress
• Water
• Water
Swelling pressure is higher • Expansive soil
4 Ground heave
than applied pressure • Frozen soil
• Low temperature
TABLE 2. GEOTECHNICAL PROBLEMS AND FAILURES
Sr. No. Problem Theoretical Basis Possible Causes
Shear stress is higher than • High earth structure

shear strength; driving • Steep slope
Instability (sliding,
force is higher than • High water pressure
5 overturning, and slope
resisting force; driving • Soft foundation soil
failure)
moment is higher than • High surcharge
resisting moment • High loading rate
Effective stress becomes • Earthquake

6 Liquefaction zero due to increase of • Loose silt and sand
excess pore water pressure • High groundwater table
Shear stress induced by • Running water

water is higher than • High speed of water flow
7 Erosion
maximum allowable shear • Highly erodible soil (silt and
strength of soil sand)
• High water head

8 Seepage Dacy’s law
• Permeable soil
GROUND IMPROVEMENT-SOIL?
Ä Soil is the consolidated/unconsolidated
material found on the surface of the
earth that is composed of organic and
inorganic material, which varies due
to its structure and composition
Ä Based on stability criterion, soil deposits can be grouped in to two categories as

below:
SOIL DEPOSITS
Stable Soil Deposits Weak Soil Deposits
Soil deposits, which are strong Soil deposits, which are weak and can not
enough to carry applied loads safely carry applied loads safely and, which can
and, which can be used as a not be used as a construction/foundation
construction/foundation material material. Hence, ground improvement is
without any improvement required for safe geotechnical engineering
design
PRACTICAL REQUIREMENTS/DIFFERENT PHASES IN THE
PRACTICE OF GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING?
Soils generally play a very vital role as a civil engineering material

such as:
1. As a construction engineering material, soil is just as important as man-made
materials such as concrete and steel
2. As a foundation medium, all man made structures are supported by natural
soil or rock deposits
Therefore, a civil/geotechnical engineer has to go through the

following different phases in the practice of geotechnical
engineering:
1. Study of field situations
2. Realistic assessment of soil properties (field and lab. Tests on soil samples)
3. Analysis and design based on soil data (from sr. no. 2 above)
4. Construction phase based on analysis and design data
PRACTICAL REQUIREMENTS/DIFFERENT PHASES IN THE
PRACTICE OF GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING?
Among above mentioned phases, the realistic assessment of engineering properties of soils
is very crucial and the following few frequent questions are required to be answered:
1. What is the in-situ state of soil? i. e., is it saturated or unsaturated, normally or

overconsolidated or sensitive or stiff cemented?
2. What are the values of compression and recompression indices and magnitude
of compression in all the above states at different stress levels? i. e., stress levels
are:
• Low level stress (< 300 kPa), Medium level stress ( 300 - 450 kPa, and High
level stress (> 450 kPa)
3. What is the magnitude of Preconsolidation pressure in uncemented soils and
the cementation bond strength in a soft and sensitive clay?
4. How compaction characteristics of soils can be assessed and their implications
in field compaction control?
5. What is the stress-state permeability relationship of soils and its significance in
environmental geotechnique?
6. What is the shear strength of the soil and how does it change due to
consolidation under an applied load?
7. What is the shear strength and /or compressibility of a partly saturated soil and its
change upon loading and inundation?
SOIL: FUNCTIONS/USES?
Ä Used as a Foundation Ä Used as a Construction
Medium e.g. all the Material e.g. all the
structures rest on structures - constructed
foundation with soil, in soil or on soil
SOIL USED AS FOUNDATION MATERIAL
SOIL USED AS CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL
SOIL AS FILL MATERIAL
• Use granular material to avoid lateral earth pressure on
retaining walls
• Free draining material such as sandy soil is preferred as fill
material behind retaining walls
• Clayey soil is avoided as fil material
• Hence, soil classification is mandatory
FEW ELEGANT STRUCTURES
Hulme Arch, Manchester World's tallest twisting tower Kansai Airport

(306m, 2013)
WEAK SOIL DEPOSITS?
• Weak deposits can be defined as deposit, which has one or more of the following
features/shortcomings or typical properties of a Weak soil deposit are:
1. Low shear strength
2. High compressibility
3. Susceptibility to liquefaction during earthquake
4. High seepage losses
5. Instability of foundation excavations
6. Higher earth pressures on retaining structures
CLASSIFICATION OF WEAK SOIL DEPOSITS ?
• Weak deposits can be broadly classified into two categories:

1. Cohesive deposit comprising of SOFT CLAY
2. Cohesionless deposit comprising of LOOSE SAND

SOFT CLAY DEPOSITS ?
Typical properties of soft clay are:
1. Moisture content Liquid limit
2. Cohesion strength = 10 to 20 kPa
3. SPT (N) Value = 0 to 2
4. Void ratio = 0.8 to 1.2
5. Compression index (Cc) = greater than 1.0
6. Co-eff. of Consolidation (Cv) = 1 to 2 m2
/year
Major problems faced in placing structure
over such deposits are:
1. Very low bearing capacity
2. High settlements (the rate of settlement is
very slow and settlement may continue for
several years)
3. Swelling & cracking problems
4. Deep seated slip failure Lateral flow under
surface loading leading to settlement and
lateral force on adjacent foundations.
LOOSE SAND DEPOSITS ?
Typical properties of loose sand are:
1. Saturated unit weight = 19 kN/m3
2. Dry unit weight = 14 kN/m3
3. Void ratio = 0.85
4. SPT (N) Value = 4 to 10
5. Angle of friction (ࢥ) = 28o to 30o
6. Compressibility modulus (Es) = 5000 kPa
7. Permeability constant (k) 10-5m/sec
Sand blown over the brink accumulates in
deposits on the upper slipface, forming a low
mound or cornice
The shape of a cornice deposit is likely influenced
by: the character of the wind (strength, direction,
variability), the character of the sand (density,
shape, grain-size distribution), the amount of
turbulence on the slope able to remobilize surface
sand, shape (eg., height) of the dune, and gravity
LOOSE SAND DEPOSITS ?
Major problems faced in placing structures over loose sand deposits are:
i. Low bearing capacity (mostly local
shear
failure instead of general shear failure)
ii. Higher settlement (though settlement is
high, unlike soft clay deposits, these
settlement is not time bound and takes
place during construction itself.
iii. Susceptibility to liquefaction
iv. Higher seepage loss for water retaining
structures
v. Higher earth pressures on retaining
structures Numbers of techniques have
been developed in recent past to densify
such weak deposits
OBJECTIVES: NEED FOR GROUND IMPROVEMENT?
Any attempt to interpret, generalize and predict soil behavior will go a long way to
get the following objectives:
1. Form an independent check on the laboratory investigations
2. Increase the level of confidence to handle extensive test data
3. Optimize time and cost to obtain acceptable engineering parameters
4. Monitor progressive changes in ground engineering, and
5. Resort to observational approach in geotechnical engineering more effectively
To achieve the aforesaid objectives, the two noval approaches pursued by
researchers and engineers are:
1. An engineering approach in which empirical methods of correlation, essentially
based on experimental observations are developed
2. Micro-Mechanistic approaches which have a strong bias towards the basic
sciences and consider the nature and equilibrium of force at micro level and
associated interactions between different phases of the multiphase systems
However:
• In the first approach of properly correlation through empirical means, a scientific
basis can not always be found
• In the second approach, macro-behavior characterized in terms of micro-
parameters are not always amenable for measurement
NEED FOR CLASSIFICATION OF SOFT SOILS?
Soft clays classified based on their engineering geological history and emphasizing
the change in properties which have occurred since their deposition as (Bjerrum
1973):
1. Normally consolidated young clays
1. Normally consolidated aged clays
2. Overconsolidated clays
3. Weathered clays in upper crust
4. Quick clay deposits and
5. Cemented clays
CRITERIA FOR DEFINING SOFT SOILS
1. Very soft to soft consistence with a consistency index Ic < 0.75,
2. Fully or nearly fully saturated,
3. The undrained shear strength cu ≤ 40 kN/m²,
4. Inclined to flow ( e.g. in slurry form, wn >LL),
5. Light to middle plastic property,
6. Very sensitive to vibrations (sensitivity is defined here as the ratio between the
undrained strength at failure and the residual strength in field vane shear test),
7. Thixotropic property, etc.
BEHAVIOUR OF SOFT SOILS?
The study of soil behavior under deviatoric loading condition may be approached
in four main characteristic groups:
1. Basic index properties
2. Compression properties
3. Strength properties and
4. Deformation properties
1. Basic index properties
The index parameters are a measure of the physical properties and behavior of a
soil. They are generally governed to a large extent by:
• its geological history,
• mineralogical composition,
• the amount of clay fraction,
• the structure and distribution of the grains, and
• the texture of the grains
BASIC INDEX PROPERTIES?
Index parameters are mainly used for the purpose of identification, description
and classification of soils
Moreover, since their determination in laboratory is relatively simple, and they
share the same factors that influence the strength (Table 3)
Sr. No. Characteristics Factors considered to have a relation with soil strength
Grain size distribution, maximum grain size, mean grain size,

1 Grain size coefficient
of uniformity, shape of particles, content of fine fraction.
2 Density Void ratio, relative density, dry density, specific gravity.
Liquid limit, plastic limit, shrinkage limit, plasticity index,
3 Plasticity consistency
index, liquidity index.
4 Moisture Natural moisture content and degree of saturation.
5 Texture Type, proportion and structure of minerals and organic matter
Age of deposition, number and magnitude of stress change
6 Stress history
experience, weathering, and physio-chemical effects
For example, the compression index can be estimated from liquid limit such as:
For example, the compression index can be estimated from liquid limit such as:
Cc = 0.007*(LL - 10) by Skempton 1944 for Remolded clays
Cc = 0.009*(LL - 10) by Terzaghi and Peck 1967 for Normally consolidated ,
moderately sensitive clays
Cc = 0.007*(LL - 7) by Bowles 1984 for Remoulded clays
Cc = 0.0046*(LL - 9) by Bowles 1984 for Brazilian clays
Cc = Ip/74 by Kulhawy and Mayne 1990 for Data from different soil
Cc = 0.5*Ip*Gs by Wroth and Wood 1978, Wood 1983 for All remolded normally
consolidated clays
Similarly, the undrained shear strength of clay from liquidity index or plasticity
index is given in Table 4
Table 4. Empirical equations to estimate undrained shear strength
Sr. No. Equation Reference Regions of Applicability
cu= σ′vc * (0.11 + 0.0037*Ip) Skempton 1954, Bowles Normally consolidated

1
(IP in percent) 1984 soils, Ip > 10%
2 cu = σ′vc * 0.45*LL Hansbo 1957 Scandinavian clays
cu = σ′vc * [(0.11+ 0.0037*log Skempton 1957 (see Normally consolidated
3
Ip)] Kempfert and stadel 1997 soil, Ip < 60%
Normally consolidated
4 cu= σ′vc * [0.45*(Ip/100)1/2] Bjerrum and Simons 1960
clays
5 σ′vc * [0.18*(IL)-1/2]
cu =σ′ Bjerrum and Simons 1960
clays
6 cu= σ′vc * [0.14 + 0.003*Ip] Lambe and Whitman 1969 All clays
7 τf = 0.22* σ′vc Mesri 1975 Soft clays
cu = σ′vc * (0.08 + 0.55*Ip) Larsson 1977 Scandinavian clays
8 cu = 170*exp(-4.6*IL) [kPa Wroth and Wood 1978 Remoulded clays

Soft sedimentary clays,
9 cu = σ′vc * (0.23 * 0.04) Larsson 1980
Ip < 60%
10 cu = 0.33*σ′
σ′vc Larsson 1980 Inorganic clays
Clays from eastern
11 τf = = σ′vc * [0.2 + 0.0024*Ip] Lerouneil et al. 1983
Canada, Ip < 60%
12 cu = σ′vc * 0.45*LL Bowles 1984
soils, LL > 40%
cu=σ′
σ′vc*
13 Jamiolkowski et al. 1985 All clays
[(0.23±0.04)*(OCR)0.8]
14 cu =σ′
σ′vc* [0.129 + 0.00435*Ip] Wroth and Houlsby 1985
clays
ª 3Sinφ ' º Wroth and Houlsby, Normally consolidated
15 cu = 0.5743 *σ vc' « ' »
( )
¬ 3 − Sinφ ¼ 1985 soils
16 cu ≈ σ′vc * 0.30 Burland 1990 Natural sensitive clays
Barlow-Ojibway
17 cu = 11.4 + 0.169 σ′vc [kPa] Windisch and Yong 1990
Lacustrine clays
Constance lacustrine soft
18 cu ≈ 0.26 * σ′vc Scherzinger 1991
clays

From several clays
19 cu = 1/(IL - 0.21)2 [kPa] Mitchell 1993
(remoulded strength)
20 cu ≈ 0.23 * σ′vc Mir & Juneja 2009 For NC Kaolin clays
21 cu ≈ 0.30 * σ′vc Mir & Juneja 2009 For OC Kaolin clays
For Kaolin clays (Cam
22 Su = 0.5Mp'o*OCR^(-κ/λ)exp(-Λ) Mir & Juneja 2009
clay Model)
For Kaolin clays
23 κ/λ
Su = 0.5Mp'o*OCR^(-κ λ)*2^(-Λ
Λ) Mir & Juneja 2009 (Modified Cam clay
Model)
For SCP with & without
24 Su / p'p= a*OCR^(- Λ) Mir & Juneja 2009
smear
Where: cu = undrained shear strength, τf = undrained vane shear strength, σ′vc = effective consolidation
pressure,
LL = liquid limit, Ip = plasticity index (%), IL = Liquidity index, OCR = over consolidation ratio,
φ´ = angle of internal friction M = slope of Critical State line (CSL), p'o = mean effective stress
κ = kappa-slope of recompression curve in consol. test, λ = Lamd-slope of 1-D NCL in consolidation test
Λ = Ƚ = Capital lamda - specific volume of soil at critical state with pƍ = 1kN/m2
SCP = Sand compaction pile
DEFORMATION PROPERTIES?
Deformation of a soil is one of the most important physical aspects in
geotechnical problems
Many investigators have revealed that the soil deformation modulus was found to
have the greatest influence on deformation behavior of geotechnical structures
e.g. excavations, shallow foundations, etc
The material properties required for deformation analysis are conventionally
those four constants used in the theory of elasticity, namely:
1. the Young’s modulus E,
2. the Poisson’s ratio µ ,
3. the shear modulus G and
4. the bulk modulus K
In reality, however, the shear modulus G and bulk modulus K can be written in
terms of the Young’s modulus E and Poisson’s ratio µ as:
E E Eu E
G= K= = Gu = G =
2(1 + µ ) 3(1 − 2 µ ) 2(1 + µ u ) 2(1 + µ )
ASSIGNMENT-1
1. Discuss: Problematic Geomaterials, Conditions, Geotechnical Problems and

Failures
2. Discuss: Strength properties soils
3. Discuss: Classification of Soil Deposits and their major problems
4. Discuss: Criteria for Defining Soft Soils
5. Discuss: Behaviour of Soft Soils
6. Discuss: Deformation Properties of soils

Soft ground? No problem!
CE 152 Introduction to Civil Engineering
Prof Ashish Juneja

Department of Civil Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
Email: ajuneja@iitb.ac.in
Tel # 2576 7327
Surface densification to
increase soil strength (11th
Century Chinese Building
Standards)
Surface compaction using a giant tamper

to compact loose soil (2006 AD)
What is soft ground?
• Any soil which is susceptible to failure or cause

excessive settlement when superstructure is
constructed over it
• Types of soils classified as soft:
Saturated clays and fine silts (alluvium), marine
clays and fine silts
Loose sand (especially when under water table)
Significant development in the past 50
years with the introduction of composer
piles, deep mixing and new injection
materials
Physical modelling of ground
modification…where are we now?
Vertical reinforcement subjected

to combined loading
Excavation support
systems
Ground improved using
deep mixing
Deformations of grouted
ground around tunnel
Vibro pile installation
The methods which are capable of improving certain
characteristics of the soft ground for civil engineering
construction are all considered as ground improvement
techniques
Soft ground?.....available options
You can:
• Redesign the structure and its foundations for support by
the poor soil
• Bypass the site - by moving to a new site e.g. highway
route planning
• Remove the poor soil and replace it with a good one
• Treat the soil in-place and improve its properties
Worker safety during
geotechnical construction
Factors influencing the choice of improvement method:
1. Purpose of the improvement project

2. Time factor
3. Area and depth of soil to be treated
4. Type of soil and its initial properties
5. Material availability
6. Equipment and skills available
7. Environment factors
8. Local experience and preference
9. Feasibility of construction
10. Cost
Geotechnical engineering
criteria used in evaluating a
site:
1. Bearing capacity
2. Settlement Kansai International Airport
3. Seepage
4. Long term stability and durability
5. Liquefaction stability
6. Environmental problems
Leaning Tower of Pisa

Methods of ground improvement
1. Over-excavation or replacement method

2. Densification and compaction (mechanical
modification)
3. Hydraulic modification: “Free” excess water is
extracted e.g. use of pumping, vertical drains and
surcharge
4. Admixture stabilisation: Physically mixing of
additives with surface soils or soils at depth
Additives include: natural soils, lime, cement or
industrial by product and waste material
Methods of ground improvement
5. Reinforcement method:
- Vertical reinforcement (e.g. piles, stone
columns)
- horizontal reinforcement (e.g. soil nailing,
geosynthetic products)
6. Electrical modification methods: Using electrical
gradient to cause water movement
7. Thermal modification methods: Heating the
ground can cause permanent change in the soil
mineral structure; Freezing bonds individual
particles together for temporary soil
improvement
Instrumentations, monitoring
and evaluating the level of
improvement
How do you know that the ground improvement measures that you
have done achieve what you want?
- install some instruments to verify it!!
Two categories of measuring instruments:
Tests conducted before and after ground improvement:-
(i) Density & water content measurement

(ii) Strength and stiffness e.g. SPT, CPT)
(iii) Compressibility and Permeability
Tests to measure continuous performance:-
(i) Stress measurement; and

(ii) Deformation or strain measurement
Choice of instrument:
1. Property or parameter to be
measured e.g. density, GWT, etc.
2. Operating principle e.g.
standpipe, dipmeter, piezometer
and PPT, amongst others
3. Reliability: range -vs- sensitivity;
consistency and range of soils for
it to be suitable for testing
4. Data logging: equipment, logging
method and frequency Earth pressure measurement
5. Data interpretation – what these

data mean?
Overexcavation and replacement
0.5B to 1.5B
B to 3B
If good bearing stratum exists close to the

footing level, then excavation should be taken
to the top of the bearing stratum
Principle of overexcavation and replacement
Excavate poor or inadequate bearing material and
either:
(a) Stabilise, dry or wet and recompact the excavated
material
(b) Replace it with stiffer and stronger material
Replaced material is usually sand, gravel or sand-gravel mixes

Compaction is usually done in lifts (typically 150mm)
Settlement is reduced and bearing capacity is increased
Failure modes
Plane strain shear failure

pPh tan " ! pHc u Wt
q ult # q b !
A
Plane strain cavity expansion
+ "(
q ult # $,D ! 2c u %tan 2 ) 45 ! &
* 2'
Choice of " values: plane strain or triaxial value?
"ps = "tx for "tx - 34o

"ps = 1.5"tx – 17o for "tx > 34o
Values of " from direct shear tests are usually about 1 to 2o

greater than "tx for the same range of confining stresses
Settlement
As per IS 8009 (Part I)-1976

(Amendment 1 and 2, 1981, 1990),
elastic or immediate settlement at
the corner of flexible footing is
derived from the following equation,
31 4 2 0 3 1 24 0
5H # qB1 . 1I1 ! I 2 .I F
2 E /2 1 4 /
Limitation of overexcavation / replacement
• Slope protection during excavation

• Adjacent structures
• Pumping required for high ground water table
conditions
• Replacement material not readily available
• Limited compaction achieved in confined areas (use
vibratory plates compactor or high frequency rammer)
It is a method of pre-empting
potentially damaging
settlements on soft soil
increases the bearing

capacity & reduces the
compressibility of weak
Vertical drains accelerate settlements but
ground do not reduce final movement
Precompression / preloading with

vertical drains
Precompression/preloading refers to
the process of compressing
foundation soils under applied vertical
stress prior to placement of the final
Preloading is only cost effective
permanent construction load. when large area is to be improved
Methods of producing surcharge:
(1) Earth fill or embankment (most common)

(2) Water filled tanks
(3) Vacuum preloading: by pumping from beneath an
impervious membrane placed over the ground
surface
(4) Ground water lowering: there is an increase in
effective stress which is equal to the unit weight of
water times the drawdown height
(5) Consolidation by electro-osmosis
Main applications:
•Foundations for:
Embankments
Liquid storage tanks
Buildings (less common)
Where soil properties and/or stress conditions vary

with depth, it may be necessary to analyse the
profile as a series of sub-layers.
Vertical drains and preloading
• Vertical drains are effective in inorganic clays and

silts (exhibit primary consolidation); and if the
deposits contain thin horizontal sand or silt lenses
(Ch>> Cv)
• Secondary consolidation settlement which is

essentially a creep phenomenon is not speeded
up by vertical drains
Vertical Drains
Broadly classified into two categories:
o Sand drains
o Geosynthetic drains or prefabricated

vertical (PV) drains
Sand Drains
• Typically 200 to 500mm in dia

• Formed by infilling sand into a hole in the ground
• Hole formed by driving, jetting or augering
• Typical spacing: 1.5 to 6.0m
• Large diameter sand drains tend to behave as
“weak piles” in soft soils. This may have the
effect of stress concentration on the drains
Prefabricated Vertical (PV) drains
• Band shape drains consists of a central core

wrapped around by a filter layer
• kfilter > ksoil
• The filer should retain fine soil particles
• PV should be strong enough to resist
installation stresses
• Equivalent diameter 2$B ! t %
de #
6
Advantages of PV drain
1 Creates less disturbance to host soil
2 Rapid installation
3 Installation equipment is lighter
4 Eliminates cost of sand backfill and water
5 Does not require disposal of soil waste
6 Continuity of drain is maintained
Limitation of PV drain
1 Ground settlement can cause the PV drain to
buckle; hence reduce drain efficiency
2 Cannot bear vertical loads
Other design considerations for PV drains
Effect of smear
• Permeability in the narrow zone of remoulded soil
is reduced; slows down the radial consolidation
Effect of wall resistance

• Deterioration of filter can significantly reduce de
• Clogging/siltation of filter drain by fine particles can
decrease the area available for flow
• Folding of drain due to soil settlement can
decrease the discharge capacity
Relation between surcharge
and degree of consolidation
load 5Pp = Structural load
5Pf = Surcharge load
Cc 3 Po ! 5Pp 0
Sp # H log 1 .
1 ! eo 2 Po /
5Pp+ 5Pf 5Pp
time
Sp
U avg #
Sp ! f
Sp
Sp+f
Settle Cc 3 Po ! 5Pp ! 5Pf 0

ment Sp # H log 1 .
1 ! eo 2 Po /
Uavg and time
Carillo’s average degree of consolidation
U avg # 1 $1 U v %$1 U h %
Average degree of consolidation for vertical drainage

6
Tv # 7U v 82 for Uv - 60% where
4
Tv # 1.781 0.933 log$100 U v % for Uv > 60% C t
Tv = v2
H
Average degree of consolidation for radial drainage

where
+ 8Th ( C t
#
U h 1 exp) & Th = h2
* m ' D
+ n2 ( 3n 2
1
where m # )) 2 & ln$n % n (drain spacing
& ratio) = D/de
* n 1' 4n 2
Observational methods of monitoring consolidation
Hyperbolic
method
Asaoka’s
method
Hyperbolic method - Settlement-time plot in terms
of Uavg (avg degree of consolidation) and Tv (time
factor)
3 regions:
Region 1: Concave downwards from origin.
Region 2: Linear portion between Tv = 0.25 and
Tv = 0.848. These points correspond to U60 and U90.
Region 3: Second linear portion for Tv > 1.0 which
approaches the 45 degree line
Using the inverse slope
approach, the total
primary consolidation 9ult,
is estimated as :/Si.
1 3Si 0
S60 #
0.6 12 : ./
1 3Si 0
S90 #
0.9 12 : ./
Procedure for using the hyperbolic plot method
Step 1 Plot field settlement data as t/9 vs t; where t =

time and 9 = settlement from the start of constant load
application
Step 2 Identify first linear segment and measure its
slope Si (corresponding to data between 960 and 990)
Step 3 From n, Ch/Cv and H/D, determine the
theoretical slope : from Fig. 3
Step 4 Calculate the total primary consolidation
settlement from theoretical slope : and Si, that is 9ult
= :/Si
Step 5 Calculate the slope of lines
1 3Si 0 1 3Si 0
S60 # #
0.6 12 : ./
S90
0.9 12 : ./
Step 6 Construct these lines and locate 960 and

990 points.
The total primary settlement is estimated from
: 9 60 990
9 ult # or # or #
Si 0.6 0.9
All 3 values should be close to one another

Asaoka’s method - Readings taken at
constant time interval 5t or equivalent values
interpolated from the time-settlement curve
Step1 Plot Settlement 9n

versus preceding
settlement 9n-1
Step 2 Draw a line through

the points plotted and
extrapolate to intersect with
the 450 line (note: irregular
early points are ignored in
the standard analysis)
High energy impact is a type of deep
compaction technique in which a heavy
tamper is repeatedly raised and dropped
onto the ground surface to compact the
underlying soil deposits to typical depths of
improvement of about 3 to 10m
High Energy Impact
The heavy weight/tamper is usually

between 10 to 20 tonnes
Drop height is between 10 to 25m
With special lifting equipment and a
heavy tamper, the ground can be
affected to depths as great as 30m
Variant of this technique are:
1. Dynamic compaction (DC): The stress waves

generated by the impact travel to considerable
depths to rearrange the particles into a dense
configuration.
Dynamic compaction carried out in the

trial area of Changi East Reclamation
Project
(mass 25 tons, drop height 25 m)

2. Dynamic replacement (DR): Highly
compressible soil is replaced with granular
columns formed by systematic punching-in
charges of imported granular material. These
granular columns serve as foundation and for
drainage.
Dynamic replacement
3. Dynamic replacement and mixing (DRM): The
granular column formed by DR is further subjected
to very high impact resulting in rupture of the
surrounding soft peaty soil and direct mixing of the
granular material into the peaty soil.
Mechanism of DR and DRM

Applications of high energy impact:
• Roads, highways, railroads, airport runways,

taxiways, aprons
• Storage areas, Oil tanks
• Housing development
• Industrial plants
• Ports
• Reclaimed land
Equipment
• Tampers raised and dropped with a conventional
heavy crawler crane using a single cable with a
free spool
• Tampers constructed of steel or steel shells filled
with sand or concrete (area of tamper ~ contact
pressure 40 to 75kPa
• Tampers are square, circular or octagonal
• Impact points are spaced to prevent the creation
of dense zone of material at intermediate depth
• Spacing between primary impact points ~
maximum depth to be improved
Ground vibrations produced by high energy impact
may be undesirable in built-up areas (this can be
reduced by having trenches around the area being
compacted; as the trenches would stop the
vibrations from transmitted further).
Deposits suitable for improvement
Coarse grained pervious deposits (less than 35% silt)
Immediate response is observed; energy
causes the particles to reorient themselves into a
denser packing
Permeability of these deposits is high that,
the pore pressure generated during tamping dissipate
within a short time
Semi-pervious deposits (less than 25% clay and PI< 8)
The energy applied is effective in partially
saturated soils (MC less than the plastic limit)
In saturated or near saturated semi-pervious
deposits, the induced excess pore pressures may
require days or weeks to dissipate. Therefore, rest
period is required between two phases/passes
Saturated impervious deposits
These soils are nearly impervious to
water and are generally NOT suitable for
dynamic compaction
The applied energy produces distortion
of the soil mass. Hence, no significant
densification occurs and the ground surface
around the crater heaves
Pounder Heave
Original Crater
ground surface
Summary of particle size suitable for DC
Lukas (1986)
Depth of improvement
where D = depth of improvement (m)
W = weight of the pounder (tonnes)
H = drop height (m)
D = : WH : = empirical coefficient
For granular soils, : is typically taken to be 0.5
Typical range of design parameters
Pounder: Steel or concrete blocks
Weight W= 10 to 20 tonnes
Dimension: 1.5 to 2m square
(Circular up to 5m dia)
Drop height: H = 10 to 20m
Total energy I = 100 to 400 tm/m2
Grid/print spacing S = 3 to 8m (square grid)
No of blows per pass 5 to 15 (Rest period is to be
given in clayey and silty soils)
No of passes 2 to 8
Applied energy and crater depth
Planning the field procedures
• Test Program
• Area to densify
• Position of water table
• Print spacing
• Drops per print
• Number of passes
• Ground levelling and surface compaction
• Pore water pressure monitoring
Monitoring the improvement
(a) Crater depth measurement
Crater volume calculated from diameter and depth
of crater; the measurement used in identifying local
weak spots
(b) Average ground settlement
Following a complete pass, the ground surface is
levelled. The average ground settlement or
enforced settlement is indicative of the improvement
(c) Field / in-situ tests
Commonly used field tests: SPT, CPT, PMT
The quick landslide in Rissa, Norway 1978
NEED FOR GROUND IMPROVEMENT
TECHNIQUES???
Ground Improvement Techniques (GITs) comprises of THREE Words:

1. Ground…………... This refers earth from which material is obtained both for:
a. as a construction purposes, or
b. as a foundation medium to support superstructures safely
2. Improvement……. Means to enhance or upgrade soil properties, and
3. Techniques……….Means methodology used to enhance soil properties, which depend on
soil nature for its optimum benefit
Hence, three terms put together under one roof constitute a CORE SUBJECT in Geotechnical
Engg to study the soil behavior improved by adopting various improvement techniques.
Ground improvement techniques are used to prepare the ground for new construction
projects and to reduce the risk of liquefaction in areas of seismic activity.
Prof. B A Mir: E-mail: p7mir@nitsri.net / bashiriisc@yahoo.com / bamiriitb@gmail.com, http://www.researcherid.com/rid/F-3770-2017
INTRODUCTION TO GROUND IMPROVEMENT
M. Tech. 2ND Semester Geotechnical Engineering: Spring Session 2020
Sr. No. Content Description Page No.
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Need for Ground Improvement Techniques 1
1.3 Current status and the scope in the profession 2
1.4 Some Techniques - an overview 2
2. Compaction 3
2.1 Introduction 3
2.2 Objectives 3
2.3 General Compaction Methods 3
2.4 Laboratory Compaction 3
2.4.1 Procedure 4
2.5 Field Compaction Equipment 4
• Smooth-wheel roller (drum) 4
• Pneumatic (or rubber-tired) roller 4
• Sheepsfoot rollers 4
• Tamping foot roller 5
• Mesh (or grid pattern) roller 5
• Vibrating drum on smooth-wheel roller 5
2.6 Field Compaction Control and Specifications 5
2.6.1 Specifications 6
2.6.2 Field control tests 6
3. Dynamic Compaction 7
3.1 Introduction 7
3.2 Application 8
3.3 Evaluation of Improvement (Control) 9
3.4 Grid Spacing 9
3.5 Merits 9
4. Vibro-Compaction 9
4.1 Introduction 9
4.2 Applications 10
4.3 Suitability 10
5. Preloading 11
5.1 Introduction 11
ii
5.2 Preloading by means of an Embankment 12
5.2.1 The Technique 12
5.2.2 Limitations 12
5.3 Vacuum Preloading 13
5.3.1 Advantages of vacuum preloading 13
5.4 Prefabricated Vertical Drains and Pre-loading 13
5.4.1 Vertical Drains 13
5.4.2 Types of Vertical Drains 14
5.4.2.1 Sand drains 14
5.4.2.2 Prefabricated Drains 14
5.4.2.3 Guidelines for spacing, depth 15
5.4.2.4 Design Procedures (General) 16
6. Stone Columns 16
6.1 Introduction 16
6.2 The Technique 16
6.3 Typical values and design guidelines 17
6.4 Application of method 17
7. Blasting 18
7.1 Introduction 18
7.2 The Technique 18
7.3 Some guidelines and typical values 19
7.4 Advantages 19
7.5 Limitations 20
8.0 Reinforced Earth Structures 20
8.1 Introduction 20
8.2 Types of reinforcing material 21
8.3 Applications of Reinforced Soil 21
8.4 Advantages 22
8.5 Description of a Reinforced Earth Wall 23
8.6 Construction 25
8.7 Stability 26
8.8 Stability Evaluation 26
8.9 Economics 26
9.0 Shallow Foundations on Reinforced Soil 27
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GROUND IMPROVEMENT
1.1 Introduction
Ground improvement has been both a science and art, with significant developments
observed through ancient history. From the use of straw as blended infill with soils for
additional strength during the ancient Roman civilizations, and the use of elephants for
compaction of earth dams during the early Asian civilizations, the concepts of reinforced
earth with geosynthetics, use of electrokinetics and thermal modifications of soils have
come a long way. The use of large and stiff stone columns and subsequent sand drains in
the past has now been replaced by quicker to install and more effective prefabricated
vertical drains, which have also eliminated the need for more expensive soil improvement
methods.
The early selection and application of the most appropriate ground improvement
techniques can improve considerably not only the design and performance of foundations
and earth structures, including embankments, cut slopes, roads, railways and tailings
dams, but also result in their cost-effectiveness. Ground improvement works have
become increasingly challenging when more and more problematic soils and marginal
land have to be utilized for infrastructure development.
1.2 Need for Ground Improvement Techniques
As more engineering structures are built, it becomes increasingly difficult to find a site
with suitable soil properties. The properties at many sites must be improved by the use of
some form of soil improvement methods, such as: static or dynamic compaction,
reinforcement, drainage or by the use of admixtures. Thus, it is important for the soil
engineers to know the different soil improvement methods; the degree to which soil
properties may be improved; and the costs and benefits involved. In this way, the soil
engineer can gain knowledge in order to design ground improvement projects as well as
to advise the client regarding value engineering to save cost and obtain maximum
benefits for the specific project. The following are some of the methods used as ground
improvement techniques:
Surface Compaction, Deep Compaction, Preloading, Vertical Drains, Stone Columns,

Vacuum Drainage, Mechanically Stabilized Earth (Reinforced Earth), Granular Piles,
Micropiles, Lime Stabilization, Cement Stabilization, Chemical Stabilization, Grouting,
Geotextiles, Lightweight Embankment Materials.
1.3 Current status and the scope in the profession
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1.3 Current status and the scope in the
Ground improvement has been both a science and art, with significant developments
observed through ancient history. From the use of straw as blended infill with soils for
additional strength during the ancient Roman civilizations, and the use of elephants for
compaction of earth dams during the early Asian civilizations, the concepts of reinforced
earth with geosynthetics, use of electrokinetics and thermal modifications of soils have
come a long way. The use of large and stiff stone columns and subsequent sand drains in
the past has now been replaced by quicker to install and more effective prefabricated
vertical drains, which have also eliminated the need for more expensive soil improvement
methods.
The early selection and application of the most appropriate ground improvement
techniques can improve considerably not only the design and performance of foundations
and earth structures, including embankments, cut slopes, roads, railways and tailings
dams, but also result in their cost-effectiveness. Ground improvement works have
become increasingly challenging when more and more problematic soils and marginal
land have to be utilized for infrastructure development.
Rapid urban and industrial growth demands more land for further development. In order
to meet this demand land reclamation and utilization of unsuitable and environmentally
affected lands have been taken up. These, hitherto useless lands for construction have
been converted to be useful ones by adopting one or more ground improvement
techniques. Navi Mumbai is one such example. The field of ground improvement
techniques has been recognized as an important and rapidly expanding one.
1.4 Some Techniques - an overview
The ground can be improved by adapting certain ground improvement techniques. Vibro-
compaction increases the density of the soil by using powerful depth vibrators. Vacuum
consolidation is used for improving soft soils by using a vacuum pump. Preloading
method is used to remove pore water over time. Heating is used to form a crystalline or
glass product by electric current. Ground freezing converts pore water to ice to increase
their combined strength and make them impervious. Vibro replacement stone columns
improve the bearing capacity of soil whereas Vibro displacement method displaces
the soil. Electro osmosis makes water flow through fine grained soils. Electro kinetic
stabilization is the application of electro osmosis. Reinforced soil steel is used for
retaining structures, sloping walls, dams etc…. seismic loading is suited for construction
in seismically active regions. Mechanically stabilized earth structures create a
reinforced soil mass. The geo methods like Geosynthetics, Geogrid etc. are
discussed. Soil nailing increases the shear strength of the in-situ soil and restrains its
displacement. Micro pile gives the structural support and used for repair/replacement of
existing foundations. Grouting is injection of pumpable materials to increase its rigidity.
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The jet grouting is quite advanced in speed as well as techniques when compared with the
general grouting.
2. COMPACTION
2.1 Introduction
Many types of earth construction, such as dams, retaining walls, highways, and airport,
require man-placed soil, or fill. To compact a soil is to place it in a dense state. The dense
state is achieved through the reduction of the air voids in the soil, with little or no
reduction in the water content.
2.2 Objectives
- Decrease future settlements

- Increase shear strength
- Decrease permeability
2.3 General Compaction Methods
Coarse-grained soils Fine-grained soils

Laboratory Falling weight and hammers
Vibrating hammer Kneading compactors
Static loading and press
Field Hand-operated vibration plates Hand-operated tampers
Motorized vibratory rollers Sheepsfoot rollers
Rubber-tired equipment Rubber-tired rollers
Free-falling weight; dynamic
compaction (low frequency
vibration, 4~10 Hz)
2.4 Laboratory Compaction

The purpose of a laboratory compaction test is to determine the proper amount of mixing
water to use when compacting the soil in the field and the resulting degree of denseness
which can be expected from compaction at this optimum water.
The proctor test is an impact compaction. A hammer is dropped several times on a soil
sample in a mold. The mass of the hammer, height of drop, number of drops, number of
layers of soil, and the volume of the mold are specified.
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Standard Proctor Test Modified Proctor Test
Weight of hammer = 2.6 kg Weight of hammer = 4.9 kg
Height of fall = 310 mm Height of fall = 450 mm
No. of Impacts = 25 No. of Impacts = 25
No. of layers = 3 No. of layers = 3
2.4.1 Procedure
- Several samples of the same soil, but at different water contents, are compacted
according to the compaction test specifications.
- The total or wet density and the actual water content of each compacted sample are
measured. M r
r = t , rd =
Vt 1+ w
- Plot the dry densities rd versus water contents w for each compacted sample. The
curve is called as a compaction curve.
2.5 Field Compaction Equipment
· Smooth-wheel roller (drum)

- 100% coverage under the wheel
- Contact pressure up to 380 kPa
- Can be used on all soil types except for rocky soils.
- Compactive effort: static weight
- The most common use of large smooth wheel rollers is for proof-rolling
subgrades and compacting asphalt pavement.
· Pneumatic (or rubber-tired) roller

- 80% coverage under the wheel
- Contact pressure up to 700 kPa
- Can be used for both granular and fine-grained soils.
- Compactive effort: static weight and kneading.
- Can be used for highway fills or earth dam construction.
· Sheepsfoot rollers
- Has many round or rectangular shaped protrusions or “feet” attached to a steel

drum
- 8% ~ 12 % coverage
- Contact pressure is from 1400 to 7000 kPa
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- It is best suited for clayed soils.
• Tamping foot roller

- About 40% coverage
- It is best for compacting fine-grained soils (silt and clay).
· Mesh (or grid pattern) roller

- 50% coverage
- It is ideally suited for compacting rocky soils, gravels, and sands. With high
towing speed, the material is vibrated, crushed, and impacted.
- Compactive effort: static weight and vibration.
· Vibrating drum on smooth-wheel roller

- Vertical vibrator attached to smooth wheel rollers.
- The best explanation of why roller vibration causes densification of granular
soils is that particle rearrangement occurs due to cyclic deformation of the soil
produced by the oscillations of the roller.
- Compactive effort: static weight and vibration.
- Suitable for granular soils
2.6 Field Compaction Control and Specifications
• Dry density and water content correlate well with the engineering properties, and
thus they are convenient construction control parameters.
• Since the objective of compaction is to stabilize soils and improve their
engineering behavior, it is important to keep in mind the desired engineering
properties of the fill, not just its dry density and water content. This point is often
lost in the earthwork construction control.
• Laboratory tests are conducted on samples of the proposed borrow materials to
define the properties required for design.
• After the earth structure is designed, the compaction specifications are written.
Field compaction control tests are specified, and the results of these become the
standard for controlling the project.
• Laboratory tests are conducted on samples of the proposed borrow materials to
define the properties required for design.
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• After the earth structure is designed, the compaction specifications are written.
Field compaction control tests are specified, and the results of these become the
standard for controlling the project.
2.6.1 Specifications
End-product specifications
This specification is used for most highways and building foundation, as long as the
contractor is able to obtain the specified relative compaction , how he obtains it doesn’t
matter, nor does the equipment he uses. Care the results only !
Method specifications
The type and weight of roller, the number of passes of that roller, as well as the lift
thickness are specified. A maximum allowable size of material may also be specified.
It is typically used for large compaction project.
2.6.2 Field control tests
Field control tests, measure the dry density and water content in the field can either be
destructive or nondestructive.
Destructive Methods
(a) Sand cone
(b) Balloon
(c) Oil (or water) method
Calculations
• Know Ms and Vt
• Get rd field and w (water content)
• Compare rd field with rd max-lab and calculate relative compaction R.C.
Nondestructive Methods
Nuclear density meter
(a) Direct transmission
(b) Backscatter
(c) Air gap
Principles
Density
The Gamma radiation is scattered by the soil particles and the amount of scatter is
proportional to the total density of the material. The Gamma radiation is typically
provided by the radium or a radioactive isotope of cesium.
Water content
The water content can be determined based on the neutron scatter by hydrogen
atoms. Typical neutron sources are americium-beryllium isotopes.
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3.DYNAMIC COMPACTION
3.1 Introduction
Soil is compacted by repeated, systematic application of high energy using a heavy
weight (pounder). The imparted energy is transmitted from the ground surface to the
deeper soil layers by propagating shear and compression waves types, which force the
soil particles into a denser state. In order to assure effective transfer of the applied
energy, a 1 to 2 m thick stiff layer usually covers the ground surface. Pounders can be
square or circular in shape and made of steel or concrete. Their weights normally range
from 5 to 25 tons and drop heights of up to 25 m have been used. Heavier weights and
larger drop heights have been used for compaction of deep soil deposits, but are not very
common.
• Technique involves repeatedly dropping a large weight from a crane
• Dynamic Compaction is most often utilized as an economic alternative to
excavation and replacement and/or deep foundations
• Weight may range from 6 to 172 tons
• Drop height typically varies from 10 m to 40 m
•
• degree of densification achieved is a function of the energy input (weight and
drop height) as well as the saturation level, fines content and permeability of the
material.
• 6 – 30 ton weight can densify the loose sands to a depth of 3 m to 12 m.
• Typical area that can be compacted with single crane 300-600 m2.
• Done systematically in a rectangular or triangular pattern in phases
• Each phase can have no of passes; primary, secondary, tertiary, etc.
• Spacing between impact points depend upon:
• Depth of compressible layer
• Permeability of soil
• Location of ground water level
• Deeper layers are compacted at wider grid spacing, upper layer are compacted
with closer grid spacing
• Deep craters are formed by tamping
• Craters may be filled with sand after each pass
• Heave around craters is generally small
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3m 3m 3m 3m 3m 3m
LEGEN D
Primar y P ass
18 m
Secondar y P ass
18 m
(b)
(a)
3.2 Application
• Applicable to wide variety of soils
Grouping of soils on the basis of grain sizes
Zone 1: Best
Zone 3: Worst (consider alternate methods)
Zone 2: Must apply multiple phases to allow for pore pressure di ssipation
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• Mainly used to compact granular fills
• Particularly useful for compacting rockfills below water and for bouldery soils
where other methods can not be applied or are difficult
• Waste dumps, sanitary landfills, and mine wastes
• In sanitary fills, settlements are caused either by compression of voids or
decaying of the trash material over time, DDC is effective in reducing the void
ratio, and therefore reducing the immediate and long term settlement.
• DDC is also effective in reducing the decaying problem, since collapse means less
available oxygen for decaying process.
• For recent fills where organic decomposition is still underway, DDC increases the
unit weight of the soil mass by collapsing voids and decreasing the void ratio.
• For older fills where biological decomposition is complete, DDC has greatest
effects by increasing unit weight and reducing long term ground subsidence.
3.3 Evaluation of Improvement (Control)

• The depth of improvement is proportional to the energy per blow
• The improvement can be estimated through empirical correlation, at design stage
and is verified after compaction through field tests such as Standard Penetration
Tests (SPT), Cone Penetration Test (CPT), etc.
3.4 Grid Spacing
• Significant effect on depth of improvement (Typical values 5 to 10 m)
• First pass compacts deepest layer, should be equal to the compressible
layer
• Subsequent passes compact shallower layers, may require lesser energy
• Ironing pass compacts top layer
3.5 Merits
• It is one of the most basic methods of compacting lose soils.
• Depth of compaction can reach upto 20 m.
• All types of soils can be compacted.
• Produces equal settlements more quickly than surcharge type loading.
• It can be used to treat soils both above and below water table.
• Cost effective and applied to all soil types and varied field conditions.
4.VIBRO-COMPACTION
4.1 Introduction
Vibro-compaction, sometimes referred to as Vibrofloation, is the rearrangement of soil
particles into a denser configuration by the use of powerful depth
vibration. Vibrocompaction is a ground improvement process for densifying loose sands
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to create stable foundation soils. The principle behind vibrocompaction is simple. The
combined action of vibration and water saturation by jetting rearranges loose sand grains
into a more compact state. Vibrocompaction is performed with specially-designed
vibrating probes 12 to 16 inches in diameter which vibrates at frequencies typically in the
range of 30 to 50 Hz. The probe is first inserted into the ground by both jetting and
vibration. After the probe reaches the required depth of compaction, granular material,
usually sand, is added from the ground surface to fill the void space created by the
vibrator. A compacted radial zone of granular material is created.
4.2 Applications
• Reduction of risk of liquefaction due to seismic activity.
• Permit construction on granular fills.
• Reduce foundation settlements
• Prevent soil liquefaction during earthquakes
• Increase in-situ density of land reclamation fills
• Increase shear strength to improve slope stability
• Reduce water permeability to facilitate dewatering
4.3 Suitability
• Suitable if less than 10% fine are there
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5.PRELOADING
5.1 Introduction
Preloading has been used for many years without change in the method or application to
improve soil properties. Preloading or pre-compression is the process of placing
additional vertical stress on a compressible soil to remove pore water over time. The pore
water dissipation reduces the total volume causing settlement. Surcharging is an
economical method for ground improvement. However, the consolidation of the soils is
time dependent, delaying construction projects making it a non-feasible alternative.
The soils treated are Organic silt, Varved silts and clays, soft clay, Dredged material The
design considerations which should be made are bearing capacity, Slope stability, Degree
of consolidation.
The two common preloading techniques are conventional preloading, e. g.
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• by means of an embankment, and
• vacuum induced preloading.
5.2 Preloading by means of an Embankment
Preloading by means of an embankment
5.2.1 The Technique

• Simply places a surcharge fill (temporary, permanent or combination of both on
top of the soil that requires consolidation (silty and clayey soils).
• The temporary surcharge can be removed when the settlements exceeds the
predicted final settlement.
• Once sufficient construction, the fills can be removed and construction takes
place.
• Surcharge fills are typically 3-8 m thick and generally produces settlements of
300 mm – 1000 mm.
5.2.2 Limitations
• Surcharge fill must extend horizontally atleast 10 m beyond the perimeter of the
planned construction, which may not be possible at confined sites.
• Transport of large quantities of soil on and off the site may not be practical, or
may have unacceptable environmental (noise, traffic, dust) impacts on adjacent
areas.
• Surcharge must remain in place for months or years thus delaying construction.
5.3 Vacuum Preloading
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5.3 Vacuum Preloading FMCET
• In its simplest form the method of vacuum consolidation consists of a system of
vertical drains and a drainage layer (sand) on top (150 mm).
• It is sealed from atmosphere by an impervious membrane. Horizontal drains are
installed in the drainage layer and connected to a vacuum pump.
• To maintain air tightness, the ends of the membrane are placed at the bottom of a
peripheral trench filled e. g. with bentonite.
• Negative pressure (60 to 80 kPa) is created in the drainage layer by means of the
vacuum pump. The applied negative pressure generates negative pore water
pressures, resulting in an increase in effective stress in the soil, which in turn is
leading to an accelerated consolidation.
5.3.1 Advantages of vacuum preloading
• There is no extra fill material needed, the construction times are generally shorter
and it requires no heavy machinery.
• No chemical admixtures will penetrate into the ground and thus it is an
environmental friendly ground improvement method
• Isotropic consolidation eliminates the risk of failure under additional loading of
the permanent construction, there is no risk of slope instability beyond boundaries
and it allows a controlled rate and magnitude of loading and settlement
5.4 Prefabricated Vertical Drains and Pre-loading
With increased thickness of the soft clay where the consolidation period is too long for
full consolidation of primary settlements, vertical drainage may be incorporated in
conjunction with preloading in order to accelerate the settlement. Vertical drains may be
proposed in the areas where the thickness of soft soils is limited to less than 10 m and
embankment height are low. The anticipated primary and secondary settlements in such
areas are limited.
5.4.1 Vertical Drains
Vertical drains are artificially-created drainage paths which are inserted into the soft clay
subsoil. Thus, the pore water squeezed out during consolidation of the clay due to the
hydraulic gradients created by the preloading, can flow faster in the horizontal direction
towards the vertical drains.
Therefore, the vertical drain installation reduces the length of the drainage
path and, consequently, accelerates the consolidation process and allows the clay to gain
rapid strength increase to carry the new load by its own.
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5.4.2 Types of Vertical Drains
• Sand Drains
• Prefabricated Drains
5.4.2.1 Sand drains
Sand drains are basically boreholes filled with sand. Are of two types:
• Displacement Sand Drains
As for the displacement type of sand drains, a closed mandrel is driven or pushed into the
ground with resulting displacement in both vertical and horizontal directions. The
installation causes therefore disturbances, especially in soft and sensitive clays, which
reduces the shear strength and horizontal permeability.
• Non Displacement Sand Drains
The low- or non-displacement installations are considered to have less disturbing
effects on the soil. Drilling of the hole is done by means of an auger or water jets. In
terms of jetting, however, installation is very complex.
Disadvantages of sand drains
• To receive adequate drainage properties, sand has to be carefully chosen which
might seldom be found close to the construction site.
• Drains might become discontinuous because of careless installation or horizontal
soil displacement during the consolidation process.
• During filling bulking of the sand might appear which could lead to cavities and
subsequently to collapse due to flooding.
• Construction problems and/or budgetary burdens might arise due to the large
diameter of sand drains.
• The disturbance of the soil surrounding each drain caused by installation may
reduce the permeability, the flow of water of water to the drain and thus the
efficiency of the system.
• The reinforcing effect of sand drains may reduce the effectiveness of preloading
the subsoil.
5.4.2.2 Prefabricated Drains
The installation of prefabricated vertical drains is also done by a mandrel and it is a
displacement installation. Figure shows a typical mandrel and the typical shape of a
prefabricated drain. The dimensions of the prefabricated drains are much smaller
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compared to sand drains and subsequently are the dimensions of the mandrel. Thus, the
degree of soil disturbance caused by the size of the mandrel during installations is lower.
These may be -
• Cardboard Drains
Cardboard draıns are drıven ınto the ground by purpose-made mandrel whıch ıs then
removed.
• Plastic Drains
These are the new generatıon draıns whıch are very sımılar to cardboard draıns
• Sandwicks
These are ready-made small dıameter sand draıns whıch are contaıned ın long canvas
bags (approximately 10 cm ın diameter). They are usually ınstalled by close mandrel
technıque. They are relatıvely cheap.
Advantages
o Low cost.
o Fast Installation
o Ensured drain continuity
o Clean site
o High permeability
o Negligible soil disturbance
o Positive Drainage
5.4.2.3 Guidelines for spacing, depth
The design of any vertical drain project involves the determination of drain spacing
which will give the required degree of consolidation in a particular period of time for a
known type of drain.
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• The vertical grids are installed in triangular or square grid pattern.
• Spacing ranging from 1 to 4 m.
• The depth of clay is often taken as the full depth of soft clay.
• For depth of 5-20 m of soft clay, full depth vertical depths prove to be
economical. Beyond 20 m the installation costs rise markedly.
5.4.2.4 Design Procedures (General)
• All design procedures for vertical drains require a proper estimate of the coefficient
of radial consolidation ch. This parameter links vertical compressibility and horizontal
compressibility and horizontal permeability and controls the radial flow of water into
the drain.
• ch varies from 2-10 times the cv.
• monograph for estimating the average degree of percent consolidation for various
values of ch, drain diameter and spacing and time is used.
6.STONE COLUMNS
6.1 Introduction
Stone Columns: In contrast with vibro-compaction, which is undertaken solely to
compact granular soils, stone columns may be installed in granular or cohesive soils.
Vibrated stone columns are relatively stiff with respect to the surrounding ground.
Stone columns may be provided in areas where subsoil consists of more than about 5 m
thick soft cohesive soil and where stability and stringent considerations cannot be
satisfied with conventional removal / replacement of soft material. Stone columns enable
the embankment to be constructed to its full height continuously without requiring stage
construction.
6.2 The Technique
A cylindrical vertical hole is made and gravel backfill is placed into the hole in
increments and compacted by a suitable device which simultaneously displaces the the
material radially.
The vibroflot is allowed to sink into the ground due to its own weight, assisted by water
or air as a flushing medium, upto the required depth. The soil surrounding the vibroflot is
disturbed or remoulded and the softened material can be removed by jetting fluid. By this
process a borehole of larger diameter is formed once the vibroflot is withdrawn. The
borehole is backfilled with gravel of 12 to 75 mm.
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Boreholes are also made using dry processes-

• Closed end pipe method
A closed end pipe is driven to desired depth and gravel is allowed to fill. The
rammer is used to compact the gravel as the pipe is withdrawn.
• Rammed Stone column
Auger boring equipment is used to make a bore whole and cast iron hammer is
used to compact the fill.
6.3 Typical values and design guidelines
• Diameter
Diameter installed by vibroflot (0.3 to 0.5m) varies between 0.6 m (stiff clays)
and 1.1m (very soft clays).
• Spacing
Determined based on the settlement tolerances for the loads to be applied and
degree of improvement required. Generally spaced from 1.2 to 3 m.
• Length
The length of stone columns is sufficient either to extend below the depth of
significance stress increase caused by the foundation or should extend through the
soft clay to firm strata to control settlements.
6.4 Application of method
• Reduce foundation settlements
• Stone columns may be arranged to support isolated footings, strip footings
or mat foundations.
• As bearing capacity of stone columns is generally high, settlement is the
important criteria. ( in the range of 5- 10 mm for single test column)
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• Prevent soil liquefaction during earthquakes
• Increase shear strength to improve slope stability
• Increase water permeability to accelerate drainage
BLASTING
7.1 Introduction
It is often necessary to densify loose granular soils to achieve acceptable foundation
performance of structures, particularly in areas of seismic activity where it is necessary to
reduce soil liquefaction and seismic deformation potential. Compaction in granular soils
is achieved by vibration, typically either by insertion of a large vibrating poker into the
ground (vibro-compaction) or by frequent drops of a large mass from a great height (deep
dynamic compaction). Increases in building code design accelerations for structures in
potential seismic areas and the resulting increase in the requirement for densification has
led to investigation of the potential for use of explosive compaction (EC) as an economic
alternative to the more traditional techniques.
7.2 The Technique
• A certain amount of explosive charge is buried at a certain depth of a cohesionless
soil required to be compacted and is then detonated.
• A pipe of 7.5 to 10 cm is driven to the required depth in a soil stratum. The sticks
of dynamite and an electric detonator are wrapped in the water proof bundles and
lowered through the casing.
• The casing is withdrawn and a wad of paper of wood is placed against the charge
of explosives to protect it from misfire.
• The whole is backfilled with sand in order to obtain the full force of the blast.
• The elctrical circuit is closed to fire the charge. A series of holes are thus made
ready.
• Each hole is detonated in succesion and the resulting large diameter holes formed
by lateral displacement are backfilled.
• The surface settlements are measured by taking levels or from screw plates
embedded at a certain depth below the ground surface.
Once an area of ground has been treated and pore pressures have largely dissipated,
repeated applications ("passes") of shaking caused by controlled blast sequences causes
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additional settlement depending on soil density and stiffness. The first pass destroys any
bonds existing between cohesionless soil particles due to aging and other geologic
processes, and causes the majority of settlement within the soil mass. Subsequent passes
cause additional settlement by cyclic straining. As a result, surface settlement and
increased soil resistance to cyclic loading will be caused by the blasting.
7.3 Some guidelines and typical values
• Usually the explosives are arranged in the form of a horizontal grid. The spacing
of the charges are decided by the depth of strata to be densified, the size of the
charge and the overlapping of the charges. A spacing of 3 to 8 m is typical and a
spacing less than 3 m should be avoided.
• Compaction is carried out in a single tier only if the depth of stratum to be
densified is less than 10 m or less.
• In such a case the depth of explosive charge should be below half the depth of the
mass or stratum to be densified (appox. At 2/3 point)
• More than one tier should be planned if the depth of stratum to be densified is
more than 10m. Generally he depth of charge should be greater than the radius of
Influence (R).
• Successive blasts of small charges at appropriate spacings are likely to be more
effective than a single large blast.
• Charges should be timed to explode such that the bottom of the layer being
densified upwards in a uniform manner.
• The uppermost portion of the stratum may be less densified which may be
compacted by the vibratory rollers
• The amount of charge should be optimal. The surface heave should not be more
than 0.15 m.
• Charge masses of less than 2 kg to more than 30 kg have been used.
7.4 Advantages
• Blasting technique involves less time, labour and expense.
• This technique needs no special equipment and could be successfully used for
densifying soil at a great depth.
• This could be used to compact a large volume to a substantial depth upto 20m and
in small areas where the other methods would be impractical.
• In remote areas where vibrations are favourable, the technique may prove most
cost effective.
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7.5 Limitations
• Non uniformity, potential adversse effects on adjacent structures and the danger
associated with the use of explosives in populated areas.
• Very fine grained soils with cohesive forces cannot be compacted by this methos.
• Maximum compaction is obtained only when the soil is completely dry or fully
saturated.
• The blasting work is executed only by an experienced contractor under special
supervision.
REINFORCED EARTH STRUCTURES

8.1 Introduction
The concept of soil enforcement is based on the existence of strong soil-reinforcement
interaction like roots, due to their tensile strength and frictional or adhesion properties
reinforce the soil. Many hypotheses have been postulated, in the past 25 years, about the
load transfer between the soil and reinforcement and their interaction. Reinforced earth
is a composite material formed by the friction between the earth and the reinforcement.
By means of friction the soil transfers to the reinforcement the forces built up in the
earth mass. The reinforcement thus develops tension and the earth behaves as if it has
cohesion. Mechanically Stabilized Earth Walls (MSEW) and Reinforced Soil Slopes
(RSS) are usually considered as cost-effective soil-retaining structures. By inclusion of
tensile reinforcing elements in the soil, the strength of the soil can be improved
significantly such that the vertical face of the soil/reinforcement system is essentially
self supporting. Based on limited data, reinforcement accounts for 45 to 65 percent of
total cost.
8.2 Types of reinforcing material

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8.2 Types of reinforcing material
Extensible Reinforcement
Tensile strain in the reinforcement is greater or equal to the horizontal extension
required to develop an active plastic state in the soil.
Inextensible Reinforcement
Tensile strain in the reinforcement is significantly less than the horizontal
extension required to develop an active plastic state in the soil.
Thus an extensible reinforcement makes the structure brittle while the other type
makes it flexible
Example:
Inextensible
Steel, Galvanised steel, Polyster coated fiberglass.
Extensible
Major geosynthetic materials such as geogrid sheet, woven and non woven
geotextile sheet, coated fibre strips, rigid plastic strips, composites and three
dimensional honey comb type products.
8.3 Applications of Reinforced Soil
More common applications of reinforced soil are in the form of RETAINING WALLS.
Reinforced soil structures can be grouped into three classes:
• Embankment and Retaining walls
• Foundations and Subsoil reinforcements
• Insitu Reinforcements (soil-nailing), existing slopes and excavations.
Embankment and Retaining walls
A primary role of reinforcement in an embankment or a retaining wall is to support the
outward earth pressure (lateral thrust) in the fill while maintaining the full bearing
capacity in the foundation. The purpose of these reinforcement is to per form as
(a) Superficial slope reinforcement and edge stiffening.
(b) Main body reinforcement
(c) Reinforcement at the base of retaining wall.
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• Foundations and Subsoil reinforcements
Reinforced Earth Walls

Mechanically Stabilized Earth Walls (MSEW) and Reinforced Soil Slopes (RSS) are
usually considered as cost-effective soil-retaining structures. By inclusion of tensile
reinforcing elements in the soil, the strength of the soil can be improved significantly
such that the vertical face of the soil/reinforcement system is essentially self supporting.
Structural Applications
Reinforced Earth is used in urban, rural and mountainous terrain for
• Retaining Walls
• Seawalls
• Bridge Abutments
• Submerged walls
• Railway Structures
• Truck dumps
• Dams
• Bulk storage facilities
8.4 Advantages
• Flexibility - Reinforced Earth structures distribute loads over compressible soils
and unstable slopes, reducing the need for deep foundations
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• High load-carrying capability, both static and dynamic - applied structural loads
are distributed through the compacted granular fill and earth pressure loads are
resisted by the gravity mass
• Ease and speed of installation - prefabricated materials and granular soil simplify
construction and minimize the impact of bad weather
• Pleasing appearance - panels may be given a variety of architectural treatments
• Economy - 15-50% savings over cast-in-place concrete walls, depending on wall
height and loading conditions.
8.5 Description of a Reinforced Earth Wall
Reinforced Earth Wall consists of three components - precast concrete facing panels,
metallic (steel) soil reinforcements and granular backfill. Its strength and stability are
derived from the frictional interaction between the granular backfill and the
reinforcements, resulting in a permanent and predictable bond that creates a unique
composite construction material.
Facing Panels
Concrete Facing Panels
• Panels are manufactured in factory conditions using high-quality steel moulds.
• Concrete facing panels are delivered to the construction site in stacks of five
panels. Timber spacers are placed between the panels to facilitate unloading and
handling. All facing panels are clearly marked with the appropriate type. This
allows each facing panel to be installed in the correct location.
• The use of discrete facing panels makes Reinforced Earth structures particularly
tolerant to differential settlement.
• Concrete facing panels are available in a variety of textured and patterned
finishes. Different colours can be achieved with the use of pigmented concrete.
• Concrete facing panels are durable and have proven to be especially resilient to
fire damage.
• Tried and tested repair methods allow individual panels damaged by, for example,
vehicle collision, to be replaced without compromising the integrity of the
structure.
Steel Facing Panels
• Galvanized steel facing panel is a lightweight steel mesh facing that is suitable for
both permanent and temporary applications.
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• These facing panels can be constructed to form vertical, stepped or sloping
structures.
• It is easy to handle and cut on site making it ideal for structures with complex
geometry or curved alignments. It can be clad with brick or stone and is often
used to form spandrel walls to our precast concrete arches.
• Large sized stone can be placed behind the facing to give an attractive natural
appearance. It is also possible to establish vegetation behind the facing to form a
green slope.
Soil Reinforcement
• Both steel and synthetic soil reinforcement are available to suit the particular
requirements of the project.
• Most Reinforced Earth structures are constructed using galvanized steel high
adherence reinforcing strips. These provide a low-strain, robust and durable
solution suitable for most land based applications.
• In corrosive environments, such as marine applications, galvanized steel is
unsuitable for permanent structures. For these applications, the GeoStrap®
synthetic soil reinforcement provides a suitable alternative to steel. The GeoStrap
is connected to concrete facing panels through fully synthetic GeoMega® sleeve,
thus providing a durable non-metallic mechanical connection.
• This fully synthetic solution enables a wider range of fill materials to be used,
including recycled aggregates containing potentially corrosive material.
Durability of reinforcement
• The durability of galvanized steel earth reinforcements depends on the
electrochemical properties of both the reinforcements and the reinforced backfill.
• We know the rate at which the galvanization is consumed and the rate at which
the underlying steel corrodes once the zinc is gone, so it is a simple calculation to
determine a structure's expected life. Conversely, given a service life requirement
(typically 75 years for permanent structures, 100 years for critical structures), the
amount of steel required to achieve that service life can also be calculated.
Practically speaking, reinforcing strips are manufactured in a single, standard
cross section and design requirements are met by varying the number rather than
the size of the reinforcements.
Back fill characteristics controlling
The backfill characteristics that affect the service life of buried galvanized steel are pH,
soil resistivity at 100% saturation, and the levels of dissolved sulfate and chloride ions.
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Submergence in fresh or salt water increases the potential for corrosion loss, but
submerged behavior is well understood and design adjustments can be made to produce
safe and durable structures. For normal dry-land construction, the acceptable ranges for
pH, resistivity, chlorides and sulfates are
pH 5 - 10
Resistivity > 3000 ohm-cm
Chlorides < 100 ppm
Sulfates < 200 ppm

Physical characteristics:
• Although the standard specification for Reinforced Earth select backfill requires
less than or equal to 15% passing the 0.075 mm (No. 200) sieve, materials with up
to 40% passing may be considered under limited circumstances and after careful
testing. The Owner/ Consultant must weigh the potential cost advantage of using
such fine-grained backfill against the possibly significant increase in the number
and length of steel reinforcements required, as well as the resulting increase in the
Reinforced Earth backfill volume.
• Under no circumstances should a backfill with greater than 15% fines be used in
a periodically submerged structure
Chemical characteristics:
• pH 5 - 10
• Resistivity > 3000 ohm-cm
• Chlorides < 100 ppm

• Sulfates < 200 ppm
8.6 Construction
• Reinforced Earth system is straightforward to construct. No specialist plant or
labour is required. Construction operations are performed from the backfill side of
the structure, making it ideal for structures where disruption to adjacent features
needs to be minimised.
• Facing panels, soil reinforcement and ancillary items are delivered to site as
required. All facing panels are clearly marked with the appropriate type. This
allows each facing panel to be installed in the correct location.
• The first course of facing panels is constructed on a small mass concrete levelling
pad.
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• Layers of granular backfill are placed and compacted and soil reinforcement is
connected to the facing panels at the appropriate levels. Where concrete facing
panels are being used a hydraulic excavator is used to lift the panels into place.
• Geotextile strips are placed across the panel joints to prevent the loss of fines
from the backfill whilst allowing the structure to drain. Lightweight compaction
equipment is used to compact the fill within 2m of the facing panels. Outside of
this zone heavier compaction equipment can be used.
• Construction of the TerraTrel system is similar to the concrete faced system.
However, the lightweight steel facing panels can be easily handled and can be cut
to size on site.
8.7 Stability
Stability of Reinforced Earth structures is dependent upon many factors. The number and
length of the reinforcing strips is determined by considering the combined effects of the
select and random backfills, the foundation and backslope materials, surcharge loads,
service life requirements and, if applicable, submergence conditions and seismic
acceleration. Construction methods must also be considered, along with both site and
subsoil drainage and scour protection. Ultimately, stability is assured by providing a
reinforced granular mass of sufficient dimensions and structural capacity, bearing on
adequate foundation material, having a durable facing material, well-chosen drainage
systems, and proper embedment of the toe of the wall.
8.8 Stability Evaluation
Reinforced Earth structures are evaluated for external stability and internal stability.
External stability considers the behavior of the site under the loading imposed by the
Reinforced Earth structure, and is primarily influenced by site geotechnical and hydraulic
conditions. Internal stability refers to the behavior of and interrelationship among the
components of the Reinforced Earth structure itself - the facing, the reinforcing strips and
the select backfill. Each type of stability will be discussed separately.
8.9 Economics
Reinforced Earth, when compared with conventional retaining structures, is economical
solution. The cost effectiveness depends on the geometry of the structure and the use of
backfill soil. Hence, the economic position can only be determined for a specific project.
The cost effectiveness increases when the height of the structure is more, e.g. if for 2m
high structure, Reinforced Earth is cheaper by 15%; then for 4m high structure, the cost
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would be 20% cheaper than conventional retaining structures and so on.
*Some other aspects of Reinforced Earth wall can be referred from the word file
MSE 14.
9.SHALLOW FOUNDATIONS ON REINFORCED SOIL

Reinforced soil, or mechanically stabilized soil, is a construction technique that consists
of soil that has been strengthened by tensile elements such as metal strips, geotextiles, or
geogrids.
The metallic strips that are used for reinforced soils are usually galvanized steel strips.
However, the galvanized steel strips are subject to corrosion at the rate of about 0.025 to
0.05 mm/year. Hence, depending on the project service life of the given structure,
allowances must be made for the rate of corrosion.
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Geotextiles and geogrids are non biodegradable materials. They are made from petroleum
products such as polyster, polythelene, and polypropylene. Geotextiles perform four
major functions: (a) allow drainage from the soil; (b) keep the soil layer separated; (c)
provide reinforcement to the soil; and (d) allow free seepage from one layer of the soil to
the other.
In shallow foundations the first reinforcement layer is placed at a distance u measured
from the bottom of the foundation. The distance between each layer of reinforcement is
‘h’. It was experimentally shown that the most beneficial effect of reinforced earth is
obtained when u/B is less than 2/3 of B and the number of layers of reinforcement (N) is
greater than 4 but no more than 6 to 7. If the length of the ties ( i.e. reinforcement strips)
is sufficiently long, failure occurs when the upper ties break.
The figure below shows an idealized condition for the development of a failure surface in
reinforced earth which consists of two zones. Zone I is immediately below the foundation
which settles with the foundation which settles with the foundation during the application
of load. In zone II the soil is pushed outward and upward. Points , A1, A2, A3,… and B1,
B2, B3,..., which define the limits of zone I and II, are points at which maximum shear
stress, τmax, occurs in the xz plane. The distance x = x’ of the point measured from the
centerline of the foundation where maximum shear stress occurs is a function of z/B
*Soil stabilization (Mechanical (mixing), Chemical (lime), Cementation (Cement,

bitumen)) can be referred from the regular books (Transportation books or GIT by P
Purushothama Raj).
28
SOME JOURNAL AND PROCEEDING
PAPERS ON VARIOUS GROUND
IMPROVEMENT TECHNIQUES
American Journal of Applied Sciences 2 (7): 1113-1120, 2005
ISSN 1546-9239
© 2005, Science Publications
Effect of Chemical Admixtures on the

Engineering Properties of Tropical Peat Soils
Bujang B.K. Huat, Shukri Maail and Thamer Ahmed Mohamed

Department of Civil Engineering, University Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Abstract: This research describes a study on the effect of chemical (cement and lime) admixtures on
the index and engineering properties (compaction and unconfined strength) of tropical peat soils. The
ordinary Portland cement and hydrated lime were used. The amounts cement and lime added to the
peat soil sample, as a percentage of the dry soil mass was in the range of 5-15% and 5-25%,
respectively. The results of the study show that the addition of the chemical admixture, cement and
lime, can improve the engineering properties of tropical peat soils. The soil liquid limit is found to
decrease with an increase in the cement and lime content. The soil maximum dry density is found to
increase while the optimum water content is found to decrease with an increase in the cement and lime
content. The unconfined compressive strength of the soil is found to increase significantly with
increase in cement and lime content, especially after a long curing period. However it is also found that
higher organic content of the soil negate the positive effect of the cement and lime in altering
(improving) the mechanical properties of the soil. When comparing the performance of the cement and
lime as a chemical admixture for the tropical peat soil, the ordinary Portland cement appears to
perform better than the hydrated lime.
Key words: Index properties, cement, compaction, lime, peat, unconfined, compressive strength
INTRODUCTION hectares, two thirds of which are in Southeast Asia (Fig.

2). Malaysia has some 3 million hectares (about 8%) of
Peat and organic soil represent the extreme form of the country land area covered with tropical peat. While
soft soil. They are subject to instability such as in Indonesia peat covers about 26 million hectares of
localized sinking and slope failure and massive primary the country land area, with almost half of the peat land
and long-term settlement when subjected to even total is found in Indonesia’s Kalimantan. Since the
moderate load increase [1]. Buildings on peat are usually coverage of these soils is quite extensive, utilization of
suspended on piles, but the ground around it may still these marginal soils are required in an increasing
settle, creating a scenario as depicted in Fig. 1. In number of instances in the recent years. Hence suitable
addition, there is discomfort and difficulty of access to
Geotechnical design parameters and construction
the sites, a tremendous variability in material properties
techniques needed to be found for this type of ground
and difficulty in sampling. These materials may also
condition. It is therefore necessary to expand our
change chemically and biologically with time. For
example further humification of the organic knowledge on the engineering or mechanical properties
constituents would alter the soil mechanical properties of the peat and organic soils.
such as compressibility, shear strength and hydraulic Peat actually represents an accumulation of the
conductivity. Lowering of ground water may cause disintegrated plant remains, which have been preserved
shrinking and oxidation of peat leading to humification under condition of incomplete aeration and high water
with consequent increase in permeability and content. It accumulation wherever the conditions are
compressibility. suitable, that is, in areas with excess rainfall and the
It is therefore understandable that constructions ground are poorly drained, irrespective of latitude or
and buildings on these types of soils are often avoided altitude. Nonetheless, peat deposits tend to be more
whenever possible. However these soils are found in common in those regions with comparatively cool wet
many countries throughout the world. In the US, peat is climate. Physico-chemical and biochemical process
found in 42 states, with a total acreage of 30 million cause this organic material to remain in a state of
hectares. Canada and Russia are the two countries with preservation over a long period of time. In other words,
a large area of peat, 170 and 150 million hectares waterlogged poorly drained condition, not only favor
respectively[2]. In case of tropical peat, or tropical peat the growth of a particular type of vegetation but also
lands, the total world coverage is about 30 million help preserve the plant remains.
Corresponding Author: Bujang B.K. Huat, Department of Civil Engineering, University Putra Mlaysia, Serdang, Selangor,
Selangor, Malaysia
1113
American J. Applied Sci., 2 (7): 1113-1120, 2005
Fig. 1: Typical section of a housing estate on peat (a) Immediately after completion of construction (b) Several
years after completion of construction (scale exaggerated)
Fig. 2: Tropical peat land of Southeast Asia[3]
sea level changes. In terms of thickness, these deposits

may vary from just about 1 m to more than 20 m.
Edil[6] summarizes a number of construction
options that can be applied to peat and organic soils,
namely: excavation-displacement or replacement;
ground improvement and reinforcement to enhance soil
strength and stiffness, such as by stage construction and
preloading, stone columns, piles, thermal pre-
compression and preload piers; or by reducing driving
forces by light-weight fill; and chemical admixture such
as cement and lime. These chemical admixtures can be
applied either as deep in situ mixing method (lime-
cement columns), or as surface stabilizer.
Chemical admixtures or chemical stabilization
always involves treatment of the soil with some kind of
Fig. 3: Principle of soil stability with lime[9] chemical compound, which when added to the soil,
would result in a chemical reaction. The chemical
Concerning the formation of the tropical peat, reaction modifies or enhances the physical and
Lam[4] and Chen et al.[5] postulate the possible event engineering properties of a soil, such as, volume
leading to the development of the deposits as results of stability and strength. In case of sediment soil such as
1114
inorganic clay and sand, chemical admixtures such as • Organic matter holds 10 or more times its dry
Portland cement, lime and fly ash are often used. weight in water and may limit water available for
In case of sediment soils, addition of inorganic hydration.
chemical stabilizers like cement and lime has two fold • Organic matter forms complexes with alumino-
effect on the soil-acceleration of flocculation and silicates and metal ions interfering with hydration.
promotion of chemical bonding. Due to flocculation,
the clay particles are electrically attracted and Lime is another chemical admixture that is
aggregated with each other. This results in an increase commonly used for stabilizing soil. Lime is produced
in the effective size of the clay aggregation. Such by the calculations of limestone or dolomite at high
aggregation converts clay into the mechanical temperature (about 900 °C). Types of lime available
equivalent of fine silt. Also, a strong chemical bonding are:
force develops between the individual particles in such
aggregation. The chemical bonding depends upon the • Hydrated lime (Ca (OH)2).
type of stabilizer employed. Strengths of silt and clay • Quicklime (CaO).
can be improved up to 30 fold[7]. However in the case of • Mono dehydrated dolomite lime (CA (OH) 2.
MgO).
tropical peat, little is known about it respond to
chemical admixtures such as cement and lime. • Dolomite quick lime.
Cement is used as a soil stabilizing agent especially
Lime has actually been used as a soil-stabilizing
for road construction, such as for sub base, airport
agent since Roman time[8]. In case of sediment soil such
runways and earth dams. It is also used for the
as inorganic clay, the amount of lime normally used
construction of low cost houses, especially in the arid ranges in between 5 to 10%. Quicklime is more
region. This material can be used to stabilize sandy and efficient to effect change in soil strength compared with
clayey soils. In sediment soils, cement has the effect to hydrated lime but quick lime is quite dangerous as it
reduce the liquid limit and increase the plasticity index can destroy live tissues. When a line is added to soil, a
and hence increase the workability of soil. number of chemical reactions will take place. The
There are a number of factors that influence the reactions are:
soil cement mixture. Among them are:
• Exchange of cation,
• Type and properties of soil. • Flocculation and aggregation and
• Quantity and type of cement. • Pozzolanic.
• Soil moisture content.
• Mixing and compaction method. In sediment soil, the cations exchange reaction and
• Condition and curing time. flocculation-aggregation result in changes of clay
texture, whereby the clay platelets will combine to form
In theory any soil can be stabilized with cement. larger particles as shown in Fig. 3. Due to this reaction,
But the increase in the silt and clay content require the liquid limit of the soil will be reduced while the
more cement to be added. Soils most suitable to be plastic limit will be increased. As a result, soil plasticity
stabilized with cement are a mixture of sand and gravel index will be reduced and shrinkage limit will be
of better grade and with less than 10% fines passing 75 increased. Therefore the workability of the soil will be
µm sieve and with coefficient of uniformity of not less enhanced and the soil strength, engineering and
than 5. Clayey soil may also be stabilized with cement. deformation properties will be improved. The
Any type of cement can be used to stabilize soil, but the pozzolanic reaction between soil and lime involve the
most commonly used is the ordinary Portland cement. reaction between lime with the soil silica and alumina
For sediment soil, the amount of cement normally used to form a cementing material[10]. This pozzolanic
reaction may continue over a long period of time. High
range from 6 to 14%. The presence of organic and
temperature however speeds up the strength increase of
sulphate materials in the soil is generally believed to
a lime soil mixture.
may prevent the cement from hardening. Mechanisms
As for the cement, little is known about the peat
of organic matter interference in strength gain are not responses to lime. But the general consensus is that in the
completely understood but are thought to include the peat, the strength gain may not be that high [11]. It is
following (Janz and Johansson [7]): generally believed that high water content and low
strength of peat’s require significant strength gain, which
• Organic matter can alter the composition and is inhibited by the organic matter. However studies
structure of Calcium Silica Hydrate (C-S-H) gel, a carried out by Arman and Munfakh[12] on the effect of
cementing compound that forms bonds between lime stabilization of organic soil from Louisiana showed
particles and also type and amount of other that the presence of the organic matter does not
hydration products, e.g., ettringite. significantly inhibit the pozzolanic reaction.
1115
In this study, the results of a study on the effect of mixing water on the liquid limit of the soil-cement
cement and lime admixture on the index and mixed. Mixing water of 50 and 100% were examined in
engineering properties (compaction and unconfined this study. As shown, for a particular soil-cement
strength) of tropical peat soils are presented. The mixed, there is a bigger reduction in liquid limit when
ordinary Portland cement and hydrated lime were used. more water is made available for the chemical reaction
The amounts cement and lime added to the peat soil to take place.
sample, as a percentage of the dry soil mass, were in the
range of 5-15% and 5-25%, respectively. Effect on compaction characteristics: A series of test
is conducted to study the effect of cement on the
TEST PROGRAMS AND SOIL SAMPLES compaction characteristics of peat soil. These samples
were compacted in accordance to the standard proctor
A series of tests is conducted in order to examine test whereby the samples were compacted in three
the effect of cement and lime admixture on the index layers with a 2.5 kg rammer that delivers 27 blows to
and mechanical properties of the peat. This includes the each layer. The results obtained are shown in Fig. 6.
effect of curing time and cement and lime content on As shown, the addition of cement has an influence
the Atterberg limit (liquid limit) of the peat, effect of in reducing the optimum water content and increasing
cement and lime on the compaction characteristics the maximum dry unit weight of the peat soil.
(maximum dry density and optimum water content) on
the peat and effect of cement and lime on the Effect on unconfined compressive strength: Studies
unconfined compressive strength of the peat as well as are carried out to examine the effect of cement on the
the influence of their organic content. The results unconfined compressive strength of the peat soil
obtained are presented below. samples, namely to examine the effect of cement
The ordinary Portland cement and hydrated lime content and curing period, as well as the influence of
were used as the chemical admixtures. The amounts organic content on the unconfined compressive strength
cement and lime added to the peat soil sample, as a of the peat soil samples. The samples were prepared by
percentage of the dry soil mass, were in the range of 5- compaction with the modified proctor with mixing
15% and 5-25%, respectively. water content of 35%. Figure 7 shows the plot of
For soil samples, tropical peat soils samples unconfined compressive strength with cement content,
obtained from several locations in Malaysia, namely at while Fig. 8 shows the influence of curing period on the
Banting, Bukit Changgang and Dengkil, Selangor, were unconfined compressive strength of the soil sample.
used in this study. The soil samples were obtained at a
depth of 0.5m to 1.0m below the ground surface. The
samples represent peat with organic content in the range
of 75 to 94%, natural water content 140 to 400% and
liquid limit of 140 to 300%. These soils have typically
low specific gravity, in the range of 1.34 to 1.70.
According to Van Post scale (Landva et al.[13]), these
soils are classified into the H4 to H7 group, namely
hemic to sapric peat.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Cement admixture: Fig. 4: Effect of cement on the liquid limit of peat soils
Effect on liquid limit: Figure 4 shows the effect of
cement on the liquid limit of the peat soil sample after a
1-day curing period. As shown the addition of cement
decreases the soils liquid limit. The results also show
that the decrease in liquid is more pronounced for soils
with lower organic content and higher amount of
mixing water.
The chemical reaction between additives such
cement and soils are also known as time dependent.
Figure 5 shows plots of liquid limit with curing time in
days. As shown, the liquid limit of the soil-cement
mixed decrease with increased in the curing duration.
However, it was not possible to conduct any more
liquid limit test after 7-days curing as the soil samples
have become too hard. Figure 5 also shows the effect of Fig. 5: Effect of curing time on the soil-cement mixed
1116
Fig. 6: Effect of cement on compaction characteristics

of soil Fig. 10: Effect of cement on the unconfined
compressive strength (28-days strength) of
various soils
As shown increasing the cement content increases the

unconfined compressive of the soil samples. Similarly
higher strength is obtained from samples that have been
cured for 28 days compared with the 3, 7, 14-days
cured samples. It's of interest to note that in the case of
cement stabilized clay, Bergado [14] found that
pozzolanic reaction can continue for months or even
years after mixing, resulting in the increase in strength
of cement stabilized clay with the increase in curing
Fig. 7: Effect of cement on the unconfined time.
compressive strength of peat Figure 9 shows the effect of organic content on the
unconfined compressive strength of the peat soils. In
general the compressive strength increase decrease with
increase in the peat organic content. The results also
show the compressive strength increase decrease with
increase in peat degree of Humification (H). A similar
finding was obtained by Huttunen et al.[15]. They
reported the unconfined compressive strength of peat
with different degree of humification and found that the
strength increases with increasing dosage of cement and
decreases as the humification increases.
Figure 10 shows the comparison of the effect of
cement between organic (peat) and inorganic soils
(sandy gravel, sandy clay and silty clay). In general the
Fig. 8: Effect of curing period on the unconfined trend of behavior is similar. The addition of cement
compressive strength of peat increases the unconfined compressive strength of the
soil samples. However in case of organic soil (peat),
although the strength of the treated soil is still low
compared with the inorganic soils, but the addition of
about 10% cement will cause almost a 250% increase in
the unconfined compressive strength of the untreated
(peat) soil after 28 days, i.e., 60 to 150 kN/m2 for the
case of peat with organic content of 94% and degree of
humification (H) of 7.
Lime admixture:
Effect on liquid limit: Figure 11 shows the effect of
lime on the liquid limit of the peat soil sample after a 1-
day curing period. As shown the addition of lime
decreases the soils liquid limit. The results also show
Fig. 9: Effect of organic content on the unconfined that the decrease in liquid is more pronounced for soils
compressive strength of peat soils with lower organic content.
1117
Fig. 11: Effect of lime on the liquid limit of peat soils

Fig. 13: Effect of lime on compaction characteristics of
soil
Fig. 12: Effect of curing time on the soil-lime mixed

Fig. 14: Effect of lime on the unconfined compressive
A similar trend of behavior has been observed in strength of peat
the case of clay stabilized with lime [16]. The clay liquid
limit was found to decrease with increase in lime As shown, the addition of lime has an influence in
content and so is the plasticity index thus making the reducing the optimum water content and increasing the
soil more workable. maximum dry unit weight or dry density of the peat
The chemical reaction between additives such lime soil. A similar trend of behavior has also been observed
and soils are also known as time dependent. Figure 12 in cases of lime treated clay (Ingles and Metcalf [16]).
shows plots of liquid limit with curing time in days. As
shown the liquid limit of the soil-lime mixed decrease Effect on unconfined compressive strength : Studies
with increased in the curing duration. However, it was are carried out to examine the effect of lime on the
not possible to conduct any more liquid limit test after unconfined compressive strength of the peat soil
7-days curing as the soil samples have become too hard. samples, namely to examine the effect of lime content
Figure 12 also shows the effect of mixing water on the and curing period, as well as the influence of organic
content on the unconfined compressive strength of the
liquid limit of the soil-lime mixed. Mixing water of 50
soil samples. The samples were prepared by
and 100% were examined in this study. As shown, for a
compaction with the modified proctor with mixing
particular peat soil lime mixed, there is a bigger
water content of 35%. Figure 14 shows the plot of
reduction in liquid limit when more water is made unconfined compressive strength with lime content,
available for the chemical reaction to take place. while Fig. 15 shows the influence of curing period on
the unconfined compressive strength of the soil sample.
Effect on compaction characteristics: A series of test As shown increasing the lime content increases the
is conducted to study the effect of lime on the unconfined compressive of the soil samples. Similarly
compaction characteristics of peat soil. These samples higher strength is obtained from samples that have been
were compacted in accordance to the modified proctor cured for 28 days compared with the 7-days cured
test whereby the samples were compacted in five layers samples. The plots also show that the higher strength
with a 4.5 kg rammer that delivers 27 blows to each gain is obtained with sample of the lower organic
layer. The results obtained are shown in Fig. 13. content.
1118
The soil maximum dry density is found to increase
while the optimum water content is found to decrease
with an increase in the cement and lime content.
The unconfined compressive strength of the soil is
found to increase significantly with increase in cement
and lime content, especially after a long curing period.
However it is also found that higher organic content
and degree of humification of the soil negate the
positive effect of the cement and lime in altering
(improving) the mechanical properties of the soil.
When comparing the performance of the cement
and lime as a chemical admixture for tropical peat soil,
the ordinary Portland cement appears to perform better
Fig. 15: Effect of curing period on the unconfined (in term of percentage of strength increase) than the
compressive strength of peat. hydrated lime.
REFERENCES
1. Jarrett, P.M., 1995. Geoguide 6. Site investigation

for organic soils and peat. JKR Document 20709-
0341-95. Public Works Department Malaysia.
Malaysia.
2. Hartlen, J. and J. Wolski, 1996. Embankments on
organic soils. Elsevier.
3. Huat, B.B.K., 2004. Organic and peat soil
engineering. University Putra Malaysia Press.
Malaysia: Serdang.
Fig. 16: Effect of lime on the unconfined compressive 4. Lam, S.K., 1989. Quaternary geology of Sibu town
strength (28-days strength) of various soils area, Sarawak, Malaysia. Geological Survey
Malaysia. pp: 11-23.
Figure 16 shows a comparison of the effect of lime 5. Chen, S.P., S.K. Lam. and Y.K. Tan, 1989.
between organic (peat) and inorganic soil. In general Geology of urban planning and development in
the trend of behavior is similar. The addition of lime Sarawak, Seminar on urban geology for planners
increases the unconfined compressive strength of the and decision makers in developing the urban
soil samples. However in case of organic (peat) soil, environment. Geological Survey of Malaysia.
although the strength of the treated soil is still low Sarawak: Kuching.
compared with the inorganic soils, but the addition of 6. Edil, T.B., 2003. Recent advances in Geotechnical
10% lime will cause a 130 to 150% increase in the characterization and construction over peat and
unconfined compressive strength of the untreated (peat) organic soils. Proceedings 2nd International
soil, i.e. From about 130 to 170 and 190 kN/m2 for peat Conference on Advances in Soft Soil Engineering
soil with organic content of 79 and 90% respectively, and Technology. (Eds). Huat et al. Malaysia:
after a curing period of 28 days. Both soils were with a Putrajaya, pp: 3-25.
degree of humification, (H), of 5. 7. Janz, M. and S.E. Johansson, 2002. The function of
It is also of interest to note when comparing the different binding agents in deep stabilization.
performance of cement and lime, it appears that cement Swedish Deep Stabilization Research Center,
is more effective in term of percentage of strength Linkoping: SGI. 9.
increase in improving the unconfined compressive 8. Lancaster-Jones, P.F.F., E. McKeand and F.G.
strength of the tropical peat soils compared with the Bell., 1978. Ground treatment, Foundation
lime. engineering in difficult ground. London, Boston:
Newnes-Butterworth.
9. Van Impe, W.F., 1989. Soil improvement
CONCLUSION techniques and their evolution. Balkema.
10. Little, D.N., 1995. Stabilization of pavement sub
From the results of this study it can be concluded grades and base courses with lime. Dubuque, Iowa:
that the addition of the chemical admixture, cement and Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.
lime, can improve the engineering properties of tropical 11. Ahnberg, H., C. Ljungkratnz and L. Holmqvist,
peat soils. 1995. Deep stabilization of different types of soft
The soil liquid limit is found to decrease with an soils. Proceedings 11th ECSMFE, Copenhagen,
increase in the cement and lime content. 7:167-172.
1119
12. Arman, A. and G.A. Munfakh, 1972. Lime 15. Huttunen, E., K. Kujala and H. Vesa, 1996.
stabilization of organic soils. National Academy of Assessment of the quality of stabilized peat and
Science. Highway Research. USA, PP: 381. clay. Symposium Grouting and Deep Mixing.
13. Landva, A.O., P.E Pheeney and D.E. Mersereau, Leiden: Balkema, pp: 607-612.
1983. Undisturbed sampling of peat. Testing of 16. Ingles, O.G. and J.B. Metcalf, 1972. Soil
Peats and Organic Soils, ASTM STP 820. (Ed) stabilization principles and practice. John Wiley.
Jarrett, pp: 141-156. New York.
14. Bergado, D.T., 1996. Soil compaction and soil
stabilization by admixtures. Proceeding of the
seminar on ground improvement application to
Indonesian soft soils. Indonesia: Jakarta, pp: 23-26.
1120
GeoCongress 2012 © ASCE 2012 594
Emerging Trends in Ground Improvement Techniques
B.S.Asha1, B. Ram Rathan Lal2, A. H. Padade3, T. Mandal4 and J. N. Mandal5

1,2,3 5
Research Scholar, Professor Civil Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology
Bombay, Powai, Mumbai 400 076, India. Email:09404802@.iitb.ac.in
4
Under Graduate Student, Civil Engineering Department, Datta Meghe College of Engineering,
Mumbai, India.
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by Selcuk Universitesi on 01/14/15. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The developing countries like India are facing challenging infrastructure

projects on fine grained compressible soft foundation soils in the areas of airways,
highways and railways. Therefore it is necessary to develop new innovative ground
improvement techniques, which should be technically feasible and economically
viable for the applications in civil engineering. Therefore an attempt has been
focused in this paper to provide new techniques for ground improvement using
Natural Prefabricated Vertical Drains (NPVD) and Polymer Prefabricated Vertical
Drains (PPVD), geocell and geofoam. The flow rate with different hydraulic
gradients has been compared with NPVD and PPVD. It is observed that the flow rate
of NPVD is lower with respect to PPVD. Three dimensional geocell mattresses made
of geosynthetic material and expanded polystyrene geofoam has been used in
swelling soils. The finite element analysis has been carried out without and with
geocell system using PLAXIS 2D professional version as a tool. It has been observed
that the new system reduces settlement and improves the bearing capacity. Also
Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) geofoam has been used as a fill material in the
embankments which is an effective solution against the conventional fill material.
The slope stability analysis of embankment has been carried out with conventional
fill and EPS geofoam using PLAXIS 2D professional software. It has been observed
that there is considerable increase in the factor of safety of the embankment made up
of EPS geofoam with respect to conventional fill. Using geofoam as filling material a
significant reduction in settlement has been observed.
INTRODUCTION
With the advent of geosynthetics, the revolution of different ground

improvement systems for weak or soft soils are picking up at an unprecedented pace.
The technical viability and economic feasibility is the first priority in any upcoming
projects. The demand is increasing for the construction of different types of projects
on soft soil. In such circumstances, it is necessary to improve the ground in order to
achieve the adequate soil bearing capacity and tolerable settlements. It is difficult to
adopt some of the ground improvement systems in Indian condition in terms of
(a) availability of material (b) cost (c) time (d) cumbersomeness (e) space availability
(f) high energy consumption and (g) environmental friendliness. Keeping these
points, alternate ground improvement systems for soft soil which are suitable under
GeoCongress 2012
Indian conditions in the areas of airways, highways and railways are analyzed and
illustrated in this paper.
The technique of using Prefabricated Vertical Drains (PVD) with surcharge
loading prior to any construction on soft soil accelerates the consolidation and
enhances stability of soft soil. This technique can be used in conjunction with other
stabilizing techniques such as providing geocell at the top of soil or geofoam fill in
embankments constructed on soft soil. Many researchers have carried out various
development works on ground improvements using Prefabricated Vertical Drains
such as Hansbo(1979), Mandal and Kamble(1998), Sujatha(2000) and Mandal and

Fulzule(2008). PVDs are made from polymeric materials. However, natural materials
such as jute, coir can also be used as vertical drains for access road or embankment
construction on soft soil. These natural materials are eco-friendly. Mandal (1987) has
discussed the potential application of natural fibres in band drains used for ground
consolidation. Lee et al. (1989), Mandal and Shiv (1992) and Mandal and
Kanegi(1998) have studied vertical drains made from natural fibres. Eco-friendly and
cost effective Natural Prefabricated Vertical Drains (NPVD) which are made from
jute and coir are an alternate system in consolidation of soft soil deposits especially
in developing countries like India where jute and coir are available in abundance.
In India half of the subcontinent consists of black cotton soil. The soil is
highly plastic and swelling in nature. In this type of soil it is a very serious problem
for the engineers to construct the embankment and reinforced soil retaining walls. In
conventional method we excavate and replace with good quality filling material or
piling which is not economical and practical. Alternatively, geocell can be used
underlying the soft soil. Geocell is a three dimensional honeycomb structures made
of a series of interlocking cells. It can be made of geogrid, non-woven and woven
geotextile, plastic, and geofoam. The geometry of cell may be triangular, square,
rectangular, and hexagonal. It provides very good confining effects. The deployment
of geocell foundation mattress ensure stiff platform and drastically improve the
bearing capacity of weak soil. Mhaiskar and Mandal (1996) investigated the
effectiveness of the geocell, effect of the cell geometry and relative density of the
backfill for strengthening the soft saturated marine clay subgrade by plate load test.
The geocell can be filled with waste materials such as fly ash which is a byproduct
due to combustion of coal in thermal power plants. The thermal power plants
produce enormous quantity of fly ash. The environmental friendly disposal of fly ash
is a major concern in India. The fly ash can be utilized in bulk quantities only in
geotechnical engineering applications.
Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) geofoam is a rigid cellular plastic used in the
geotechnical application since past four decades. The main advantage of EPS
geofoam is its density which is 100 times lesser than soil and 30 times lesser than
any lightweight fill materials (Horvath, 1994).Because of low densities the EPS
geofoam can be handled easily during laying in the field and requires no skilled
labour. The EPS geofoam material can be moulded easily into any required shape
and dimension. The conventional materials which are used for embankment
construction on soft soil can be replaced completely by EPS geofoam.EPS geofoam
material is also very compatible with concrete and steel. Aytekin (1998) carried out
numerical modeling on EPS geofoam as a compressible inclusion between expansive
GeoCongress 2012
soil and retaining wall. Mandal and Nimbalkar(2000) carried out centrifuge modeling
for embankment on soft soil for various field conditions to investigate lightweight fill
application of EPS geofoam as substitute for conventional fill material with economy
and greater serviceability. Ikizler et al. (2009) studied the use of EPS geofoam as a
potential stabilizer in improving the swelling behavior of bentonite clay.
This paper reports the laboratory discharge capacity tests conducted on
newly developed and fabricated Natural Prefabricated Vertical Drains (NPVD) made
of jute and coir to know the flow rate per unit width. Efforts are made to develop and
study technical feasibilities of systems provided with geocell in stabilizing the

swelling pressure of black cotton soil and geofoam as filling material in embankment
on soft foundation soil by using finite element software, PLAXIS professional
version.
GROUND IMPROVEMENT USING NATURAL PREFABRICATED

VERTICAL DRAINS (NPVD)
The PVDs should have enough discharge capacity to expel the excess pore
water pressure generated in saturated soft clay after surcharge loading. In order to
know the discharge capacity of newly developed and fabricated Natural
Prefabricated Vertical Drains (NPVD), laboratory tests are carried out as per ASTM
D4716 standard. Test results are compared with commercially available Polymer
Prefabricated Vertical Drains (PPVD). The developed and fabricated NPVD are
rectangular strips made of single layer of woven or nonwoven jute geotextile as
jacket and five coir strands as core material. The diameter of coir strands is 5mm.
Each coir strand is separated by four longitudinal stitches. The width of NPVD is 85-
90 mm and thickness is 9 mm. Figure 1 shows NPVD made up of coir strands
wrapped with woven and nonwoven jute geotextile.
(a) (b)
Figure 1.NPVD made from coir strands wrapped around by (a) woven jute
geotextile and (b) nonwoven jute geotextile.
To understand the performance of fabricated NPVD, linear flow rate per unit
width under varying compressive stresses and hydraulic gradients is observed. The
apparatus used to measure the linear flow rate is developed based on ASTM D4716
standard. Figure 2 shows the setup of flow rate test apparatus. The tests are
conducted at normal compressive stresses of 0, 10, 50,100 and 250 kPa at varying
GeoCongress 2012
hydraulic gradients of 0.1, 0.25, 0.5 and 1.0. The flow rate per unit width versus
normal compressive stress at hydraulic gradient, 0.5 is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 2.Flow rate measurement test setup.
Figure 3.Graph of flow rate per unit width versus normal compressive
stress at hydraulic gradient, 0.5.
Test results show that NPVD made of woven jute and coir strands has better
flow rate compared to nonwoven jute and coir strands. The measured flow rates per
unit width of NPVDs are less than PPVD at all compressive stresses and hydraulic
gradients. The decrease in flow rate at different compressive stresses is less in PPVD
than in NPVD. This is due to the fact that compression of polymer core material in
PPVD is very much less than coir strands used in NPVD.
STABILIZATION OF SOFT SWELLING SOIL USING GEOCELL
The developed model for stabilization of soft swelling soil using geocell
system is as shown in the Figure 4. The model used basically consists of 50 mm thick
GeoCongress 2012
EPS geofoam of density 0.2 kPa at the base, over laid by 30 mm thick concrete layer
and 1000mm thick geocell mattress at the top. The geocell is filled with fly ash.
Finite element analysis is carried out using commercial available software Plaxis 2D
professional version for both unreinforced and reinforced case of geocell
stabilization technique. The properties of materials used in the geocell system are
given in the Table 1.
Figure 4.Geocell stabilization system for soft swelling soil.
Table1. Properties of Materials Used in the Geocell Stabilization System.

Angle
Properties Young’s Axial
Cohesion of Poisons
modulus stiffness Material
C internal ratio Drainage
Material E EA model
(kPa) friction µ
(kPa) (kN/m)
(°)
Black Undrai-
M-C*
Cotton Soil 7 12 1500 0.35 - ned (A)
Sand 0.01 32 3500 0.32 - M-C* Drained
Fly ash 40 22 2000 0.32 - M-C* Drained

Non
Geofoam 15 0 4500 0.1 - M-C*
porous
Linear Non
Concrete 100 - 23×109 0.24 -
elastic porous
Geogrid - - - - 1000 Elastic -
*M-C: Mohr-Coulomb
The obtained vertical displacement without geocell system is 133.4 mm

which is quite more than that obtained with geocell system, 31.35 mm. This shows
the effectiveness of geocell system. The comparison of vertical displacements
without and with geocell system is tabulated in Table 2. Figure 5 shows the pattern
and magnitude of vertical displacement for unreinforced and reinforced case. The
cross sections of vertical displacement for unreinforced and reinforced case are
shown in Figure 6. The mobilization of shear stresses is more in unreinforced case
than in the reinforced case. Figure 7 shows the relative shear stress patterns for both
unreinforced and reinforced case.
GeoCongress 2012
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(a) (b)
Figure5.Vertical displacement for (a) unreinforced case and (b) reinforced case.
(a) (b)
Figure6.Cross section of vertical displacement for (a) unreinforced case and (b)
reinforced case.
(a) (b)
Figure7.Relative shear stresses (a) unreinforced case and (b) reinforced case
Table 2.Comparison of Vertical Displacements Without and With Geocell

System.
Ground Improvement Systems Vertical Displacement (mm)
Without geocell 133.4
With geocell 31.35
GeoCongress 2012
STABILITY OF EMBANKMENT USING GEOFOAM
The conventional materials which are used for embankment construction on

soft soils have been replaced by EPS geofoam. The EPS geofoam embankment
considered for analysis is as shown in Figure 8.The density of EPS geofoam
considered is 0.2 kPa. The properties of the materials used in the geofoam system are
given in the Table 3.
Finite element analysis is carried out using commercial available software
Plaxis 2D professional version for both unreinforced and reinforced case. The
obtained horizontal and vertical displacements in reinforced case are less in
magnitude than that of unreinforced case. Figure 9 shows the pattern and magnitude
of horizontal displacements for unreinforced and reinforced case. The vertical
displacements pattern and magnitude for unreinforced and reinforced case is shown
in Figure 10.
Figure 8. Geofoam embankment system.
Table3.Properties of Materials Used in the Geofoam Embankment System.

Angle
Properties Young’s Axial
Cohesion of Poison’s
internal modulus stiffness Material
C ratio Drainage
Material E EA model
(kPa) friction µ
(kPa) (kN/m)
(°)
Mohr- Undrain
Soft soil 7 12 1500 0.32 -
Coulomb ed (A)
Mohr- Non
Geofoam 15 0 4500 0.1 -
Coulomb porous
Linear Non
Concrete 100 - 23×109 0.24 -
elastic porous
Geogrid - - - - 1000 Elastic -
The mobilization of shear stresses is more in unreinforced embankment than

in the embankment reinforced with EPS geofoam. The obtained patterns of relative
shear stresses are shown in Figure 11. There is a considerable increment in the value
GeoCongress 2012
of factor of safety for embankment reinforced with geofoam. Comparison of factor of

safety and displacements in unreinforced and reinforced with geofoam in
embankment are given in Table 4.
(a) (b)
Figure 9. Horizontal displacement patterns in embankment for (a)
unreinforced, (b) reinforced with geofoam.
(a) (b)
Figure 10. Vertical displacement patterns in embankment for (a) unreinforced,
(b) reinforced with geofoam.
(a) (b)
Figure 11.Relative shear stress patterns for (a) unreinforced (b) reinforced with
geofoam.
GeoCongress 2012
Table 4. Comparison of Factor of Safety and Displacements Without and With

Geofoam.
Horizontal Vertical
Embankment Factor of Safety
displacement(m) displacement(m)
Without Geofoam 0.9768 1.611 1.123
With Geofoam 2.96 0.02653 0.01182
CONCLUSIONS
Ground improvement techniques using Natural Prefabricated Vertical Drains

(NPVD), geocell and geofoam are presented in the paper. Following conclusions are
made from the studies carried out.
1. The discharge capacity tests conducted in the laboratory on Natural

Prefabricated Vertical Drains (NPVD) and Polymer Prefabricated Vertical
Drains (PPVD) show that the measured flow rates per unit width of NPVDs are
less than PPVD at all compressive stresses and hydraulic gradients. NPVD
made of woven jute and coir strands has better flow rate compared to
nonwoven jute and coir strands. The effect of compression of core material is
less in PPVD than in NPVD. It should be observed that the mechanism of flow
through PPVD and NPVD are different. Hence further studies are required on
NPVD.
2. The obtained vertical displacement without geocell system (unreinforced) is
133.4 mm which is quite more than that obtained with geocell system
(reinforced) 31.35 mm. This shows the effectiveness of geocell stabilization
system in stabilizing the swelling soils. The mobilization of shear stresses is
more in unreinforced case than in geocell reinforced case.
3. The obtained horizontal and vertical displacements in geofoam embankment
are less in magnitude than unreinforced case. There is a considerable increment
in the value of factor of safety for geofoam embankment. This indicates the
usefulness of geofoam embankment constructed over soft soils. The factor of
safety of geofoam embankment is 2.96.
4. Results obtained from finite element analysis of developed geocell and
geofoam systems should be reaffirmed with further experimental works.
5. Eco-friendly and cost effective Natural Prefabricated Vertical Drain (NPVD),
geocell and geofoam are an ideal choice in stabilizing the soft soils in
developing countries like India.
REFERENCES
ASTM D4716 (2008). “Standard Test Method for Determining the (In-plane) Flow
Rate per Unit Width and Hydraulic Conductivity of a Geosynthetic Using a
Constant Head.” ASTM, Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A.
GeoCongress 2012
Aytekin, M. (1997). “Numerical Modeling of EPS Geofoam used with Swelling

Soil.” Geotextiles and Geomembranes, 15, 133-146.
Hansbo, S. (1979). “Consolidation of clay by band-shaped prefabricated drains,”
International Journal of Ground Engineering, 12(5), 16-25.
Horvath, J.S. (1994). “Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) Geofoam: An Introduction to
Material Behavior.” Geotextiles and Geomembranes, 13, 263-280.
Ikizler, S.B., Aytekin, M. and Vekli, M. (2009). “Reduction in swelling pressure of
expansive soil stabilized using EPS geofoam and sand.” Geosynthetics
International,13 (3), 216-221.

Lee, S.L., Karunaratne, G.P., Dasgupta, N.C., Ramaswamy, S.D. and Aziz, M.A.
(1989). “A vertical drain made up of natural fibre for soil improvement
projects.” Proceedings of International Workshop on Geotextiles, Nov. 22-29,
Banglore, 271-276.
Mandal, J.N. (1987). “Geotextiles in India.” International Journal of Geotextiles and
Geomembranes, 6, 253-274.
Mandal, J.N. andFulzule, R. (2008). “Use of prefabricated vertical drains (PVD) in
land reclamation projects.” Expert lecture, National Symposium on Ground
Improvement Techniques, 10-16.
Mandal, J.N. and Kamble, S.M. (1998). “Centrifuge modeling of geosynthetics
encased stone columns.” Proceedings of Indian Geotechnical Conference, 1,
275-278.
Mandal, J.N. and Kanagi, V.S. (1998). “Centrifuge modeling of vertical drains.”
Indian Geotechnical Journal, 28 (1), 71-92.
Mandal, J.N. and Nimbalkar, S.S. (2000). “Centrifuge tests for bearing capacity of
EPS on soft soils,” Foundation Problems and Case Studies, IGS Indore
Chapter, 60-74.
Mandal, J.N. and Shiv, A. (1992). “Computer aided design of prefabricated
geocomposite drain.” International Journal of Construction and Building
Material, 6(4), 210-225.
Mhaiskar, S.Y. and Mandal, J.N. (1996). “Investigations on soft clay subgrade
strengthening using geocells.” International Journal of Construction and
Building Materials, 10 (4), 281-286.
Plaxis 2D Professional,“Plaxis Finite Element Code for Soil and Rock Analysis.”
Delft, The Netherlands, 2010.
Sujatha, M. (2000). “Analysis, Design and Monitoring of Prefabricated vertical
drains.” M.Tech Dissertation, Department of civil engineering, IIT Bombay,
India.
GeoCongress 2012
H.-Y. Fang (ed.), Foundation Engineering Handbook
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Geotech Geol Eng
DOI 10.1007/s10706-013-9632-8
ORIGINAL PAPER
Physical and Compaction Behaviour of Clay Soil–Fly Ash

Mixtures
B. A. Mir • A. Sridharan
Received: 12 January 2012 / Accepted: 5 March 2013

Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013
Abstract At present, nearly 100 million tonnes of fly mixtures are significantly modified and improved. It is
ash is being generated annually in India posing serious seen that 40 % fly ash content is the optimum quantity to
health and environmental problems. To control these improve the plasticity characteristics of BC soil. The fly
problems, the most commonly used method is addition ashes exhibit low dry unit weight compared to BC soil.
of fly ash as a stabilizing agent usually used in With the addition of fly ash to BC soil the maximum dry
combination with soils. In the present study, high- unit weight (cdmax) of the soil–fly ash mixtures
calcium (ASTM Class C—Neyveli fly) and low- decreases with increase in optimum moisture content
calcium (ASTM Class F—Badarpur fly ash) fly ashes (OMC), which can be mainly attributed to the improve-
in different proportions by weight (10, 20, 40, 60 and ment in gradation of the fly ash. It is also observed that
80 %) were added to a highly expansive soil [known as 10 % of Neyveli fly ash is the optimum amount required
black cotton (BC) soil] from India. Laboratory tests to minimize the swell potential compared to 40 % of
involved determination of physical properties, compac- Badarpur fly ash. Therefore, the main objective of the
tion characteristics and swell potential. The test results study was to study the effect of fly ashes on the physical,
show that the consistency limits, compaction character- compaction, and swelling potential of BC soils, and bulk
istics and swelling potential of expansive soil–fly ash utilization of industrial waste by-product without
adversely affecting the environment.
Keywords Expansive soil Fly ash Self-pozzolanic

Swell potential
A. Sridharan—Formerly Professor of Civil Engineering, Indian

Institute of science Bangalore-560 012. 1 Introduction
B. A. Mir (&) Coal continues to be one of the primary sources of energy

Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute
in India and the present generation of fly ash is more than
of Technology, Srinagar 190 006, J&K, India
e-mail: p7mir@nitsri.net; bamiriitb@gmail.com; 150 million tones per year posing serious disposal and
bashiriisc@yahoo.com environmental problems. Thus, the coal-based thermal
power plants not only in India, but also all over the world
A. Sridharan
face a serious problem of handling and disposal of ash
Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi, India
e-mail: sridharanasuri@yahoo.com; generated. In India, this problem is particularly sensitive
asridhran@yahoo.com and complex due to the high ash content (30–45 %) of
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coal. The safe disposal of these ashes without affecting properties of black cotton soil are significantly
the environment and the large area involved are of major improved by the addition of fly ash (Mir 2001).
concern. Therefore, it is important to find alternative uses Sivapullaiah et al. (1996) studied the effect of fly ash
for fly ash so that their bulk disposal without adverse on the index properties of BC soils from Karnataka,
environmental effects becomes possible. India and reported that the addition of fly ash decreased
There are numerous possible ways by which fly ash the liquid limit of these soils. Pandian et al. (1998)
can be utilized (Raymond 1961; Uppal and Dhawn studied in detail the wide variation in specific gravity
1968; Amos and Wright 1972; Digioia and Nuzzo of Indian fly ashes. Gray and Lin (1972) reported that
1972; Joshi and Nagaraj 1987; Toth et al. 1988; the specific gravity of fly ash depends on a variety of
Ramme et al. 1994; Larimore 1996; Mir and Pandian factors such as gradation, particle shape, chemical
2003; Nalbantoglu 2004; Edil et al. 2006; Phanikumar composition, etc. Sridharan et al. (2001) and Pandian
and Sharma 2004; Tastan et al. 2011). The bulk and Mir (2002) reported that the compaction curves of
utilization in geotechnical applications includes fly ashes resemble those of cohesionless soils and the
embankments/dykes, as back fill material, as base change in water content does not have significant effect
material, as soil stabilization material and in water on the dry unit weight. Moulton (1978) reported that
retaining structures. For stabilization of soil with fly natural soils have 1–5 % air voids at maximum dry unit
ash in most of the occasions, soil needs to be mixed and weight, whereas the same for fly ash is 5–15 %. The
compacted with fly ash. Furthermore, the use of fly ash higher void ratio tends to limit the build up of pore
as an additive results in a stabilized soil of less pressures during compaction and thus allowing fly ash
shrinkage in comparison with soft soils treated with to be compacted over a large range of water contents
lime or cement alone (Natt and Joshi 1984; Hausman (Toth et al. 1988; Sridharan et al. 2001). Further, fly
1990). BC soils undergo significant volumetric ash being a silty non-cohesive material, can be
changes when subjected to changes in water content compacted efficiently with rubber tired rollers during
and have caused considerable damage to structures construction. Yudbhir and Honjo (1991) reported that
built above them (Katti 1979; Suba Rao 2000). The fly ash with high carbon content provided lower
properties of BC soils may be improved by means of maximum dry density and higher optimum moisture
chemical stabilization. Among various chemical sta- content values, but the dry unit weight of fly ash
bilizing agents, lime, fly ash and cement are most increases with an increase in iron content. Due to their
widely and commonly used for the stabilization of the low unit weight and high shear strength, the potential
BC soils (Singh 1996). Fly ash contains siliceous and use of fly ash in the construction of embankments has
aluminous materials (pozzolans) and also certain been discussed by Sridharan et al. (1998).
amount of lime. When mixed with black cotton soils, Fly ash can be considered as a beneficial and
it reacts chemically and forms cementitious com- economical material for ground improvement, where
pounds. The presence of free lime and inert particles in long-term settlements due to self-weight are also of
fly ash suggests that it can be used for stabilization of concern (Indraratna et al. 1991). Fly ash has been very
expansive soils (Indraratna et al. 1991). effective to reduce swell potential of BC soils
The pozzolanic fly ash (ASTM Class C) with self- (Nalbantoglu 2004; Phanikumar and Sharma 2007).
hardening properties is most advantageous in ground Prakash and Sridharan (2009) reported that fly ash has
improvement. Ferguson (1993) studied the feasibility advantageous properties such as low specific gravity,
of using Class C fly ash from Kansas Power and Light lower compressibility, higher rate of consolidation,
Jeffrey Energy Centre for the stabilization of subgrade high volume stability, water insensitiveness to com-
materials. It was noted that an addition of fly ash paction and pozzolanic reactivity.
altered the physical and compaction characteristics of The effect of addition of fly ash to soil on different
both granular and cohesive materials. parameters such as consistency limits (Sivapullaiah
Fly ashes are predominantly silt-sized with some et al. 1996), maximum dry density and optimum
sand-sized particles (e.g. Sherwood and Ryley 1966; moisture content (Sridharan et al. 2001), swell
Sridharan et al. 1997; Mir 2001). In most of the potential (Cokca 2001) show that these properties
stabilization techniques, fly ash is invariably mixed are improved considerably. Further for each parameter
with soil and compacted. The physical and engineering there exist an optimum value of fly ash at which most
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desirable value is obtained. Therefore, the major Badarpur fly ash. Therefore, commercially available
objective of this study was to investigate the effect of hydrated lime (8.5 %) was used as an additive to
high and low calcium fly ashes on the physical, Badarpur fly ash to make it at par with Neyveli fly ash in
compaction characteristics, and swelling potential of terms of lime content. The SiO2 ? Al2O3 values for BC
Indian black cotton soil. soil and Neyveli fly ash are comparable (73 and 77 %)
whereas the same for Badarpur fly ash is high (90 %).
2 Material Properties and Methods 2.2 Experimental Methods
2.1 Material Properties Laboratory tests were carried out on the BC soil and
the two fly ashes, which include particle size analysis,
2.1.1 Black Cotton Soil chemical analysis, specific gravity, Atterberg limits,
Proctor compaction tests, free swell and consolidation
In India, black cotton soils cover extensive areas in the tests by following standard laboratory procedures. The
states of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, physical and chemical properties of materials used are
Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu accounting listed in Table 1.
for almost one-fifth of the surficial deposits. In the
present investigation, black cotton soil was collected 2.2.1 Particle Size Analysis
from Davangere District of Karnataka State of India.
The BC soil was chosen for this study because it The particle size distribution curves for BC soil and fly
possesses low strength and inherent high swelling and ashes (ASTM D 422-63, 2007) are shown in Fig. 1.
shrinkage characteristics. Particle size distribution analysis revealed that the BC
The natural soil samples were oven-dried and soil contained about 60 % clay size particles (\2 lm),
pulverized to pass through 425 lm sieve before testing. and that fly ashes are mainly a silt size. The grain size
distribution curves for Badarpur fly ash and Neyveli fly
2.1.2 Fly Ashes ash are poorly graded sandy silt (SM) of uniform size.
Two fly ashes, namely Badarpur fly ash (Class F— 2.2.2 Chemical Analysis
pozzolanic fly ash from Badarpur thermal power station
(Uttar Pradesh State), and Neyveli fly ash (Class C— The chemical analysis of BC soil and fly ashes were
pozzolanic fly ash with cementitious properties from performed in accordance with ASTM C311. The
Neyveli thermal power station Tamil Nadu State) were chemical composition of BC soil and the two fly ashes
used for this study as they represent the extreme cases (Neyveli and Badarpur fly ashes) is given in Table 1.
based on calcium content among many Indian fly ashes. The main constituents of the BC soil and both fly ashes
Class F fly ash [with SiO2 ? AlO3 ? Fe2O3 [ are silica (as SiO2), alumina (as A12O3), and iron oxide
70 %—(ASTM C 618-89)] is normally produced from (as Fe2O3). The SiO2 ? A12O3 ? Fe2O3 fraction of
burning anthratic or bituminous coal. It has pozzolanic the both fly ashes is more than 80 % of its total content,
properties, but little or no cementious properties. Class which can be classified as a silica-aluminous fly ashes.
C fly ash [with SiO2 ? AlO3 ? Fe2O3 [ 50 %— The chemical analysis shows Neyveli fly ash to contain
(ASTM C 618-89)] is normally produced from burning 9 % CaO and Badarpur fly ash to contain 0.5 % CaO.
lignite or sub-bituminous coal and in addition to having The main constituent of the clay mineral of BC soil is
pozzolanic properties, it also has cementitious proper- montmorillonite. According to ASTM C 618 classifi-
ties. Class C fly ashes have more a glassy structure cation, only Neyveli fly ash can be classified as Class C
(calcium aluminate) and minor constituents of crystal- fly ash and Badarpur fly ash falls under Class F.
line compounds, which are highly reactive. Therefore,
Class C fly ashes are more reactive than Class F fly 2.2.3 Specific Gravity
ashes.
The chemical analysis shows Neyveli fly ash to The specific gravity of BC soil and fly ashes were in
contain 9 % CaO while 0.5 % CaO is present in accordance with ASTM D854-92. The specific
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Table 1 Physical and chemical properties of materials used

Physical properties Chemical properties
Property BC soil BFA NFA Composition (by wt%) BC soil BFA NFA
Particle size SiO2 49.2 57.5 36.5

Clay size (%) 63 03 05 Al2O3 24 33.0 41.0
Silt size (%) 27 87 85 Fe2O3 5.8 4.8 4.5
Fine sand (%) 10 10 10 TiO2 0.7 1.4 1.4
Coeff. of uniformity, Cu – 6.3 1.4 CaO 0.4 0.5 9.00
Coeff. of curvature, Cc – 1.1 0.9 MgO 0.4 0.2 3.8
Specific gravity 2.71 2.18 2.64 MnO 0.2 bd \0.1
Atterberg limits K2O 0.12 0.4 0.4
Liquid limit (%) 84 50 40 Na2O 0.1 0.2 0.4
Plastic limit (%) 25.5 NP NP LOI (900 °C) 18.1 1.5 3.5
Plasticity index (%) 59.5 – – Clay mineral M – –
Shrinkage limit (%) 8.0 – – Free lime – – 3.2
Classification CH SM SM
Free swell ratio 6.5 0.75 1.2
Swell pressure (kPa) 290 – –
Std. proctor maximum dry unit weight, c = qg (kN/m3) 14.4 10.6 12.6
OMC (%) 28.3 38.2 31.95
BFA Badarpur fly ash, NFA Neyveli fly ash, NP non-plastic, bd below detection, LOI loss on ignition, M montmorillonite, OMC
optimum moisture content
Fig. 1 Particle size

distribution curves for BC
soil and fly ashes
gravities of black cotton soil, Badarpur fly ash and resulting in low unit weight as compared to soils is an
Neyveli fly ash are 2.71, 2.18 and 2.64 respectively. It attractive property for its use (such as a backfill
is noted that the specific gravity of fly ashes vary material for retaining walls, as embankment material)
significantly compared to natural soils. The specific in geotechnical engineering applications (Sridharan
gravity of most fly ashes is low compared to soils et al. 1998). Since the specific gravities of the fly ashes
because of the presence of cenospheres (Pandian et al. vary over a wide range (i.e., 2.18–2.64), the specific
1998). The generally low specific gravity of fly ash gravity of the soil–fly ash mixtures will also vary
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Table 2 Experimental program

S. no. BC soil–Badarpur fly ash mixtures BC soil–Neyveli fly ash mixtures
BC soil (G = 2.71) (%) BFA (G = 2.18) (%) Gmix BC soil (G = 2.71) (%) NFA (G = 2.64) (%) Gmix
1 100 0 2.710 100 0 2.710

a
2 80 20 2.604 90 10 2.703
3 60 40 2.498 80 20 2.696
4 40 60 2.390 60 40 2.682
5 20 80 2.280 40 60 2.668
6 0 100 2.180 20 80 2.654
7 0 100b 2.182 0 100 2.640
Bold values refer to either BC soil or Fly ash (NFA or BFA) alone,values other than bold refer to BC soil-Fly ash mixtures
a
For example, for BC soil–Badarpur fly ash ratio of 80:20, the specific gravity of this soil–fly ash mixture is calculated as:
Gmix ¼ GBC soil 0:8 þ GBFA 0:2 ¼ 2:71 0:8 þ 2:18 0:2 ¼ 2:604
Likewise, the specific gravity of other samples of soil–fly ash mixtures is calculated in the same manner
b
8.5 % of Lime (Ca(OH)2) by weight was added to BFA to make it at par with NFA in terms of lime content (the lime content
difference between the two fly ashes
between 2.18 and 2.71. The specific gravity of soil–fly ashes were determined using the Standard compaction
ash mixtures is calculated in proportion of ratios of test (ASTM D698). Figure 2 shows the compaction
soil–fly ash mixtures. For example, for BC soil– curves for the materials used. The values of OMC and
Badarpur fly ash ratio of 80:20, the specific gravity of MDD obtained are 28.3 % and 14.4 kN/m3 respec-
this soil–fly ash mixture is calculated as: tively for the BC soil; 38.2 % and 10.6 kN/m3
respectively for Badarpur fly ash and 31.95 % and
Gmix ¼ GBC soil 0:8 þ GBFA 0:2
12.6 kN/m3 respectively for Neyveli fly ash. It is seen
¼ 2:71 0:8 þ 2:18 0:2 ¼ 2:604 ð1Þ
that compared to BC soil, fly ashes exhibit lower dry
Similarly, the specific gravity of other samples of unit weight and higher optimum moisture content due
soil–fly ash mixtures is calculated in the same manner to the presence of large and hollow cenospheres in fly
(see Table 2). ashes (Pandian et al.1998) and a relatively uniform
grain size distribution.
2.2.4 Consistency Limit Tests
2.2.6 Free Swell Test
Consistency limits such as liquid limit, plastic limit and
shrinkage limits for the BC soil and fly ashes were The free swell testing method was used to determine
determined in accordance with ASTM D4318-98 and the swelling potential of the test specimens (ASTM
ASTM D 427-93. The liquid limit of BC soil, Badarpur D4546-90). In the field of geotechnical engineering,
fly ash and Neyveli fly ash are 84, 50 and 40 %, the swelling nature of soils is quantified using free
respectively. The BC soil may be classified as clay with swell ratio (FSR) (Sridharan et al. 1985; Sridharan and
high liquid limit (CH) from its plasticity chart. The fly Prakash 2000), which is defined as:
ashes exhibit liquid limits due to their fabric and not due Vd
to plasticity characteristics. Since fly ashes are essentially FSR ¼ ð2Þ
Vk
silt sized and non-plastic, plastic limit and shrinkage limit
of fly ashes alone cannot be determined easily. where Vd the equilibrium sediment volume of 10 g of
oven dried soil in 100 ml jar containing distilled
2.2.5 Compaction Characteristics water, and Vk the equilibrium sediment volume of an
identical soil sample in kerosene.
The optimum moisture content (OMC) and the max- In the present study, the values of free swell ratio
imum dry density (MDD) of the BC soil and the fly (FSR) obtained are 6.5, 0.75 and 1.2 for BC soil, Badarpur
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optimum amount required to minimize the swell

potential compared to 40 % of Badarpur fly ash (Class
F fly ash).
3 Results and Discussions
3.1 Effect of Fly Ash on Consistency Limits of Fly

Ash–Soil Mixtures
Effects of fly ashes and lime on liquid limit, plastic

limit, plasticity index (ASTM D4318-98), and shrink-
age limit (ASTM D 427-93) of BC soil is shown in
Fig. 3. Table 3 presents the index properties of BC
soil–fly ash mixtures. Consistency limit tests for all the
soil–fly ash mixtures were conducted immediately
after mixing and in similar time frame for all mixtures.
The results presented in Fig. 3a and Table 3 show
that the liquid limit decreases with the addition of the
both fly ashes. Liquid limit decreases considerably with
up to 60 % fly ash percentage and beyond that the
decrease is observed to be marginal. This is expected,
Fig. 2 Compaction curves for BC soil and fly ashes
since fly ashes are coarse grained compared to BC soil
resulting in the decrease of the liquid limit. Further-
fly ash and Neyveli fly ash respectively. It is seen that fly more, fly ashes are inert and hence, even their finer
ashes have very low values of FSR indicating negligible fractions do not contribute to the liquid limit values. The
degree of expansivity or swell potential. extent of consistency limit variation limits depends on
the particle size distribution, free lime content and
2.2.7 One Dimensional Compression Test pozzolanic reactivity of the fly ash. In case of BC soil–
Neyveli fly ash composite samples, the liquid limit is
The swelling potential [dH/Ho, (Ho = initial height of slightly higher than that for BC soil–Badarpur fly ash
specimen)] and swelling pressure of the BC soil were composite samples due to the flocculation caused by the
determined using one dimensional compression tests lime present in Neyveli fly ash.
(ASTM D4546-90). The specimens were inundated The increase in plastic limit on addition of fly ash is
with water and allowed to swell against a seating due to the lime content of fly ashes. The plastic limit of
pressure of 6.25 kPa. The dial gauge readings were BC soil–Neyveli fly ash composite samples first
recorded until the specimen reached a constant increases and then decreases marginally as a function
swollen height (dH = Dial gauge Divn. 9 0.002). fly as percentage increase (beyond 40 %) which shows
After equilibrium was attained, a pressure increment that the behaviour changes from expansiveness to non-
ratio of 1 was used for next pressure applications (up to expansiveness in nature. This marginal decrease in the
800 kPa). Each pressure increment was maintained for plastic limit with an increase in percentage of ASTM
24 h and dial gauge readings were recorded during class C fly ash is due to the reduction of soil available
consolidation process with time. Addition of fly ash to for the lime to react to form a calcium silicate gel
BC soil decreases the free swell index, swell potential which coats and binds lumps of clay together and
and swell pressure. There is a considerable reduction occupies the pores in the soil.
in the swelling potential as the amount of fly ash-added The effect on the liquid limit and plastic limit by the
increases. With duration of curing, swelling potential/ addition of the fly ashes is observed to reflect the trend
pressure further decreases. It has been observed that of variation of plasticity index upon the addition of fly
10 % of Neyveli fly ash (Class C fly ash) is the ash in increasing percentages. As seen from Fig. 3a,
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Fig. 3 Variation of index properties of BC soil with percent fly ashes of Badarpur and Neyveli
the addition of the fly ashes decreases the plasticity soil–Neyveli fly ash composite samples (Table 3).
index of the soil samples. The decrease is found to be Since fly ashes are silt sized and non-plastic, plastic
more with the increase in the quantities of fly ash up to limit and shrinkage limit of fly ashes alone could not
40 % and then the trend of decrease is nominal with be determined.
further increase in the percentages of fly ash. It can be
seen that the BC soil becomes non-plastic upon 3.2 Compaction Characteristics of Soil–Fly Ash
addition of about 80 % fly ash. The test results show Mixtures
that addition of 20 % of Badarpur fly ash and 10 % of
Neyveli fly ash has changed the classification of BC 3.2.1 Effect of Fly Ash on Compaction
soil from CH to MH, MH-ML respectively. Hence, fly Characteristics of Soil–Fly Ash Mixtures
ash can be used as an admixture to reduce the
associated problems posed by the swelling soils like The dry unit weight is an important parameter because
BC soils. with an increase in the dry unit weight, permeability
The value of shrinkage limit is used for under- decreases, stiffness and strength increases, thus reduc-
standing the swelling and shrinkage properties of ing the settlement and increasing the ultimate stability.
cohesive soils. Shrinkage limit is important for The compaction curves of BC soil with different
stabilized fly ash used as liners. Cracking can lead to percentages of fly ashes (Table 2) are shown in
the development of secondary permeability. Shrink- Fig. 4a, b. The results from Standard Proctor com-
age cracking also plays an important role if fly ash is paction tests (ASTM 698-91, 1995) of the BC soil–fly
used in rigid pavements. The test results presented in ash mixtures are presented in Table 4.
Fig. 3b and Table 3 show that the shrinkage limit of Figure 4a shows the compaction curves of BC soil
the resulting BC soil–fly ash mixture increases mainly and Class F fly ash (Badarpur fly ash). The compaction
due to the flocculation of clay particles caused by the curves of the soil–fly ash mixtures fall between those
free lime present in the fly ash and also due to the for BC soil and Class F fly ash. The decrease of the
substitution of finer particles of black cotton soil by maximum dry unit weight (cdmax) with the increase in
relatively coarser fly ash particles. Addition of 20 % fly ash is mainly due to the lower specific gravity of the
fly ash with BC soil enhances the shrinkage limit of the Badarpur fly ash (G = 2.18 as against 2.71 of BC
soil samples from 8 to 48 % for BC soil–Badarpur fly soil), and poor gradation of fly ash, and the immediate
ash composite samples and from 8 to 38 % for BC formation of cemented products, which reduce the dry
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Table 3 Index properties of BC soil–fly ash mixtures

BC soil–Badarpur fly ash mixtures BC soil–Neyveli fly ash mixtures
BC soil–fly ash mixes Index properties BC soil–fly ash mixes Index properties
BC soil (%) BFA (%) LL (%) PL (%) PI (%) SL (%) BC soil (%) NFA (%) LL (%) PL (%) PI (%) SL (%)
100 0 84.0 25.4 58.6 8.3 100 0 84.0 25.4 58.6 8.3
80 20 72.0 33.0 39.0 47.5 90 10 81.0 45.0 36.0 12.1
60 40 63.0 31.6 31.4 46.0 80 20 76.0 49.0 27.0 38.2
40 60 53.0 32.5 20.5 30.9 60 40 66.0 54.0 12.0 54.6
20 80 52.0 NP – 36.9 40 60 56.5 45.0 11.5 52.4
0 100 50.0 NP – – 20 80 53.0 NP – 43.9
0 100 46.0 NP – 38.0 0 100 40.0 NP – –
8.5 % of lime was added to Badarpur fly ash (lime content = 0.5 %) to make it at par with Neyveli fly ash (lime content = 9 %) in
terms of lime content (Mir 2001)
BC soil black cotton soil, BFA Badarpur fly ash, NFA Neyveli fly ash, NP non-plastic, LL liquid limit, PL plastic limit, PI plasticity
index, SL shrinkage limit
Fig. 4 Proctor’s
compaction curves for BC
soil and fly ash mixtures
unit weight of the treated soil (Lees et al. 1982; Bell Figure 4b shows the compaction curves of BC soil
1996). The reduced dry unit weight reduces the swell and Class F fly ash (Neyveli fly ash). The compaction
shrinkage potential of the compacted expansive soils curves of the soil–fly ash mixtures fall between those for
(Du et al. 1999). The increase in optimum moisture BC soil and Class C fly ash. The compaction curves in
content (OMC) with an increase in the fly ash content between represent the soil and fly ash mixed in different
is due to poor gradation of fly ash, and presence of proportions. It may be noted that the specific gravity of
broken hollow spheres in fly ash. Figure 4a also shows the two materials are almost of the same order (NFA:
that with the addition of small amount of BC soil to the 2.64 as against 2.71 of BC soil). Because of the
fly ash, cdmax of the composite sample increases with a increased resistance offered by the fly ash, which is a
decrease in OMC. The increase in cdmax can be mainly coarser and uniformly graded material, cdmax obtained
attributed to the improvement in gradation of the fly is lesser than the cdmax of BC soil. Since the water
ash and increase in the specific gravity of soil–fly ash contents of fly ash and soil are different (i.e., 32 % for
composite sample. Neyveli fly ash as compared to 28 % for BC soil), OMC
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Table 4 Compaction characteristics of BC soil–fly ash mixtures

BC soil–Badarpur fly ash mixtures BC soil–Neyveli fly ash mixtures
BC Gm Maximum dry unit weight and BC Gm Maximum dry unit weight and
soil ? BFA optimum moisture content soil ? NFA optimum moisture content
(%) (%)
Conventional Normalizedc Conventional Normalized
cdmax (kN/ w cdmax,n wn cdmax (N/ w cdmax,n wn
m3) (%) (kN/m3) (%) m3) (%) (kN/m3) (%)
100 % BC soil 2.710 14.4 28.3 – – 100 % BC soil 2.710 14.4 28.9 – –
20BFAa 2.604 13.9 30.0 14.45 27.5 10NFAa 2.703 14.1 29.5 13.8 30.2
40BFA 2.498 13.6 31.1 14.5 27.3 20NFA 2.696 13.9 29.7 13.7 30.5
60BFA 2.390 12.7 33.0 14.3 28 40NFA 2.682 13.7 29.9 13.5 30.7
80BFA 2.280 11.8 35.4 13.7 28.4 60NFA 2.668 13.5 30.5 13.4 30.9
100BFA 2.180 10.6 38.2 12.9 31.4 80NFA 2.654 13.1 31.1 12.9 31.1
100 %BFAb 2.182 10.57 34.8 12.9 28.8 100NFA 2.640 12.6 32.0 12.7 31.95
Gm specific gravity of soil sample prepared (col. 2 and 8), Gstd standard value of sp. gravity = 2.65
a
20BFA = 20 % Badarpur fly ash (BFA-by weight) ? 80 % BC soil and so on
b
8.5 % of lime (CaO) was added to BFA to make it at par with Neyveli fly ash (NFA) in terms of lime content
c
Normalized maxm dry unit weight, cdmax,n = (cdmax 9 Gstd)/Gm
Normalized water content, wn = (w 9 Gm)/Gstd
increases with increase in fly ash content. The increase Gm

Normalized water content; wn ¼ w ð4Þ
in optimum moisture content is probably on account of Gstd
additional water held within the flocs resulting from where cd dry unit weight of given material (kN/m3),
flocculation due to lime and the fly ash reaction. w water content corresponding to dry unit weight of a
given material, Gm specific gravity of a given material,
3.2.2 Normalized Dry Unit Weight: Water Content Gstd the standard value of specific gravity with respect
Plots for Soil–Fly Ash Mixtures to which the plots are normalized.
A specific gravity of 2.65, a typical value of most
Since the specific gravity of fly ashes varies over a wide soils, has been adopted as the standard specific gravity
range (i.e., 2.18–2.64), it is not possible to compare the in this investigation.
compaction characteristics of fly ashes with those of Figure 5a, b show the normalized dry unit weight–
natural soils. To compare the degree of compaction for normalized water content plots obtained both for BC
fly ashes, and soil–fly ash mixtures, and to account for soil–Badarpur fly ash mixtures and BC soil–Neyveli fly
the widely varying specific gravities of fly ashes, it is ash mixtures respectively. Normalized unit weight of
essential to replot the conventional dry unit weight– Badarpur fly ash increases whereas normalized water
water content relationship in the form of normalized content decreases compared to their actual dry unit
dry unit weight-normalized water content relationship weights and water contents due to large variation in
(Sridharan et al. 2001; Pandian and Mir 2002). specific gravities of Badarpur fly ash (G = 2.18) and
The conventional unit weight–water content is the standard value of specific gravity (Gstd = 2.65). It
modified in terms of normalized dry unit weight (cdn) is also seen that the conventional compaction curves
and normalized water content (wn). The Normalized dry are scattered in Fig. 4a compared to normalized
unit weight and water content are computed as below: compaction curves in Fig. 5a. Furthermore, the opti-
Gstd mum fly ash content for improving the compaction
Normalized dry unit weight ðkN=m3 Þ; cdn ¼ cd
Gm characteristics (cdmax, OMC) of the treated soil is 40 %
ð3Þ compared to other soil–fly ash mixtures (Fig. 5a),
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Fig. 5 Normalized
Proctor’s compaction curves
for BC soil and fly ash
mixtures
Fig. 6 Variation of
maximum dry unit weight
and optimum water content
with percent fly ash
which is at par with BC soil. Kate (2005) has shown The variation of maximum dry unit weight and
that the quantity of fly ash up to optimum content can optimum moisture content (conventional and normal-
induce pozzolanic reaction and cemented materials ized) with percent fly ash is shown in Fig. 6. From
effectively contributing to shear strength increase, Fig. 6, it is seen that the maximum dry density
while the additional quantity of fly ash acts as decreases and optimum water content increases with
unbonded silt particles, which has neither appreciable increase in fly ash content. The normalised values
friction nor cohesion, causing decrease in strength. In depicts the true picture because the differences in the
the case of BC soil–Neyveli fly ash mixtures, there is specific gravity values have been accounted for and it
not much variation in their compaction behaviour since is also seen that the normalised plot presents the
the specific gravity of the two materials are almost of variations in both maximum dry unit weight and OMC
the same order (NFA: 2.64 as against 2.71 of BC soil). more rationally.
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Geotech Geol Eng
Fig. 7 Variation of percent

swell with pressure of BC
soil–fly ash mixtures for
different curing periods
3.3 Effect of Fly Ash on Swelling Behaviour and swell pressure for various BC soil–fly ash mixtures
for different test conditions. The (dH/Ho) versus logp
The term ‘‘Swelling Potential’’ is used by many curves of composite samples crosses the horizontal line
researchers (e.g. Seed et al. 1962; Phanikumar and through the point of initial condition at point ‘‘A’’ (zero
Sharma 2007; Bidula 2012; Sabat 2012 to name a few) swelling potential) after complete swelling at nominal
in many ways, but in general, it may be taken to load, and on complete consolidation at the swelling
include both the percent swell, and the swelling pressure (pS) corresponding to point ‘‘A’’ for curve 1.
pressure of soils. In the present study, the swelling The percent swell/compression for BC soil under each
potential was determined from the one dimensional pressure increment is also determined. The swelling
consolidation test (ASTM D 2435). pressure of BC soil obtained from this test is 290 kPa
The swelling potential of the specimens, based on for Proctor’s maximum density and optimum moisture
the free swell test data was determined under the content condition (Fig. 7).
condition of no curing, 7 days curing, and 28 days It is seen that as the percent fly ash content
curing. Figure 7a–d shows the values of percent swell increases, the swell potential shows considerable
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Geotech Geol Eng
cementitious compounds) of fly ashes. Fly ashes have

potential to provide multivalent cations (Ca2?, Al3?,
Fe3?, etc.), which promote flocculation of clay
particles by cation exchange. Therefore, the surface
area and water affinity of the samples decreases, which
result in the reduction of swelling potential and
swelling pressure.
The variation of percent swell (ASTM D4546-90)
with fly ash content for different curing periods under
seating pressure is shown in Fig. 8. It is seen that 10 %
of Neyveli fly ash (Class C fly ash) is the optimum
amount required to minimize the swell potential
compared to 40 % of Badarpur fly ash (ASTM Class
F fly ash). Thus, fly ashes exhibit high volume stability
(i.e., low swell and shrink potential), which can be
attributed to their non-plastic nature and uniform
gradation. Variation of percent compression with fly
ash content under a pressure of 800 kPa for different
Fig. 8 Variation of percent swell with fly ash content (%) curing periods is shown in Fig. 9. Thus, it is seen that
different under seating pressure of 6.25 kPa for curing periods
with an increase in the fly ash content (10 % of
Neyveli fly ash compared to 40 % of Badarpur fly
ash), compression potential of BC soil is improved.
4 Summary and Conclusions
Based on the experimental findings of this research the

following conclusions can be drawn:
1. Both high-calcium and low-calcium fly ashes can
be recommended as effective stabilizing agents
for improvement of expansive (BC) soil. The use
of Neyveli fly ash (Class C fly ash) as stabilizing
agents can be economically attractive compared
to lime or cement in regions near the thermal
power plants that generated the ashes. However,
the low-calcium fly ash is used in conjunction
with the additional lime, essentially qualifying
Fig. 9 Variation of percent compression with fly ash content this fly ash as ‘‘high-calcium’’ fly ash.
(%) under a pressure of 800 kPa for different curing periods 2. The index properties of BC soil are significantly
improved for better by the addition of fly ash. The
decrease. The interaction between clay particles that is extent of variation depends on the particle size
necessary for swelling is reduced quite effectively by distribution, free lime content and pozzolanic
the addition of non-plastic fly ash particles. It is also reactivity of the fly ash. Shrinkage limit is
observed that with an increase in the curing time, both increased significantly with the addition of fly
swelling as well as compression potential is reduced ash. This is highly desirable from the view point
(Fig. 7b–d). The decrease in swelling potential due to of volume stability.
curing can be attributed to the time-dependent pozzo- 3. Normalized dry unit weight-normalized water
lanic and self-hardening properties (formation of content plots not only helps in overcoming the
123
Geotech Geol Eng
effect of widely varying specific gravity, but also ASTM C 618-89. Standard specification for coal fly ash and raw
facilitates proper comparison of the compaction or calcined natural pozzolan for use in concrete. Annual
book of ASTM standards, American Society for Testing
characteristics of fly ashes with those of soils and Materials, Philadelphia. www.astm.org
without any change in the shape of the compac- ASTM D 854-92 (1995) Standard test method for specific
tion curves. gravity of soils. Annual book of ASTM Standards. Amer-
4. Addition of fly ash to BC soil decreases the free ican Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia, vol
04.08, pp 80–83
swell index, swell potential and swell pressure. ASTM D4318-98. Standard test methods for liquid limit, plastic
There is a considerable reduction in the swelling limit, and plasticity index of soils. Annual book of ASTM
potential as the amount of fly ash-added increases. standards, American Society for Testing and Materials,
With duration of curing, swelling potential/ Philadelphia. www.astm.org
ASTM D 427-93. Standard test method for shrinkage factors of
pressure further decreases. It has been observed soils by the mercury method. Annual book of ASTM
that 10 % of Neyveli fly ash (Class C fly ash) is the standards, American Society for Testing and Materials,
optimum amount required to minimize the swell Philadelphia. www.astm.org
potential compared to 40 % of Badarpur fly ash ASTM D698-91. Standard test methods for laboratory com-
paction characteristics of soil using standard effort. Annual
(Class F fly ash). book of ASTM standards, American Society for Testing
5. Compressibility characteristics of the expansive and Materials, Philadelphia. www.astm.org
soil are improved with the addition of fly ash. ASTM D4546-90. Standard test methods for one-dimensional
These further improve with curing of the com- swell or settlement potential of cohesive soils. Annual book
of ASTM standards, American Society for Testing and
pacted BC soil–fly ash mixtures. Materials, Philadelphia. www.astm.org
6. Recycling/utilization of fly has the advantage of ASTM D 2435. Test method for one-dimensional consolidation
using an industrial waste by-product without properties of soils. Annual book of ASTM Standards,
adversely affecting the environment or potential American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia,
vol. 04.08. www.astm.org
land use with in addition fly ash proves to be an Bell FG (1996) Lime stabilization of clay minerals and soils.
effective admixture for improving the soil engi- Eng Geol 42:223–237
neering behaviour considerably. Bidula B (2012) Geo-engineering properties of expansive soil
stabilized with fly ash. EJGE 17(J):1339–1353
Cokca E (2001) Use of class C fly ash for the stabilization of an
Acknowledgments The investigation reported in this paper expansive soil. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng ASCE
forms a part of the research at IISc Bangalore. The support and 127(7):568–573
assistance is gratefully acknowledged. Thanks are due to Digioia AM Jr, Nuzzo WL (1972) Fly ash as structural fill.
Faculty of Geotechnical Engg. Division and supporting staff J Power Div ASCE 98(1):77–92
of the Soil Mechanics laboratory and the office staff of Civil Du YJ, Li SL, Hayashi S (1999) Swelling-shrinkage properties
Engineering Department for their timely help during the course and soil improvement of compacted expansive soil, Ning-
of investigation. The Authors thank the ‘‘unknown referees’’ Lian highway, China. Eng Geol 53:351–358
whose comments were extremely useful and enhanced the Edil TB, Acosta HA, Benson CH (2006) Stabilizing soft fine-
quality of their paper. grained soils with fly ash. J Mater Civ Eng 18(2):283–294
Ferguson G (1993) Use of self-cementing fly ashes as a soil-
stabilizing agent. In: Proceedings of session on fly ash for
soil improvement, ASCE Geotechnical Special Publication
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123
Volume change behavior of clayey soil–fly ash
mixtures
B. A. Mir*1 and A. Sridharan2
At present, more than 150 million tonnes of fly ash is generated annually in India, posing serious
health and environmental problems. To control these problems, the most commonly used method is
addition of fly ash as a stabilizing agent in combination with soils. For the bulk utilization of fly ashes in
geotechnical applications such as embankments/dykes, as back fill material, as base material and in
water retaining structures either alone or with soil, the volume change behavior of soil–fly ash mixture
forms an important consideration. Only few data are available concerning the volume change
behavior of clayey soil–fly ash mixtures and require further investigations. In the present study, high-
calcium (ASTM Class C-Neyveli fly ash (NFA)) and low-calcium (ASTM Class F-Badarpur fly ash
(BFA)) fly ashes in different proportions by weight (10, 20, 40, 60, and 80%) were added to a highly
expansive soil [known as Black Cotton (BC) soil from India] to evaluate the effect of fly ashes on the
volume change behavior of clayey soils–fly ash mixtures. Compacted clay-fly ash samples were
cured for 7 and 28 days and subjected to consolidation test under different pressures ranging from
50 kPa to 800 kPa. In this study, the void ratio, the compression index, swelling potential, coefficient
of consolidation, permeability, and preconsolidation pressure of clayey soil–fly ash specimens were
investigated. The test results indicate a significant decrease in compressibility characteristics and
swell potential of the treated soils. It was seen that 20% high-calcium fly ash content is the optimum
quantity to improve the compressibility characteristics of clayey (BC) soil cured for 7 days against
60% for immediate tests. It is also observed that 10% of NFA is the optimum amount required to
minimize the swell potential compared to 40% of BFA. Thus, the main objective of the study was to
study the effect of fly ashes on the volume change behavior of fly ash treated clayey soil and bulk
utilization of industrial waste by-product without adversely affecting the environment.
Keywords: Compressibility, Clayey soils, Fly ash, Swell potential, Self-pozzolanic, Flocculation
An embankment, structural backfill, and other compacted of engineering problems concerning settlement, seepage,
fills should possess low compressibility to minimize settle- and stability of the structures. Excessive heave, settlement,
ments or differential settlements between structures and low shear strength, and internal erosion of some soils cause
adjacent approaches. Consolidation occurs more rapidly in damage to many civil engineering structures such as spread
compacted fly ash than in silty clay/clay because fly ash has footings founded on clayey soils; roads, highways, and
a higher void ratio and greater permeability than soil. For airport runways constructed on expansive subgrade; and
fly ashes with age-hardening properties, including most earth dams constructed with dispersive soils. Swelling of
‘‘high lime’’ fly ashes from lignite or sub-bituminous coals, expansive soils causes more damage to structures, particu-
age hardening can reduce the time rate of consolidation, as larly light buildings and pavements, than any other natural
well as the magnitude of the compressibility. Knowledge of hazards, including earthquakes and floods (Jones and
compressibility and permeability are essential in a number Holtz, 1973).
In practice, lime has been used as an effective additive to
improve the engineering properties of soils and prevent
1
Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Srinagar-
damage to structures. Lime treatment in cohesive soils
190 006, Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir, India generally reduces swelling and improves soil plasticity,
2
Indian National Science Academy, India workability, and bearing capacity (EI-Rawi and Awad,
*Corresponding author, email: p7mir@nitsri.net 1981; Basma and Tuncer, 1991; Abduljauwad, 1993; Bell,
ß 2014 W. S. Maney & Son Ltd

Received 16 June 2013; accepted 25 July 2013 International Journal of
72 DOI 10.1179/1939787913Y.0000000004 Geotechnical Engineering 2014 VOL 8 NO 1
Mir and Sridharan Volume change behavior of clayey soil–fly ash mixtures
1996; Narasimha and Rajasekaran, 1996). Pure lime a result of the reaction between clay and free lime
stabilization is very effective but can be expensive in large imparted from fly ash, and (ii) long-term reaction,
projects. With this in mind, and to improve the behavior involving time and temperature dependent pozzolanic
of clayey soils, attempts have been made to utilize low-cost activity, in which new cementious compounds-calcium
local materials including waste products. One of the most silicate hydrates (CSH) and calcium aluminate hydrates
common applications which include the bulk utilization (CAH) responsible for long-term strength in soils are
of fly ash is the construction of compacted fills and produced. Fly ash can provide an adequate array of
embankments, and a few embankments have been divalent and trivalent cations (Ca2z, Al3z, Fe3z, etc.)
constructed in India using pond ash (Vittal, 2001). Fly under ionized conditions that promote flocculation of
ash has also been used as a backfill material, a base course dispersed clay particles. Thus, clayey soils can be
material, and an embankment material due to its low potentially stabilized effectively by cation exchange using
specific gravity resulting in low unit weight but high fly ash. The proper use of fly ash can reduce the relatively
frictional value and free draining nature, apart from being high cost of pure cement or pure lime stabilization,
used as a stabilizing agent (Kumar, 1996; Prakash and especially as fly ash is a waste material discarded in
Sridharan, 2009). The Electric Power Research Institute’s relatively large quantities; at the same time solving the
(EPRI) manual (Glogowski et al., 1992) reported that 33 problems posed by the disposal of fly ash. Therefore, for
embankments and 31 area fills in North America that were the bulk utilization of fly ashes in geotechnical applica-
constructed with fly ash. tions, the volume change behavior of soil–fly ash mixes
Many researchers (e.g. Chen, 1975; Locat et al., 1990; forms an important consideration.
Nicholson et al., 1994; Sivapullaiah et al., 1996; Du et al., Since only limited data are available concerning the
1999; Cokca, 2001; Nalbantoglu and Gucbilmez, 2002; volume change behavior of fly ash treated clayey soil,
Nalbantoglu, 2004; Phanikumar and Sharma, 2004; Kate, more investigations are desirable. In the present study,
2005; Phanikumar and Sharma, 2007; Zha et al., 2008; high-calcium (ASTM Class C-Neyveli fly ash (NFA)) and
Phanikumar, 2009) have reported successful stabilization low-calcium (ASTM Class F-Badarpur fly ash (BFA)) fly
of expansive soils with admixtures such as lime and fly ash, ashes in different proportions by weight (10, 20, 40, 60,
which controls the potential of soils for a change in and 80%) were added to a highly expansive soil [well
volume, and improves the strength of soils. Saha and Pal known as Black Cotton (BC) soil from India] to evaluate
(2012) have studied experimentally the compressibility the effect of fly ashes on the volume change behavior of
behavior of soil and fly ash used in successive layers and clayey soil – fly ash mixtures. In this study, the
reported that fly ash may be an effective stabilizing compression index, swelling potential, coefficient of
material to reduce the volume change during both primary consolidation, and permeability of clayey soil–fly ash
and secondary consolidation. mixtures were investigated. Thus, the main objectives of
Many other researchers (e.g. Pandian and Balasubra- this study are:
monian, 1999; Kaniraj and Gayathri, 2004) studied a. To utilize bulk quantity of fly ash as a stabilizing agent
permeability and consolidation characteristics of com- avoiding the tremendous environmental problems
pacted fly ash and reported that the coefficients of caused by large scale dumping of fly ash.
permeability and compressibility of the compacted fly b. To control volume change behavior of clayey soils and
ash were comparable to those of non-plastic silts. Ghazali to reduce the cost of stabilization of these soils by
et al. (1991) have also observed a reduction in the utilization of fly ash.
hydraulic conductivity of chemically treated kaolin clay c. To find the effectiveness of the fly ash in reducing the
due to the decreased rate of consolidation. swell potential of clayey soil and the possibility of
The engineering properties of clayey soils are signifi- increase in permeability and coefficient of consolida-
cantly altered by the addition of fly ash (Mir, 2001). The tion.
compacted dry unit weight of fly ash is usually in the range d. To evaluate the role of fly ash as the primary
of 13?6–14?6 kN m23, which is well below that of most stabilizing agent on the volume change behavior of
conventional fill materials. Therefore, fly ash can be clayey soil.
considered as a suitable and economical material for
ground improvement, where long-term settlements due to Materials and methods
self-weight are also of concern (Indraratna et al., 1991).
The quality of fly ash is a function of several factors. The Clayey soil
constituents most likely to affect the engineering and In the present investigation, clayey soil (BC soil) was
physical properties of fly ash are free lime and unburnt collected from Davengere District of Karnataka State.
carbon. Either a high content of unburnt carbon or a Black cotton soil is the Indian name given to the expansive
negligible amount of free lime or both generally char- soil deposits in the country accounting for almost one-fifth
acterizes non-pozzolanic fly ash (low-calcium fly ash). of the surfacial deposits. Black cotton soils, which are
Whereas, the pozzolanic fly ash (Class C or high-calcium clays of high shrinkage and swelling characteristics, causes
fly ash) with self-hardening properties is most advanta- extensive damage to civil engineering structures.
geous in ground improvement. The improvements in the
engineering properties of clayey soils as fly ash is added Fly ashes
can be explained by two distinct processes: (i) short-term In the present investigation, two fly ashes namely, BFA
reaction, consisting of cation exchange and flocculation as (Class F – from Badarpur thermal power station (UP),
International Journal of Geotechnical Engineering 2014 VOL 8 NO 1 73

and NFA (Class C – from Neyveli thermal power station used in this investigation. The major emphasis of the
Tamil Nadu) have been chosen for evaluating the effect experimental work was placed on the volume change
of fly ash on volume change behavior of clayey soil and behavior of clayey soil treated with two fly ashes (low-
its bulk stabilization for its effective use. These two fly calcium – BFA and high-calcium – NFA). The physical and
ashes were chosen for this study as they represent the compaction behavior of clay soil–fly ash mixtures have been
extreme cases based on calcium content among many reported by Mir and Sridharan (2013). For bulk utilization
Indian fly ashes. Class F fly ash [low CaO with of fly ashes in geotechnical applications, an understanding
SiO2zAl2O3zFe2O3.70% – (ASTM C618 89)] is nor- of volume change behavior of clayey soil–fly ash mixtures is
mally produced from burning anthratic or bituminous essential.
coal. It has pozzolanic properties, but little or no
cementious properties. Class C fly ash [high CaO with
SiO2zAl2O3zFe2O3.50% – (ASTM C61889)] is nor- Testing procedures
mally produced from burning lignite or sub-bituminous One-dimensional consolidation tests:
coal and in addition to having pozzolanic properties, ‘‘Immediate’’ test series
possesses autogenous cementitious properties. Class C fly
Oven-dried soil samples were prepared as per standard
ashes have more a glassy structure (calcium aluminate)
procedure (ASTM D421). For immediate test series, the
and minor constituents of crystalline compounds, which
soil–fly ash samples were prepared by compacting at
are highly reactive. Therefore, Class C fly ashes are more
0?95cdmax (i.e., 95% of maximum Standard Proctor dry
reactive than Class F fly ashes.
unit weight) and corresponding water content on dry side
Lime of optimum and immediately tested in a fixed ring
In this study, commercially available hydrated lime was consolidometer using brass rings of 60 mm diameter and
used as an additive to BFA to make it at par with NFA in 20 mm height as per ASTM D2435. The height of
terms of lime content. specimen after compaction is 15 mm (using 5 mm brass
All the tests were carried out as per the relevant standards. spacer). The burette, the connecting tube, and the base of
The physical and chemical properties of materials used are the consolidation cell were de-aired by allowing water to
listed in Table 1 and compaction characteristics of clayey flow from the burette. The specimen was then assembled in
soil–fly ash mixtures are given in Table 2. the consolidation cell. The chamber around the consolida-
tion ring was filled with de-aired water. A seating pressure
of 6?25 kPa was applied on the specimen and maintained
Experimental work for 24 hours. During this period, the specimen was
In this study, the additives content is defined by the ratio of allowed to saturate by the capillary action of water from
the weight of the additive to the dry weight of the natural the surrounding chamber and head of water of the burette.
clayey soil (BC Soil) expressed as a percentage. The soil and The swelling of the specimens under nominal surcharge
fly ash samples were mixed in the dry state and the various can be obtained by allowing the specimen to swell freely
soil–fly ash mixes used for conducting the compaction tests under nominal load of 6?25 kPa to reach its maximum
are given in Table 3. In the present paper, the soil was oven- possible limit. After equilibrium was attained as indicated
dried and passed through a 425-micron sieve before being by nearly constant readings in a vertical dial readings
Table 1 Physical and chemical properties of materials used
Physical properties Chemical properties
Property CS* BFA** NFA*** Composition (by wt-%) CS BFA NFA
Particle size SiO2 49?2 57?5 36?5

Clay size (%) 63 03 05 Al2O3 24 33 41
Silt size (%) 27 87 85 Fe2O3 5?8 4?8 4?5
Fine sand (%) 10 10 10 TiO2 0?7 1?4 1?4
Coeff. of uniformity, Cu — 6?3 1?4 CaO 0?4 0?5 9?00
Coeff. of curvature, Cc — 1?1 0?9 MgO 0?4 0?2 3?8
Specific gravity 2?71 2?18 2?64 MnO 0?2 bd# ,0?1
Atterberg limits K2O 0?12 0?4 0?1
Liquid Limit (%) 84 50 40 Na2O 0?1 0?2 0?4
ˆ
Plastic Limit (%) 25 NP$ NP$ LOI(900uC) 18?1 1?5 3?5
Plasticity Index 59 — — Clay mineral Mont — —
Shrinkage Limit (%) 8 36 38 Free Lime — — 3?2
Free swell ratio (%) 65 0?75 1?2 *: CS – Clayey soil
Swell pressure (kPa) 280 — — **: BFA – Badarpur fly ash
Std. Proctor Maximum dry 14?4 10?6 12?6 ***: NFA – Neyveli fly ash
unit weight (c5rg), kN m23 $ NP – Non-plastic
# bd – below detection
ˆ LOI – loss on ignition
OMC (%) 28?6 38 33 OMC: Optimum moisture content
74 International Journal of Geotechnical Engineering 2014 VOL 8 NO 1

Table 2 Compaction characteristics of clayey soil (CS)–fly ash (FA) mixtures
Clayey soil–Badarpur fly ash mixtures Clayey soil–Neyveli fly ash mixtures
Maximum dry unit weight Maximum dry unit weight and

and optimum moisture content optimum moisture content
CS soilzBFA (%) cdmax kN m23 w (%) CS soilzNFA (%) cdmax kN m23 w (%)
100% BC soil 14?4 28?3 100% BC soil 14?4 28?9

20 BFA* 13?9 30?0 10 NFA* 14?1 29?5
40 BFA 13?6 31?1 20 NFA 13?9 29?7
60 BFA 12?7 33?0 40 NFA 13?7 29?9
80 BFA 11?8 35?4 60 NFA 13?5 30?5
100 BFA 10?6 38?2 80 NFA 13?1 31?1
100% BFA** 10?57 34?8 100 NFA 12?6 32?0
*20BFA520% Badarpur fly ash (BFA-by weight)z80% CS soil and so on;
**8?5% of lime (CaO) was added to BFA to make it at par with Neyveli fly ash (NFA) in terms of lime.
(1 divn50?002 mm), a pressure increment ratio of one was gage readings were noted for 24 hours. No permeability
used for subsequent load applications. Each pressure tests were conducted during unloading of the specimen.
increment was maintained normally for about 24 hours
and readings were recorded before changing the next Curing series – 7 and 28 days
pressure increment (up to 800 kPa). At the end of For the 7 and 28 days curing test series, samples were
consolidation, i.e., at an elapsed time of 24 hours, the prepared as described above for each series and were cured
permeability test was conducted under the existing in a dessiccator at 100% relative humidity. The samples
effective pressure. The consolidation and permeability were removed from the dessiccator at the end of the
tests were then repeated in the same manner and carried required curing periods and tested in a fixed ring
out at different vertical pressures varying from 12?5 to consolidometer. The effect of increasing the fly ash content
800 kPa, the readings of the dial compression (1 on the coefficient of consolidation, compression index,
divn.50?002 mm) were recorded for each loading combi- hydraulic conductivity, and preconsolidation pressure
nation with time and the test results are presented as ‘‘e– were also investigated.
log p curve’’. The load-settlement curves for each load
increment are used for the determination of t90, which in Results and discussions
turn is used for the determination of coefficient of
consolidation Cv. The coefficients of consolidation Cv Compressibility characteristics
values are also calculated by using rectangular hyperbola The compressibility characteristics, namely compression
method (Sridharan and Rao, 1981). After carrying out the index, which is used to determine the magnitude of
permeability test at 800 kPa, the vertical pressure was settlement and the coefficient of consolidation, Cv, which
decreased in steps, each time to one-fourth of its previous is used to calculate the rate of settlement are determined
value, and at each pressure the vertical deformation dial by a standard procedures.
Table 3 Experimental program
Clayey soil–Badarpur fly ash mixes Clayey soil–Neyveli fly ash mixes
Clayey soil Badarpur fly ash, Clayey soil Neyveli fly ash,
(%) (G52?71) BFA (%) (G52?18) Gmix* (%) (G52?71) NFA (%) (G52?64) Gmix Remarks
100 0 2?71 100 0 2?71 # The additive content is defined

80 20# 2?58 90 10 2?70 by the ratio of the dry weight of
60 40 2?47 80 20 2?70 the additive to the dry weight of
40 60 2?37 60 40 2?68 the natural clayey soil expressed
20 80 2?27 40 60 2?67 as a percentage.
0 100 2?18 20 80 2?65 $8?5% of Lime (Ca (OH)2) by
0 100$ 2?18 0 100 2?64 weight was added to BFA to make
it at par with NFA in terms of lime
content, (the lime content difference
between the two fly ashes).
*For example, for clayey soil (G52?71)–Badarpur fly ash (G52?18) ratio of 80:20 for total mass, M5100 g (80 g of soilz20 g of fly ash). The
specific gravity of this soil–fly ash mixture is calculated as: Gmix5M/(VszVf) (soil particle density of mix); Vs5Vol. of soil sample580/
2?71(cc) and Vf5Vol. of fly ash520/2?18 (cc); and Gs5rs/rw, rs5Gs (rw51), V5M/rs5M/Gs, rs5M/V5soil particle density of mix, therefore,
Gmix5M/(VszVf); V5(VszVf)5 total volume of mixed sample.
Likewise, the specific gravity of other samples of soil–fly ash mixtures is calculated in the same manner.

1 a e–log p plot for clayey soil–Badarpur fly ash (BFA) mixes for immediate test series, b e–log p plot for clayey soil–
Neyveli fly ash (NFA) mixes for immediate test series, c e–log p plot for clayey soil–NFA mixes for 7 days test series, d e–
log p plot for clayey soil–NFA mixes for 28 days test series
Void ratio and compression index namely, compression index, Cc, which is the slope of the
Figure 1a and b shows the effective pressure (p) – void linear portion of ‘‘e–log p curve’’ indicates the amount of
ratio (e) curve without any curing, commonly referred to compression undergone by the soil or soil–fly ash mixture.
as the ‘‘e–log p curve’’. The compressibility parameter, Fly ash can reduce compressibility quite effectively. As the

2 a Variation of Compression Index, Cc with pressure for Clayey soil (CS)–Badarpur fly ash (BFA) mixes for immediate test
series, b variation of Compression Index, Cc with pressure for CS–Neyveli fly ash (NFA) mixes for immediate test series, c
variation of Compression Index, Cc with pressure for CS–NFA mixes for 7 days test series, and d variation of
Compression Index, Cc with pressure for CS–NFA mixes for 28 days test series
percentage of fly ash increases, soil–fly ash mixture can load–compression curves are much flatter. Fly ash alone
resist the compression loading much better and conse- gives much lesser compression.
quently shows lesser compressibility. Figure 2a–d shows the variation of compression index
Figure 1c and d shows the compressibility curves for with pressure for different curing periods. Compression
cured samples for 1 week and 28 days. It is seen that cured index was calculated for every pressure increment in the
samples resist the external load very effectively. The following manner.

For each pressure increment the change in void ratio

was calculated. Then the compression index is given by
‘{Change in the void ratio divided by (log p22log p1)}.
This is nothing other than (de/d (log p)).
It is observed that compressibility increases with
increase in effective consolidation pressure and decreases
as the fly ash content increases. It can also be seen that
with increase in curing time, the compressibility decreases.
This is due to the cementation bonds that are formed
(during the curing period) between free lime and reactive
silica and thereby improving the compressibility charac-
teristics of the clayey soil.
Also, due to cation exchange reaction, an increase in the
flocculation and aggregation causes a chemically induced
preconsolidation effect, which increases the vertical
effective yield stress and reduces the compressibility
characteristics. The calcium ion is accepted to be a
flocculating agent in soils and some cation exchange
reactions occur on the addition of additives, which cause
the replacement of the exchangeable sodium, magnesium
(Nalbantoglu and Tuncer, 2001), or other cations pre-
viously held by the soil clay by calcium cations
(Abduljauwad, 1993). This is believed to produce a soil
with a more flocculated fabric and result in a reduction in
the compressibility characteristics. The compression index,
Cc values vary from 0?035 to 0?4 for BC soil and 0?04–0 1 3 Variation of swell potential with fly ash for clayey soil–fly
for BFA and 0?03–0?07 for NFA for the immediate test ash mixes for different curing periods
series for the pressure range between 50 and 800 kPa,
respectively. For 7 and 28 days curing (Fig. 2c and d), the of 7 days and in 28 days, this value of swell potential
Cc values for NFA reduces further. The general trend is drops to almost zero. The decrease in swelling potential
that as the curing time increases, Cc values decrease, but due to curing can be attributed to the time-dependent
with increase in pressure, these values increase. It has been pozzolanic and self-hardening properties (formation of
observed that, in general (for each stress level), compres- cementitious compounds) of fly ashes. Thus, it is seen that
sion index decreases with the increasing fly ash content. 10% of NFA (Class C fly ash) is the optimum amount
For instance, at the maximum stress level of 800 kPa, the required to minimize the swell potential compared to 40%
compression index of the clayey soil decreases from 0?4 to of BFA (ASTM Class F fly ash).
about 0?1 with NFA content of 80%. The reduction in the
compressibility characteristics is explained by the aggrega- Coefficient of consolidation, Cv
tion formations of soils treated with fly ash and lime, Coefficient of consolidation, Cv, the parameter governing
which results in stronger lime particle aggregates and gives the time rate of consolidation, has been determined at
higher resistance to compression. With increase in fly ash different percentages of fly ash for different pressure
and curing time, the compression index decreases indicat- ranges (50–800 kPa). Of the various methods of determin-
ing improvement in the compressibility of the composite ing coefficient of consolidation, two common curve-fitting
sample due to the formation of cementation bonds. This is methods are Taylor’s method and Casagrande’s method.
because of the self-hardening property of NFA due to the Both of these curve-fitting methods, however, need some
presence of free lime and hence more effective compared judgment and the interpretation is not free from some
to BFA, which is non-pozzolanic in nature. errors. Therefore, this paper presents another simpler
method to determine the coefficient of consolidation,
Effect of fly ash on swell potential which is known as rectangular hyperbola method
The ‘‘free swell’’ testing method was used to determine the (Sridharan and Rao, 1981; Sridharan et al., 1987). This
swelling potential of the test specimens (ASTM D4546- method can be used for all types of time-settlement curves
90). The swelling potential of the specimens, based on the and the interpretation of the test results based on this
free swell test data was determined under the condition of approach is simpler than other classical curve-fitting
no curing, 7 days curing, and 28 days curing. The effect of methods.
fly ash on the swell potential/heave of the natural and
treated clayey soil is shown in Fig. 3, which indicates that Rectangular hyperbola method
fly ashes are effective in reducing the swell potential of the Sridharan and Rao (1981) and Sridharan et al. (1987) have
treated clayey soils. A decrease in the swell potential proposed rectangular hyperbola method, which is rela-
values was obtained with an increase in the percentage of tively simple and reliable. In this method a plot of time
fly ash. The specimen treated with 10% NFA and 40% divided by compression versus time (t/d v. t) is used
BFA gives a swell potential of 0?1 and 0?25%; with curing (Fig. 4) in which the straight-line portion is obtained in

between 60–90% consolidation. The coefficient of con- two Indian fly ashes using the Casagrande method, Taylor’s
solidation is obtained as method, and the rectangular hyperbola method. There were
substantial differences in the values of Cv determined by the
0:24|m|h2av 2 {1 three methods, with the Taylor’s method giving higher
(Cv )~ (m s ) (1)
c value than that given by the rectangular hyperbola method.
where, m is the slope of straight-line portion of t/d v. t plot, The high rate of consolidation of coal ashes is advantageous
c is the vertical intercept of straight line, and hav is the during its bulk utilization in embankments and in reclama-
average length of drainage path. tion of fills, as the primary consolidation will be practically
Richwein and Meyer (2003) have reported that the over by the end of construction period itself.
interpretation of laboratory tests in this method is free of
speculative judgment and the method gives a unique value
Permeability test results
of Cv. The main advantage for commercial laboratories is Permeability is an important parameter in designing the
that the method takes a testing time as short as or even liners to contain leachate migration. The consolidometer–
shorter than Taylor’s method. permeameter system (fixed ring) offers the best means for
The time required for the end of primary consolidation quantitatively assessing the coefficient of permeability of
and beginning of the secondary consolidation is shortened clays/ashes under confined state. The samples are prepared
in fly ash treated soils. The primary consolidation gets as ASTM D421 and compacted at 0?95cdmax and
corresponding water content on the dry side of optimum.
over within a very short interval of time. The test results
After placing the oedometer cell in position, the samples
presented in this paper are based on rectangular hyperbola
are saturated with water under a surcharge of 6?25 kPa.
method. In Fig. 5a and b for immediate test series, Cv
Water is allowed to flow upwards through the samples
shows a different trend with increasing pressure for both
from the bottom. The time periods required for full
fly ash mixes. The effect of additive on Cv is particularly
saturation of samples was well within 24 hours. After
noticeable for NFA mixes. The variation of Cv with
saturation and change of next increment of pressure, the
pressure is not very definite. However at higher percen-
permeability test was conducted by the falling head
tages of fly ash, the coefficient of consolidation is method and the relation below gives the coefficient of
quite high. At larger axial pressures, the effect of fly ash permeability
on the coefficient of consolidation becomes less signifi-
cant. From Fig. 5c and d, it is observed that there is lesser aL h1
k~2:303 log10 (2)
variation beyond 7 days of curing period, which is of At h2
vital importance for field engineers. Pandian and
where, k5coefficient of permeability (m s21); a5cross
Balasubramonian (1999) determined the values of Cv for sectional area of the burette (m2); A5cross sec. area of the
soil sample (m2); t5time for the head drop from h1 to h2
(sec); h15initial height of the fluid in the pipe (m); h25final
height of the fluid in the pipe (m); and L5sample height
for corresponding load increment (m).
There are substantial differences in the values of
coefficient of permeability determined from consolidation
data with the Taylor’s method giving much higher value
than that given by the rectangular hyperbola method. The
coefficient of permeability by falling head method lies in-
between the values given by these two methods. The large
variation between the measured values of k from the falling
head method and the back-calculated values was perhaps
due to errors in the determination of Cv by the conventional
methods. This has also been reported by Porbaha et al.
(2000). Therefore, it is concluded that the coefficient of
permeability be determined directly rather than back
calculated from consolidation test results to obviate these
inaccuracies. The test results in the form of variation of
permeability with pressure for some soil–fly ash mixes for
different curing periods are plotted in Fig. 6a–d. The values
of k vary from 1?3561027–6?761029 m s21 for clayey soil,
5?1161026–4?1061026 m s21 for BFA and 2?461028–
1?761028 m s21 for NFA for the pressure range of 50–
800 kPa under immediate test series (Fig. 6a and b). The
variation of permeability with pressure for different curing
periods is shown in Fig. 6c and d. The values of k for fly
ashes are typically in the range of the coefficient of
4 Typical plot for the determination of Cv by rectangular permeability of non-plastic silts. Therefore, clay-like
hyperbola method for clayey soil admixtures should be added to the fly ash to reduce its

5 a–b Variation of Cv with pressure for clayey soil–fly ash mixtures for immediate test series, c–d variation of Cv with pres-
sure for clayey soil–fly ash mixtures for different curing periods (by RHM)
permeability. Test results reveal that at the same effective will show a higher void ratio than the untreated soil
vertical stress, the treated soil specimen has higher specimen. This has been verified from the e–log p relation of
permeability than the untreated clay. This implies that at treated and untreated clay. Similar work has also been
the same depth below the ground surface, the treated clay reported by Broderic and Daniel (1990) and Locat et al.

6 a–b Variation of permeability with pressure for clayey soil–fly ash mixes for immediate test series, c–d variation of perme-
ability with pressure for clayey soil–fly ash mixes for 7 and 28 days test series
(1996). At lower consolidation pressure, BFA exhibits decrease in permeability with increase in pressure in the
higher permeability values. At higher consolidation pres- case of BFA is due to the higher decrease in void ratio
sures, the order of permeability is almost same for both the experienced by it (compared to NFA). The cementation
fly ashes. This is because the reduction in the pore space caused by free lime in NFA resists volume decrease and
available for flow for BFA is more compared to NFA hence NFA experiences a comparatively lower decrease in
with increasing consolidation pressures. The appreciable void ratio than BFA.

Conclusion 11. Recycling/utilization of fly ash has the advantage of

using an industrial waste by-product without adversely
From the study of volume change behavior of soil–fly ash affecting the environment or potential land use. In
mixes, it can be concluded that: addition, fly ash proves to be an effective admixture for
1. Compression index appreciably decreases with the improving the soil engineering behavior considerably.
addition of fly ash indicating improvement in compressi-
bility of the composite sample due to the formation of Acknowledgement
cementitious bonds. It is seen that 20% high-calcium fly
ash content is the optimum quantity to improve the The investigation reported in this paper forms a part of the
compressibility characteristics of clayey soil cured for research at the Indian Institute of Science by the first
7 days against 60% for immediate tests. author. The support and assistance given by the Institute
2. Addition of fly ash to clayey soils significantly is gratefully acknowledged.
reduces their swelling due to reduction of plastic fines of
clay by non-plastic fines of fly ash. Swell potential References
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more effective for reducing swelling characteristics com-
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6TH International Geotechnical Symposium on Disaster Mitigation In Special Geoenvironmental Conditions
January 21-23, 2015,IIT Madras, Chennai, India with Support of Asian Technical Committee On Geotechnology
for Natural Hazards (ATC -3) of ISSMGE
ON INNOVATIVE TECHNIQUE FOR STABILIZATION OF HILLY SLOPES

IN J&K: A REVIEW
B. A. Mir
Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology Srinagar –190006, Kashmir, J&K (India).
E-mail: p7mir@nitsri.net, bamiriitb@gmail.com, bashiriisc@yahoo.com; Cell: 09419002500
ABSTRACT: This paper presents an overview for innovative techniques for stabilization of hilly slopes and to prevent
disastrous landslides all-along National Highway-NH1A between two capital cities of the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K)
State, commonly known as “Paradise on Earth”. More than 50% of NH1A in J&K is mountainous, which is one of the
major causes of frequent natural disasters, such as slope failures, snow avalanches, landslides, etc. Thus, landslide
countermeasure is a burning issue and there is a dire need to search for an innovative technique for stabilization of hilly
slopes and to prevent landslides. Soil nailing is such an innovative technique, which is commonly adopted for slope
remedial and stabilization works. There is a lot of scope for utilization of this technique in hilly areas for protection of
steep slopes and landslides due to its proven technology and relative economy as compared to conventional remedial
measures.
1. INTRODUCTION of Soil Nailing as an innovative technique for the

stabilization of Highway Earthworks in J&K State.
In the landlocked state like Jammu and Kashmir, road
transport is an indispensable means of communication for
the regular distribution of essential and other
commodities. Economic development of the State and
access to the landlocked and unexposed areas are
dependent on roads. Hence, the government has given the
highest priority to the construction and maintenance of
roads. Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has a well-distributed
roadway network with a total length of 30,000 km. The
294-km of total roadway of National Highway 1-A
connects the capital cities of Srinagar and Jammu with
rest of the country. The 2.5-km Jawahar Tunnel at an Fig. 1 National Highway1A through hilly terrain and steep slopes
elevation of 2064m above the mean sea level connects
Kashmir valley with rest of the country. More than 50%
of NH1A in J&K is mountainous, which is one of the
major causes of frequent natural disasters, such as slope
failures, snow avalanches, landslides, etc. (Fig.1). Road
construction works has a significant effect on slope
stability. Studies in J&K have indicated that cut slope
failures after road construction can generate tremendous
volume of debris in a single storm/rainfall/snow avalanche
(Fig. 2). The slope failures/landslide is one of the most Landslide debris
accountable natural disasters in J&K, so landslide
countermeasure is a burning issue. Hence, there is a dire Snow avalanches on NH1A
need for an innovative technique for stabilization of slopes
and to prevent landslides. Soil nailing is such an
innovative technique, which has emerged in recent years,
and commonly adopted for slope remedial and
stabilization works. There is a lot of scope for utilization
of this technique in hilly areas for protection of steep
slopes and landslides due to its proven technology and
relative economy as compared to conventional remedial
measures. Thus, this paper will be presenting an overview Fig.2 Landslides/snow avalanches on NH1A
Copyright
© 2015 Indian Geotechnical Society, Chennai Chapter (6igs.chennai2015@gmail.com)
513
2. NEED FOR INNOVATIVE STABILIZATION 3. SOIL NAILING
TECHNIQUE FOR HILLY SLOPES
Soil nailing is the technique whereby in situ ground
The landslide area lies in a region of unstable formation (virgin soil or existing fill material) is reinforced by the
in hilly area for roadwork, for large earthwork of an insertion of tension-carrying soil nails. Nail is the
embankment, sides of a deep excavation, etc. Depending principal component of reinforcing material, which may
upon the shear strength of soil, it can form a stable slope be of steel, metallic or polymeric material, and either
upto certain inclination. Beyond this, the gravitational grouted into a predrilled hole or inserted using a
forces acting on the soil mass may exceed the available displacement technique. The steel nail bars are typically
shear strength along potential failure surface and soil mass 20 to 35 mm dia. with yield strength in the range of 420 to
may slide down resulting in a slope failure. As the slope is 500 N/mm2 and installed into drill holes having dia. of
steep, the site remains dangerous during heavy rainfalls 100 mm to 300 mm at a spacing between 1 to 2m. The
resulting heavy landslides and cause severe damage to life nail lengths are typically 70 to 100 percent of the wall
and property. Fig. 3 shows how the landslide develops height with inclinations generally on the order of 15
from the incipient movement caused by the various factors degree below horizontal to facilitate grouting. They will
including steep slope, poor soil strength, and loss of normally be installed at a slight downward inclination to
vegetation. the horizontal. The fundamental concept of soil nailing is
In J&K, the conventional methods are normally used as reinforcing the ground with closely spaced passive
remedial measures for protection of slope failures and inclusions to increase the shear strength of the in-situ
landslides. Breast walls and retaining walls are used for ground, to restrain its displacement, and to limit its
stable road formation (Fig. 4). Nevertheless, sometimes, decompression during and after excavation. The nails
in addition to the gravity force on the soil mass, the self- develop tension as the ground deforms laterally in
weight of these breast walls and retaining walls add to the response to continued excavation. Nails may be used to
instability of a slope. During rainy season, this leads to stabilize either existing slopes or future slopes/cuts
heavy landslides and disruption of transportation system. created by excavation activities at a site. A structural
The resulting diverse nature of sub-soil conditions creates facing connected to the nails is used when the slope angle
a spectrum of problems for the construction engineers. exceeds some critical value or when the environmental
Design and construction of slope remedial works pose conditions would cause deterioration of the exposed face
high risk to both geotechnical designers and constructors, over its design life. Figure 4 schematic view of a typical
as the slope is susceptible to further failure during the nailed soil structure and its basic components (Mir 2004).
implementation of the remedial works itself (Verghese
1989). Hence, there is a dire need of alternative
techniques for stabilization of slopes and to prevent
landslides, and one such Innovative Technique among
others, is Soil Nailing. J&K State needs awareness about
the use of Soil Nailing Technique particularly for Road
and Railway Works. The Soil Nailing Technology is an
innovative method among all soil reinforcement practices
due to its proven technology.
Road surface under debris

Fig. 4 Schematic view of a typical nailed soil structure and its
basic components
Several types of soil nails currently in use are-driven mild

steel nails, grouted steel nails, corrosion protected nails,
Breast wall failure Retaining wall failure jet-grouted nails, launched nails and screw anchor soil
nails. Grouting material around soil nail for smooth
Fig. 3 Landslides due to failure of B-n-R walls transfer of axial force via nail-grout-soil interfaces is the
514
second basic component of soil nailing method. The 4.1 Excavation of holes
diameter of the grouted zone depends on a particular Soil
Soil is excavated in lifts to accommodate at least a single
Nailing Method, and it is usually between 0.075 m to
row of facing panels (Fig. 5). The height of each such lift
0.10m diameter.
should secure the overall stability of the uncovered soil
before soil nail is ready to transfer the load to soil mass
4. CONSTRUCTION SEQUENCE under the critical slip surface.
Soil nailing method is an in-situ soil reinforcement 4.2 Positioning of facing material
technique that is used to stabilize natural slopes, cuts or Facing material or facing panels are positioned or laid
excavations, walls in stiff cliffs, granular soils with some down in rows as shown in Fig.5.
suction and also soft rocks. Soil nailing is frequently
described as a viable method for stabilizing slopes 4.3 Drilling, nailing and grouting
(Abramson et al. 1996, Tan et al. 2004) and active Nails are drilled to designed nail length and proper
landslides (Turner et al. 2005). During the past decade the inclination, and then, designed bails are inserted into the
most significant technological innovations have been the hole and grouted to develop a strong bond between the
development and use of the jet-grouted nails (Louis, 1986) nail and soil.
and the launched soil nails (Ingold and Myles 1996). The
main objective of this technique is essentially to limit the 4.4 Reinforcement Tightening
decompression and the opening of pre-existing
Nails are tightened by nut-bolt connection so that the
discontinuities by restraining the deformations. They are tensile bar force near the facing can be mobilized to the
usually steel rods 0.20-0.30 m diameter that are inserted design level. Once the tightening of the reinforcement for
into the soil either by simple driving or by grouting in a particular row is over, then the above steps are repeated
predrilled borehole. Nail length depends on several for the successive row of soil nails. A step by step
factors, including soil strength, soil nail adhesion, and the approach to the design of soil nails as recommended by
overall loading of the system. In general, minimum nail FHWA’S manual has been discussed in Tan & Chow
length is considered to be about 0.6 – 0.7 times the wall (2004).
height for vertical walls with no back slope.
Nails
One of the unique features of soil nailed walls is that they
Natural slope
are built from the top down (Pokharel 2001) as illustrated Cut 1
in Fig. 5 in small successive lifts (1–2m). The Cut 2

construction of each lift involves three basic steps, which Finished
Nailed
are repeated until the final depth is achieved. These steps Wall
Cut 3
are- Excavation, Nail installation and shotcreting. Before

starting the design of a soil nailed structure, it is necessary
to acquire minimum information and data on soil profile Fig. 5 Construction sequence of soil nailing method
inside the slope, water table condition, the engineering
properties of each soil layer (e.g. cohesion-c & angle of
internal friction -φ or SPT value- N). Then, the inclination 5. STABILITY ANALYSIS
of cut slope face should be decided and it is usually kept
between 1V: 0.5H to 1V: 0.2H gradients. Once these basic A soil nailed structure is designed for internal and external
test data are gathered, then, the soil nailed structure is stabilities against static and dynamic loadings. The
analyzed using Bishop’s Modified method, though there internal stability is carried out to compute the total force
exist several other methods. required to be transferred by the nails in order to maintain
For soil nailing works, construction sequence and the safety factor of FOS = 1.2 under static loading and
associated temporary works are also important to ensure FOS = 1.00 under dynamic loading for the most critical
the stability of the slope. Standard construction steps for a slip surfaces that pass through the soil nails. The nailed
typical soil nailing method are broadly divided into four length behind the slip surface should transfer the
steps, which are repeated in cycle as given below: - computed resistance force to the soil mass behind the slip
surface. Suitable nail length (usually vary from 2m to
515
10m) and spacing are proportioned, so that, soil nail does nailing is possible in a wide range of particles including
not fail in tension and cost is also optimized. The clays, sandy soils, weathered rocks; talus slope deposits,
embedment length should be safe against the shear heterogeneous and stratified soils. But soil nailing is not
stresses on both the nail – grouting and grouting – soil practical in soft, plastic clays, organic/peat, and loose
interfaces. External stability checks are also carried out to (n<10), low density saturated soils. Soil nails are subject
maintain similar safety factors where the most critical to corrosion over their design life. Hence, the corrosion-
failure surface passes away from embedded end of all soil protected nails are to be recommended for aggressive soils
nails. In external stability analysis, the reinforced soil as well as for permanent structures.
mass almost lies inside the critical slip surface, such that
the soil nails do not carry load. Design parameters of a REFERENCES
typical soil nailed system are shown in Fig. 6 (Mir 2004).
Abramson, L. W., Lee, T. S., Sharma, S., and Boyce, G.
M. (1996). Slope stability and stabilization methods,
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, pp.703.
Crozier, M. J. (1986). Landslides - Causes, Consequences
and Environment. Newzland Gepgrapher, Vo. 45(2),
pp.93-94.
FHWA. (1998). Manual for Design and Construction
Monitoring of Soil Nail Walls. Federal Highway
Administration, US Department of Transportation,
Washington, D. C., USA, Report No. FHWA-SA-96-
069R, pp.530.
Ingold, T. S. and Myles, B. (1996). Ballistic soil nailing,
Earth Reinforcement. (H. Ochiai, N. Yasufuku, and K.
Omine, eds.) Proc. of the 3RD International Symposium
on Earth Reinforcement, Japan, Vol. 1, pp. 765-770.
q = Surcharge; h1 = Embankment height
β = Slope angle; L = Length of Inclusion
Louis, C. (1986). Theory and practice in soil nailing
temporary or permanent works. ASCE Annual
h2 = Depth of treated excavation = 6 * Sv
Conference, Boston, pp. 868-905.
Sv = Spacing between Inclusions
Mir, B. A. (2004). Slope/landslide failures in road
Ψ = Inclination of Inclusion; θ = Facing angle
construction and proposed stabilization techniques in
GC = Ground Conditions (Soil type below Structure) J&K. Proceedings, ASCE-IS, Kolkata, pp. 1-12.
Fig. 6 Soil Nailing Design Parameters (Mir, 2004) Pokharel, G. 92001). Stabilization of slopes by soil nailing
method: Theory, experiment and practice. Proc.
International Symposium on Geotechnical and
5. CONCLUSION environmental Challenges in Mountainous Terrain,
Ehime Univ. Japan, Vol. 1, pp. 237-245.
J&K State is a hilly state with diverse nature of sub-soil Tan, Yean-Chin & Chow, Chee-Meng. (2004). Slope
conditions. According to the investigation carried out, the stability and stabilization, Tropical residual soils
main triggering factor for landslides, rockfall and slope Engineering, Chp.10, Taylor & Francis Group, London.
failures are back cutting of steep slopes and heavy rainfall. Turner, John P. and Wayne G. Jensen (2005). Landslide
In this paper, the conventional and soil nailing methods Stabilization Using Soil Nail and Mechanically
for highway earthworks were briefly reviewed and their Stabilized Earth Walls: Case Study. Journal of
limitations were identified. It has been observed that Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, Vol.
conventional methods of steep slope stabilization are not 131, No. 2, ASCE, New York, pp. 141-150.
practically feasible, technically viable and eco-friendly. Verghere, A. C. (1989). Analysis of slope stability of hill
Hence, soil nailing is an effective slope stabilization slopes prone to slides. Proc. of the Eighth Asian
method especially for remedial works involving failed Regional Conference on Soil Mechanics and
slopes, which can offer significant cost and technical Foundation Engineering, Vol. 2, pp. 386.
advantages over conventional or tied back systems. Soil
516
Int. J. of GEOMATE, June, 2014, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Sl. No. 12), pp. 832-839
Geotech., Const. Mat. & Env., ISSN:2186-2982(P), 2186-2990(O), Japan
PERMEABILITY AND CONSOLIDATION BEHAVIOR OF

COMPOSITE GROUND REINFORCED WITH SAND COLUMNS
B. A. Mir1, and Ashish Juneja2
1
Faculty, Deptt. of Civil Engg., National Institute of Technology Srinagar-006, J&K, India; p7mir@nitsri.net
2
Faculty, Deptt. of Civil Engg., Indian Institute of Technology Bombay-076, Mumbai, India;
ajuneja@iitb.ac.in
ABSTRACT: In this paper, the behavior of the composite ground reinforced with sand columns with and
without smear effect installed in 200mm long and 100mm diameter cylindrical clay specimens was
investigated using conventional triaxial consolidation tests under different confining pressures ranging from
50kPa to 575kPa. Change in volume of the specimen was measured using automatic volume change
apparatus. This typically required a consolidation time of about 100minutes compared to more than 6-7days
required to consolidate the specimen without the sand columns. However, specimens prepared with smear
effect took slightly more time to consolidate thereby lending further confidence to the method used to create
the smear zone. The test results showed that the dissipation of excess pore water pressure occur faster in the
radial direction due to the greater coefficient of soil permeability in the horizontal direction and the reduced
drainage path.
Keywords: Composite ground, Sand column, Soil improvement, Smear, Permeability, Consolidation
1. INTRODUCTION categories, granular piles such as sand columns or

sand compaction piles (SCPs) are considered as
Soft clay deposits usually have a low bearing cost-effective method as well as alternative
capacity and undergo excessive settlement over a solution to the problem of stability and settlement
long period of time. One of the important posed by construction on soft ground. In particular,
problems geotechnical engineers are often to deal the insertion of stone or sand columns into soft
with is the accurate and reliable measurement of clay has been shown to have a positive effect on
permeability and compressibility characteristics of the load carrying capacity of the clay, resulting in a
soft soils. The coefficient of consolidation is an composite soil mass that has greater shear strength
essential soil parameter required for seepage, and improved stiffness compared to the
settlement, stability calculations and for predicting unreinforced clay [1]. In addition, sand columns
the rate of settlement of soft soils. The importance generally act as vertical drains in the clay thus
of compressibility characteristics are further accelerating the dissipation of excess pore water
increased in case of environmental problems, such pressures that are generated during preloading. As
as waste disposal and detrimental effects on the such, sand columns currently stand as one of the
surrounding ground due to contamination. most viable and practical techniques for improving
In the recent years, improvement of soft soils the mechanical properties of soft clays. The
has been extensively implemented for the various consolidation time can be reduced to achieve a
development projects all over the world due to required degree of consolidation by selecting
extremely limited stable construction sites. But suitable drain spacing and an appropriate
one of the major problems associated with soft installation pattern [2]. This method of ground
soils is the presence of thick deposits of soft clayey improvement has been widely used for rapid
ground. Thus, soft clay foundations present improvement of soft ground, and also in near-shore
considerable construction problems. Therefore, regions for land reclamation works e.g. [3]-[4]. In
where poor ground conditions make traditional India, the sand columns have been used to improve
forms of construction expensive, it may be ground for container freight station at Navi
economically viable to attempt to improve the Mumbai and the construction of dry dock at
engineering properties of the ground before Pipavav shipyard Gujarat [5]. But, installation of
building on it. This can be done by reducing the the sand columns is known to cause disturbance
pore water pressure, by reducing the volume of due to smear in a limited zone of the soil
voids in the soil, or by adding stronger materials. surrounding the sand column [6]-[8]. Thickness of
Although there are a variety of ground the disturbed zone depends upon the roughness of
improvement techniques under different the casing used during the installation and, is
832
associated with reduced permeability and high create the disturbed zone. The results show that the
pore pressures. Laboratory and field tests dissipation of excess pore water pressure occurs
previously conducted to determine the extent of faster in the radial direction due to the greater
the disturbance caused by pile driving into soft coefficient of soil permeability in the horizontal
clay deposits have demonstrated that the natural direction and the reduced drainage path. Thus, the
structure of the clay around the pile is excessively main function of sand column application is to
disturbed [9]-[11]. Recently, Weber TM et al. [12] accelerate soil consolidation by shortening the
compared the smear zone around model SCPs drainage path and activating radial drainage,
installed on the centrifuge to that observed around thereby reducing post-construction settlement [20].
driven piles. The smear zone around the SCP was
observed to extend up to 1.2 to 1.4 times the SCP 2. EXPERIMENTAL WORK
diameter. It was perhaps not a coincidence that the
thickness of the smear zone was comparable to the 2.1. Materials and methods of sample
thickness of the disturbance, which is usually preparation
observed around piles driven in soft clays [9].
Similarly, Bond and Jardine [13] observed that the Isotropic consolidated triaxial tests were
thickness of the smear zone was narrow when the performed on 100mm diameter and 200mm long
piles were driven in overconsolidated clays. If the specimens [21] prepared from commercially
extent of the disturbance around SCPs is taken available kaolin clay. The experimental program
analogous to that observed around driven piles, consisted of 18 triaxial consolidation tests on
then any change in the clay fabric during the SCP composite specimen. The triaxial samples were
installation will also affect the permeability and prepared in 250mm diameter and 450mm long
pore pressure dissipation, and consequently the stainless steel cylindrical mould. Up to 3
load-carrying capacity of the composite ground specimens could together be prepared using this
[14]-[15]. mould. De-aired clay slurry was consolidated on
Laboratory tests on model sand drains have the laboratory floor, first under its own self-weight
shown significant reduction in the horizontal and later under surcharge of 211- to 404kN/m2
permeability in the vicinity of the drain, and the applied in stages on top of the clay surface using a
extent of the smear zone caused by mandrel driven custom designed pneumatic load frame. Upon
vertical drains, which otherwise was estimated completion of the 1-D consolidation, the block of
based on the pore pressure generated [16]-[18]. clay was extruded and trimmed into three 100mm
The extent of the smear zone was also confirmed diameter specimens using soil lathe (Fig. 1).
from the change in permeability of the clay layer in
the smear zone obtained from oedometer tests [19].
In this paper, the behavior of the composite
ground reinforced with sand columns is analyzed.
The consolidation of model sand columns installed 100mm 200
in 100mm diameter and 200mm long clay mm
specimens was investigated using conventional
triaxial consolidation tests. The composite
specimens were prepared by driving a small
diameter PVC casing into the specimen and then Fig.1 Consolidation set-up on the laboratory floor
backfilling the cavity with sand column after and specimen trimming
removing the casing. The casing was painted using
sand glued with araldite prior to the insertion to Three additional steps were undertaken to prepare
create smear zone. Diameter of the sand particles the composite samples. In the first step, a
glued to the casing was taken as a measure of the cylindrical hole was cored through the centre of
smear zone. The composite specimens were first the sample using a thin, smooth casing. The
saturated and then consolidated isotropically under diameter of the hole varied between 25 and 45 mm
different confining pressures ranging from 50kPa in different tests. In the second step, air-dry sand
to 575kPa. Change in volume of the specimen (d50 = 0.3 mm) was poured into the hole in layers
during consolidation was measured using and each layer compacted at 90% relative density
automatic volume change apparatus. This typically using a pneumatic compactor. The final diameter
required a consolidation time of about 100minutes of the sand column was equal to the diameter of
compared to more than 6-7days required to the hole. In some tests, the outer surface of the
consolidate the specimen without sand columns. casing was made gritty by painting a paste of
However, specimens prepared with smear effect coarse sand mixed with araldite. This helped to
took slightly more time to consolidate thereby create a smear zone around the compacted sand
lending further confidence to the method used to column. In the third step, two circular rubber
833
sheets with a hole at the centre were placed at the In this table, σv is the 1-D vertical stress used
ends of the sample (Fig. 2). for consolidating slurry in cylindrical mould on the
laboratory floor. Mean effective stress (p′) towards
Sand column the end of 1-D loading was estimated using Ko
(0.56) obtained from undrained shear test results
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Soil sample
3.1. Variation of degree of consolidation
PVC casing
pushed into
Pneumatic Triaxial consolidation tests were performed on
compactor 200mm long and 100mm diameter cylindrical
the sample
specimens prepared from remolded and
reconsolidated commercially available kaolin clay.
Two circular rubber sheets with a hole at the centre
Fig. 2 Preparation of composite specimen
were placed at the two ends of the sample so as to
only permit radial drainage during consolidation.
The diameter of the hole was slightly less than that
Change in volume of the sample during
of the sand column so as to only permit radial
consolidation was automatically measured using
drainage during consolidation. Table 1 shows the
the volume change apparatus. This typically
properties of the clay and Table 2 shows
required a consolidation time of about 40minutes
experimental program used in this study.
compared to more than 6-7days required to
consolidate the specimen without sand columns for
Table 1 Properties of kaolin clay
achieving 90%consolidation (Fig.3).
Liquid Plastic 0
Clay Silt Shrinkage
limit limit Gs
(%) (%) limit (%)
(%) (%) 0.2 Std. Clay Test: 300kPa
}
75 25 49 23 16 2.64 S3: 300kPa
0.4 S6: 300kPa Clay tests
with sand
Uavg
Table 2 Experimental program for composite S15: 75kPa columns

samples S18: 75kPa
0.6
S3
S6
Test σ′v* ds# p′c $ p′** S15
OCR =
Smear 0.8 S18

p′c/ p′
0.9
No (kPa) (mm) zone (kPa) (kPa)
1
S1 404 25 Ð(no) 285 100 3 0 20 40 60 80
S2 404 25 Ð 285 150 2 Time (minutes)
S3 404 25 Ð 285 300 1
S4 264 29 P(yes) 187 100 2 Fig. 3 Variation of time for consolidation of clay
S5 264 29 P 187 150 1.2 specimen with and without sand column
S6 264 29 P 187 300 1
S7 211 32 Ð 149 450 1 The effect of smear zone was also investigated
S8 211 32 Ð 149 200 1 by observing the change in pore pressure during
S9 211 32 Ð 149 50 3 consolidation of the composite specimen. Fig. 4a-
S10 211 36 P 149 450 1 c shows the average degree of consolidation, Uavg
S11 211 36 P 149 200 1 plotted against time during isotropic consolidation.
S12 211 36 P 149 50 3 As can be seen, the figures show that the time to
S13 211 40 Ð 149 375 1 90% consolidation reduced to less than 40 min
S14 211 40 Ð 149 575 1 with the use of sand column under effective
S15 211 40 Ð 149 75 2 confining pressure of 300kPa (Fig. 4a). However,
S16 211 45 P 149 575 1 specimens prepared with smear effect took slightly
S17 211 45 P 149 375 1 more time to consolidate thereby lending further
S18 211 45 P 149 75 2 confidence to the method used to create the
*:
σ′v = Vertical stress at end of 1D loading, disturbed zone. The figure also shows that not all
#:
ds = Equivalent diameter of sand column, specimens with smear effect were consolidated up
$:
p′c = Preconsolidation pressure= σ′v/3 (1+2ko) to Uavg of 1. Similar results have been reported
**:
P′ = mean effective stress at end of under radial drainage by many researchers [22]-
consolidation [24].
834
0 Without smear smear zone. The variation of coefficient of

With smear horizontal consolidation with mean effective stress
0.2
is shown in Fig. 5b.
0.4 s'c = 300kN/m2
U avg
s'c = 150kN/m2 4
0.6 s'c = 100kN/m2 Without smear
3.5
With smear
0.8 3
k*10-9, m/sec
2.5
1 2
0 20 40 60 80 100
1.5
Elapsed time (min) 1
0.5
(a) 0
0 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
Without smear
0.2 Mean effective stress, p' (kPa)
With smear
0.4 s'c = 450kN/m2 (a)
Uavg
s'c = 200kN/m2
0.6 60
s'c = 50kN/m2
0.8 50
Ch, (m2/year) 40
1
0 20 40 60 80 100 30
Elapsed time (min)
20
(b) Without smear
10
With smear
0 Without smear 0
With smear 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
0.2
0.4 s'c = 375kN/m2 Mean effective stress, p' (kPa)
Uavg
s'c = 75kN/m2
0.6 (b)
s'c = 575kN/m2
0.8 Fig. 5a-b Variation of: (a) coefficient of
1 permeability; (b) coefficient of consolidation with
0 20 40 60 80 100 mean effective stress for composite samples.
Elapsed time (min)
3.3 Variation of water content
(c)
After post compression tests, composite
Fig.4a-c Variation of average degree of specimens were cut into slices for determination of
consolidation with time using sand columns of: (a) variation of water content throughout the length of
25mm diameter; (b) 32mm diameter; and (c) the samples. Figure 6 shows water content
40mm diameter variation at different locations measured after the
completion of few selected tests with and without
3.2 Variation of coefficient of permeability and smear effect. From Fig. 6, it is seen that water
coefficient of consolidation content was not uniform throughout the sample
length, and the water content was higher in the
Figure 5a shows the variation of coefficient of samples with the smear zone which supports the
permeability, k for selected soil specimens deduced above supposition that the smear zone does not
from consolidation data against p' using the permit the complete dissipation of the pore
procedure suggested by [25]. The results seem to pressure. The results seem to suggest that radial
suggest that there was a marginal reduction of drainage can give rise to significant non-
permeability by about 20% when specimens were uniformities during consolidation of soil
prepared using the smear effect compared to the k specimens. Similar results have also been reported
of the composite samples prepared without the by [22].
835
35
s'c =150kN/m2 3.4 Effect of smear on the variation of volume
34 Height above base (mm)
SCP dia. =25mm without smear Without smear change
Water content (%)
SCP dia. =29mm with smear With smear
33 142.5 142.5
Edge of sand column

125 125 The variation of volume change against
32
105 105
31 85
consolidation cell pressure is shown in Fig. 7. As
85
30 65 shown in Fig. 7, the effect of smear on the
65
29 45 45 variation of volume change against low cell
25 25 pressure (sc<100kPa) in zone-I is not much
28 7.5 7.5 dominant. In zone-II, the smear effect increases
27
12.5 25 37.5 50
under confining pressures ranging from 100kPa to
300kPa and the material in the composite
Radial distance (mm) specimen is considerably disturbed. In zone-III
(sc> 300kPa), it is interesting to note that the
smear effect was not evident with increasing
33 consolidation pressure despite increasing the area
s'c =300kN/m2
Height above base (mm) replacement ratio of improved ground. This may
32 SCP dia. =25mm without smear Without smear
With smear
Water content (%)
SCP dia. =29mm with smear

142.5 142.5
be attributed due to the high area replacement
ratios used in 40 mm to 45mm diameter sand
Edge of sand column
31 125 125
105 105 columns. The relationship for volume change
30 85 85 against given cell pressure for composite specimen
65 65
29 with and without smear effect can be expressed as:
45 45
28 25 25
7.5 7.5 DV = 4.34 (s c )0.55 (without smear effect) (1)
27
12.5 25 37.5 50
Radial distance (mm) DV = 2.68(s c )0.61 (with smear effect) (2)
35 Where, DV is volume change and sc is the cell

s'c =450kN/m2 SCP dia. =32mm without smear
pressure during triaxial consolidation tests. It can
34 SCP dia. =36mm with smear
Height above base (mm) be seen that the presence of smear zone affects the
Water content (%)
33 Without smear With smear

volume change against the cell pressure. It is
Edge of sand column
142.5 142.5
32 125 125 interesting to note that the smear effect decreases
31 105 105
with increasing consolidation pressure despite
85 85
30 65 65 increasing the size of sand columns. Thus, these
29 45 45 test results validates the variation of water content
25 25
28 relationship for both smear and non-smear cases as
7.5 7.5
27
illustrated in Fig. 6.
15 25 35 45 50
Radial distance (mm)
160
140
32
s'c =575kN/m2
Vol. change, dl (ml)
SCP dia. =40mm without smear; SCP dia. =45mm with smear
120
31
Water content (%)
Height above base (mm)

Without smear With smear 100
Edge of sand column
30 142.5 142.5
125 125 80
29 105 105 Without smear, d=25mm
85 85 60 With smear, d=29mm
28 65 65 Without smear, d=32mm
45 45 40 With smear, d=36mm
27 25 25
7.5 Without smear, d=40mm
7.5
26
20 With smear, d=45mm
20 30 40 50 Z-I Zone-II Zone-III
0
Radial distance (mm) 0 200 400 600 800
Cell pressure, s'c (kPa)
Fig. 6 Variation of water content at different
locations measured after the completion of the Fig. 7 Relationship of volume change with
tests for composite samples under different consolidation cell pressure
confining pressures with and without smear effect.
836
3.5 Effect of smear on the microstructure/micro

Pores
fabric of composite specimens
Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) tests
were conducted on post consolidation tests. 7.5mm
x 7.5mm x 7.5mm air dried samples were prepared
at room temperature for SEM images as shown in
Fig. 8.
(a). Mean eff. stress at end of consolidation (50kPa)
Pores
(a). SEM sample location
(b). Mean eff. stress at end of consolidation (450kPa)
(c). Mean eff. stress at end of consolidation (50kPa)

(b). SEM samples
Fig. 8 Samples for SEM tests taken after post

compression tests
The images of samples with and without the

smear zone show differences in the microstructure.
The variation of volume change/water content is
also evident from Scanning Electron Microscope
(SEM) images (Fig. 9a-d) taken on post
compression tests of composite specimens with and
without smear. The clay minerals in the smear
zone appear to be closely packed with reduced pore (d). Mean eff. stress at end of consolidation (450kPa)
space. As such, permeability of the composite
samples with the smear zone is reduced with Fig. 9 SEM images: (a-b) Composite samples
reduced pore space in this zone. The properties without smear zone, (c-d) Composite samples with
within the smear zone are also shown to vary with smear zone.
the overburden pressure [26]-[27].
837
Notwithstanding the above, the focus of this study in present study, a hollow open ended casing
is to note the difference in the soil behavior when a was used to remove the soil and form a cavity
well defined smear zone is formed surrounding the for installing sand columns, which may not
sand column. The SEM tests were conducted in yields realistic pore pressures in the clay
both directions on horizontal and vertical surfaces during installation. Hence, the effective stress
of the sample as shown in Fig. 10. manifested due to the all-round uniform cell
pressure is not uniform throughout the
specimen.
7. The non-uniformity of consolidated ground
and its consequence on subsequent
construction of structures needs further study.
8. In order to simulate the better field
conditions, installation of driving-in of closed
ended casing may be used. Further, amongst
the various techniques for improving in-situ
ground conditions, columnar inclusions such
as sand columns/sand compaction piles, stone
columns/granular piles etc., are considered as
one of the most cost effective ground
improvement techniques as well as good
drainage systems.
Fig. 10 Direction of x-ray beam during SEM test 6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The first author would like to acknowledge the
4. CONCLUSIONS
financial support from the Indian Institute of
The permeability and consolidation behavior of Technology Bombay (IITB) in the form of
the composite ground reinforced with sand research scholarships.
columns with and without smear effect was studied
using 18 triaxial consolidation tests on composite 7. FUTURE SCOPE
specimens. Based on experimental test results, the
The non-uniformity of consolidated ground
following conclusions are drawn:
and its consequence on subsequent construction of
1. It is seen that specimens with sand column
structures needs further study
(inward radial consolidation) is more
effective to improve permeability and
9. REFERENCES
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installing displacement piles in high OCR soft Bangkok clay using vertical drains”, J. of
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“Modeling and study of smear zones around “Effect of the Smear Zone around SCP
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[17] Sathananthan I and Indraratna B, “Laboratory making of copies unless permission is obtained
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pp. 942-945. Corresponding Author: B. A. Mir
839
Geotech Geol Eng (2016) 34:411–417
DOI 10.1007/s10706-015-9953-x
TECHNICAL NOTE
Strength Behavior of Clayey Soil Reinforced with Human

Hair as a Natural Fibre
Wajid Ali Butt . B. A. Mir . J. N. Jha
Received: 21 April 2015 / Accepted: 16 November 2015 / Published online: 19 November 2015
Ó Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015
Abstract There are various ground improvement comparing the results with the non-reinforced soil.
techniques available, soil reinforcement technique has Fibres of average length 25 mm and average diameter
been successfully used in recent times to improve the of 50 lm were used. The test result revealed that the
shear parameters of the marginal/weak soils. Among strength significantly improves with the inclusion of
various reinforcing materials, human hair fiber (HHF) HHF and also prevents the sample from cracking.
can be used as a natural fiber to enhance the shear
strength and bearing capacity of a clayey soil for Keywords Waste material Hair fibre
sustainable use of waste material and sustainable Environmental pollution Sustainable materials
development of infrastructures in a rapid urbanization. Sustainable development
Human hair fiber is a natural non-degradable waste
material, which creates health and environmental
problem if not disposed-off in scientific manner. This
is available in abundance at a very low cost and can be 1 Introduction
easily used as a reinforcing material not only to
improve poor/unsuitable construction sites for sus- The geotechnical engineer has the challenge of
tainable construction but also to avoid its disposal construction of foundation at the sites which are
problems. Therefore, this paper presents some studies previously considered unsuitable and unacceptable.
on strength properties of clayey soil reinforced with Since the advent of the fibre reinforcing of concrete in
HHF. The HHF randomly distributed in clayey soil the 1940s a great deal of testing has been conducted on
samples were tested for its engineering properties by the various fibrous materials to determine the actual
performing CBR and tri-axial test on a number of characteristics and advantages for each product.
samples by using the different percentage of fibres and Among various reinforcing materials, human hair
fibre (HHF) can be used as a natural Fiber to enhance
the shear strength and bearing capacity of a clayey soil
W. A. Butt (&) J. N. Jha for sustainable use of waste material and sustainable
Department of Civil Engineering, GNDEC Ludhiana,
Ludhiana, Punjab, India
development of infrastructures in a rapid urbanization.
e-mail: wajid2643@gmail.com; Many types of fibres were used and tested (asbestos,
wajid2643@yahoo.com steel, glass, synthetics etc.) for stabilization of
marginal soils. As natural fibres, horse hairs were
B. A. Mir
Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of
used in motor and straw for mud bricks and many plant
Technology, Srinagar, J&K 190 006, India types like sisal, coir, bamboo, jute, rice husk, elephant
123
412 Geotech Geol Eng (2016) 34:411–417
gross etc., were also used. During current times, fiber on mechanical properties of fly ash based
human hair fibre is considered a waste material in most hollow block for masonry structures. Pillai and
parts of the world and its accumulation in waste Ramanathan (2012) describes the index properties
streams causes many environmental problems; how- of soil using human hairs. The biggest advantage
ever, it has many known uses in the form of randomly particularly with human hair fiber (HHF) is that it is
reinforced fibre in the present state of art and non-degradable, even though it may be categorized
technology. The exceptional properties of human hair as natural fiber. Most of the study reported till date
such as its unique chemical composition, slow degra- with natural fiber are either coconut/jute fiber, which
dation rate, high tensile strength, thermal insulation, are biodegradable in nature. From the literature is
elastic recovery, scaly surface, and unique interactions quite evident that very few study with HHFs has
with water and oils, has led to many diverse uses. been reported in the stabilization of soils as rein-
Recently soil reinforcement with short, discrete, forcement. Therefore, in the present study an attempt
randomly oriented fibres is getting more attention has been made to use HHF as reinforcement for the
from many researchers around the world. Extensive improvement of clayey soil. The objective of this
studies were carried out on the stabilization of soft research is to understand and investigate the varia-
clays and expansive clays using various additives tion of the strength of the cohesive soil randomly
such as lime, cement, synthetic and natural fibres. mixed with HHFs. The present study investigates the
Ranjan et al. (1994) conducted a series of triaxial suitability of solid waste material such as HHFs
tests to study the behavior of plastic fibre reinforced which has the potential to replace conventional
sand. Maher & Ho (1994) investigated the mechan- commercial fiber which are quite costly. Application
ical properties of a kaolinite/fibre composite in of HHF in stabilizing cohesive soil, if found effective
unconfined compression tests. Kaniraj and Gayathri may become an environmental friendly solution
(2003) conducted an experimental study to investi- for HHF which other wise is dumped near the place
gate the influence of randomly oriented fibre inclu- of generation and creates lot of clogging for water
sions on the geotechnical behavior of two Indian fly flow.
ashes. Maliakal and Thiyyakkandi (2012) studied the
influence of randomly distributed coir fibres on the
shear strength of clay. They concluded that shear 2 Materials Used and Experimental Program
strength improves significantly. Naeini and Sajadi
(2008) reported that waste polymer materials has 2.1 Soil
been chosen as reinforcement material and it was
randomly included into the clayey soils with differ- The soil used the present study is clayey in nature. All
ent plasticity indexes at five different percentages of the requisite physical and mechanical properties were
fibre content (0, 1, 2, 3, 4 %) by weight of raw soil determined as per relevant Standard tests (IS: 2720).
to enhance its engineering properties. The physical properties are given in Table 1.
Pradhan et al. (2012) examined the effect of
random inclusion of polypropylene fibers on strength 2.2 Human Hair Fibre
characteristics of a clayey soil of intermediate
plasticity. Estabragh et al. (2011) investigated the The HHF was gathered from local sources. The hair
effects of fibre on the consolidation and shear thread is a natural fibre formed by keratin, a protein
strength behavior of a clay soil reinforced with with a high grade of sulfur. The main physical
nylon fibres. The effective use of natural fibres as properties of the hair depend mostly on its geometry;
reinforcement was proved by several researches. Jha the physical and mechanical properties of hair involve
et al. (2014) studied the behavior of plastic waste characteristics to improve elasticity, smoothness,
fiber-reinforced industrial wastes in pavement appli- volume, shine and softness due to both the significant
cations. Akthar et al. (2008) studied the influence of adherence of the cuticle scales and the movement
Fly ash mixed with lime having varying percentage control as well as the easiness of combing, since they
of HHFs in California Bearing Ratio (CBR) values. reduce the fibres static electricity. The average com-
Akhtar and Ahmad (2009) studied the effect of hair position of normal hair is composed of 45.68 %
123
Geotech Geol Eng (2016) 34:411–417 413
Table 1 Properties of materials used

Properties of clayey soil Properties of human hair fibre
Clay content (%) 63 Cross-section Circular

Specific gravity 2.67 Diameter 50 lm
Liquid limit (%) 53.7 Length 25 mm
Plastic limit (%) 27.5 Linear density (gm/cc) 1.25–1.40
Plasticity Index (%) 26.2 Elongation 1.5 times its dry weight
Shrinkage limit (%) 12.7 Tensile strength About 400 Mpa
Classification CH Flexural strength (Mpa) 25–30
Maximum dry density (gm/cc) 1.72 Chemical reaction Depends on Hair surface porosity. About 80 % of human
hair is formed by a protein known as keratin
Optimum moisture content (%) 23.7
Compression Index, Cc 0.30 Absorption Depends on physical process of surface tension
CBR at OMC (%) 4.70 Friction Depends on the cuticle geometry and on the
physical–chemical status of the hair
carbon, 27.9 % oxygen, 6.6 % hydrogen, 15.72 % the samples were prepared at the OMC and 0.95 cmax
nitrogen and 5.03 % sulphur (Choudhry and Pandey (MDD) as per IS: 2720 (Part VII, 1980). For triaxial test
2012). After collecting HHF from local sources, fiber cylindrical specimen of size 38.1 mm in diameter and
of approximate same length was segregated manually 76.2 mm in lengths were used. For CBR, mould has
and the average length and diameter was kept as inner diameter 150 mm and height 175 mm for placing
25 mm and 50 lm, thus keeping aspect ratio (l/d) CBR test specimen. Fibres were mixed to the oven
constant having the value equal to 500. After cutting dried soil and extra care was taken during mixing of the
HHF into desired form (Fig. 1) it was mixed randomly soil sample so as to get uniform distribution of
with oven dried soil. Figure 2 illustrates the scanning HHF.CBR and UU triaxial tests were conducted on
electron microscopy images (Weia et al. 2004). The compacted HHF reinforced clayey samples having a
properties of these fibres are given in Table 1. curing period of 7 days, Strain rate of 1.25 mm per
minute was applied during the CBR. Undrained triaxial
2.3 Preparation of Samples and Laboratory Tests tests were conducted under different confining pres-
sures ranging from 0.5 kg/cm2 (50 kPa) to 2.0 kg/cm2
In this study, human hair fibres were used as an additive (200 kPa). For all percentages of HHF three samples
to the high compressibility clayey soil by weight (0.5, were tested to ensure the repeatability of the test results
1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 %) to evaluate the effect of human and the results reported were the average value
hair fibre on the mechanical behavior of clayey soil. All obtained from three samples.
Fig. 1 Illustration of human hair fibre
123
414 Geotech Geol Eng (2016) 34:411–417
Fig. 2 Scanning electron microscopic images of human hair samples
3 Results and Discussion Resistance to penetration of a rigid plunger is

measured and the loads at penetrations of 2.5 and
3.1 Effect Human Hair Fibre on CBR 5.0 mm were expressed as percentage of two standard
and Undrained Shear Strength of Clayey Soil loads (1370 and 2055 kg). The higher percentage was
taken as the CBR value (which was 2.5 mm penetra-
Of all the available methods of design, the CBR tion). In the present study, an attempt was made to
method has been found the most practical means of conduct CBR tests on clayey soil reinforced with HHF.
evaluating the strength of the sub-grade (bearing Figure 3 show results of CBR tests for clayey soil
capacity of the soil) for estimating the required reinforced with human hair fibre. As seen from Fig. 4
thickness of pavement to satisfy a given loading.
10
400
HHF: 0% CBR variation @ 2.5mm
penetration
HHF: 0.5%
8
300 HHF: 1.0%
HHF: 1.5%
Load (Kg)
HHF: 2.0% 6
CBR (%)
200 HHF: 2.5%
100
0
0 5 10 15 0
Penetration (mm) 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
Human hair fibre content (%)
Fig. 3 Penetration curves for CBR tests for clayey soil
reinforced with human hair fibre Fig. 4 Variation of CBR with addition of human hair fibre
123
Geotech Geol Eng (2016) 34:411–417 415
with HHF 0 % the CBR value was 4.70 % which was reinforced with HHF. As can be seen, the slope (M) of
increased to 7.75 % after addition of 2 % HHF. the critical state line (CSL) for composite specimens
Therefore it is quite evident of mixing HHF in the varies drastically with an average value of 1.28. The
marginal soil for construction of road pavements. As corresponding shearing strength parameter (/0 ) at

seen, about 2.0 % HHF is the optimum quantity to critical state corresponding to qf pf 0 of 1.28 is equal to
enhance the maximum CBR value at 2.5 mm pene- 32° and was calculated using the Eq. (1):
tration. When compared with other studies the results
3M
shows similar trends like other natural fibers. Sin /0 ¼ ð1Þ
The increase in CBR values due to addition of HFF 6þM
to clayey soil may be attributed due to improved Variation of stress ratio (M = q/p) with mean
interfacial adhesion between the soil particles and the stress and confining pressure for reinforced clayey
fibre, which allows a more efficient transfer of stress specimens is shown in Fig. 6. As can be seen, in
along the fibre matrix interface. However, the decrease Fig. 6 stress ratio shows more scatter in data with
in CBR values beyond optimum fibre content may be mean stress resulting in higher rate of loss of strength
due to the increase in fibre–fibre interaction. The fibre compared to confining pressure. Hence, under higher
may not be perfectly aligned with soil matrix leading mean stress, composite samples exhibit lower brit-
to poor dispersion of fibre in the soil matrix thus tleness compared to untreated clayey soil sample. It
resulted in a lower efficiency of load transfer with shows that soil is lightly to heavily over consolidated
increase in fibre content. Hence, up to some optimum resulting in medium stiff to stiff consistency. The
content, natural fibres, as a potential reinforcement undrained shear strength of clays or clayey soil is
ingredient offers many advantages such as good taken equal to qmax
2 . It is well known that the undrained
strength properties, low cost, high toughness, shear strength (Su) of normally consolidated (NC)
biodegradability. However, the overall performance clays normalised with respect to the current effective
of any fibre depends to a large extent upon the fibre– vertical stress is unique, and for over consolidated
matrix interface which in turn is governed by the (OC) clays, the following relationship adequately
surface topography of the fibre and by the chemical represents the normalised undrained shear strength
composition of fibre surface and resin properties. through (Eq. 2):
Figure 5 shows the variation of deviator stress (q)
Su
with mean stress {p = (r1 ? 2r3)/3} for the ¼ a ðOCRÞm ð2Þ
undrained triaxial compression tests of clayey soil p0o OC
Fig. 5 Stress-path
behaviour of human hair
fibre reinforced clayey
specimens for undrained
conditions
123
416 Geotech Geol Eng (2016) 34:411–417
Fig. 6 Variation of stress

ratio (M = q/p) with mean
stress and confining pressure
for clayey specimens
reinforced with human hair
fibre (HHF)
where OCR is the overconsolidation ratio defined as under lower confining pressure up to 1 % HHF and
the ratio between the maximum past effective vertical beyond this value there is a marginal increase.
r0 However, higher confining pressures show steady
stress and the current effective vertical stress (¼ r0p ),
vo
state improvement with maximum strength at 2 %
m is an empirical exponent equal to 1 jk , j, k are

HHF. This indicated that compared to higher confining
soil model parameters obtained from laboratory test- pressures, lower confining pressure could not initiate
ing, and ‘‘a’’ is the normalised undrained shear interfacial adhesion between the soil particles and the

strength of NC clay = Spu0 for OCR = 1. fibre so effectively. When the confining pressure is
o NC
Figure 7 shows variation of undrained shear lower (50 kPa) the interfacial adhesion between the
strength (Su) with HHF at different confining pressures soil and the fiber is not so effective that the shear
for clayey specimens reinforced with human hair fibre strength is not improved significantly. With increase in
(HHF). As seen, there is no improvement in strength confining pressure the interfacial adhesion becomes
Fig. 7 Variation of
undrained shear strength
(Su) with confining pressure
for clayey specimens
reinforced with human hair
fibre (HHF)
123
Geotech Geol Eng (2016) 34:411–417 417
effective that leads to increase of shear strength Choudhry S, Pandey B (2012) Mechanical behaviour of
significantly. The strength and CBR both reduce when polypropylene and human hair fibres and polypropylene
reinforced polymeric composites. Int J Mech Ind Eng
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too many fibers in soil matrix could lead to reduction Estabragh AR, Bordbar AT, Javadi AA (2011) Mechanical
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IS: 1498-(1970) Classification and identification of soils for
the reinforced soil. From the test results it reveals that general engineering purposes. Bureau of Indian Standards,
2 % is the optimum fiber content. New Delhi
IS: 2720-part 3(1) (1980) Method of test for soils: determination
of specific gravity of fine grained soils. Bureau of Indian
Standards, New Delhi
4 Conclusions IS: 2720-part 4 (1985) Method of test for soils: determination of
grain size distribution. Bureau of Indian Standards, New
Based on test results, it may be concluded that human Delhi
hair can be used as a natural reinforcing medium for IS: 2720-part 5 (1985) Determination of Atterberg limits.
Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi
stabilization of marginal soft clayey soils. HHF exhibits IS: 2720-part 7 (1980) Method of test for soils: determination of
many advantages such as good strength properties, low water content-dry density relation using light compaction.
cost and high toughness to biodegradability. However by Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi
increasing the HHF content, it marginally affects the dry IS: 2720-part 16 (1979) Method of test for soils: laboratory
determination of CBR. Bureau of Indian Standards, New
density-moisture content relationships of composite spec- Delhi
imens. MDD initially reduces lightly due to addition of IS: 2720-part 11 (1971). Method of test for soils: determination
light weight hair fiber and then practically remains same. of shear strength parameter by unconsolidated undrained
OMC increases marginally due to moisture absorption of triaxial compression without the measurement of pore
water pressure. Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi
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the optimum quantity to enhance CBR and undrained plastic waste fiber-reinforced industrial waste in pavement
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123
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING
https://doi.org/10.1080/19386362.2019.1643099
Influence of microbial geo-technology in the stabilization of dredged soils

K. M. N. Saquib Wani and B. A. Mir
Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Srinagar, India
ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Concern over environmental effects of dredging, disposal and the increasing unavailability of suitable Received 1 April 2019
disposal sites, has put pressure on engineers to improve dredged soils which are weak, have low Accepted 9 July 2019
bearing capacity and undergo excessive settlements over time. This study deals with improvement of KEYWORDS
such soils generated by dredging of the flood spill channel of River Jhelum, passing through world- Dredging; microbial
renowned wetland, Hokersar. A recent introduction to the ground improvement techniques that utilizes geo-technology; microbes;
microbes is known as microbial geo-technology. Both natural processes and laboratory investigations Bacillus Subtilis; strength
have shown that microorganisms can be used to improve the mechanical properties of soil. In this
study, dredged soil is treated with microbes (Bacillus Subtilis) at different optical densities (1 and 1.3)
and then supplemented with cementing agent solution of urea and calcium chloride at different
molarities (0.25M and 1M). The samples are treated for a period of 48 h and then tested for shear
strength. Curing for a period of 7 and 28 days is done in a temperature-controlled chamber (25–28°C).
With increasing the optical density and molarity of cementing solution there is an increase in calcium
carbonate precipitate which increases the strength parameters, the results are in-turn supported by
SEM and XRD analysis. Treated dredged soil can be utilized in bulk as a resource for various engineering
applications for eco-friendly and sustainable development of the environment.
Introduction causing a nuisance to the environment once disposed

(Millrath et al. 2001). Dredging of the river bed and flood
Soft soil deposits are generally weak with a very low bearing
spill channel generates dredged soil in large quantity posing
capacity and even undergo uncontrolled settlements that take
serious health and environmental problems during rainy and
place over a long period of time thus making it susceptible to
sunny (dry) seasons. During sunny/dry season, there is build-
mishaps (Soon et al. 2014; Ahmad, Yahaya, and Farooqi 2006).
up of dredged soil dust on vegetables and green fields,
Geotechnical engineers face a difficult task of assessing the
whereas during rainy season there is the development of
mechanical behaviour of such soil deposits. Using such mate-
mud/swamps due to rain water.
rials as construction material, sub-grade material, foundation
With expanding the consciousness of environmental issues
material or even as backfill poses a tough task for
as of late, there has been an extraordinary shift towards
a geotechnical engineer (Ho and Chan 2011; Huat 2006;
greener technologies. As chemicals are harmful and unsafe
Kazemian et al. 2011; Mir 2017; Mir, Amin, and Majid 2016;
to the environment, there are communicated worries over
Mir, Shah, and Shah 2017).
their utilization for soil improvement (DeJong et al. 2010).
Frequently, additives such as lime, cement, fly ash, lime-
A new soil improvement method, ‘microbially induced
cement-fly ash admixture, cement kiln dust, emulsified
calcite precipitation (MICP)’ has been developed recently.
asphalt, sodium silicate, acrylate, lignin, urethane, resins,
MICP discovers its path through interdisciplinary research
geo fibres, and polymer stabilizers are used to improve the
at the intersection of microbiology, geochemistry, and geo-
engineering properties of soft/weak soils. While a significant
technical engineering, to find natural alternatives for soil
number of these added substances have demonstrated posi-
improvement (DeJong et al. 2010).
tive results (Xanthakos and Lee 1994; Karol 2003;
Despite of the fact that the MICP technique is still
Anagnostopoulos and Hadjispyrou 2004; Basha et al. 2005;
a relatively new technology, many researches pertaining to
Kazemian and Huat 2009; Peethamparan, Olek, and Diamond
the topic have been reported including (DeJong et al. 2010;
2009), the stabilizers regularly change the pH of soils, and
Baveye et al. 1998; Ehrlich 1998; Mitchell and Santamarina
may cause impairment to the soil and groundwater (Karol
2005; Lian et al. 2006; Ivanow and Chu 2008; Okhwada and
2003; DeJong, Fritzges, and Nüsslein 2006). The choice and
Li 2010; Harkes et al. 2010; Lu, Qian, and Wang 2010).
effectiveness of an additive depends on the type of soil and its
Laboratory investigations were performed to study the effect
field conditions and applications. The knowledge of mechan-
of MICP on loose, collapsible sand specimens using a bacillus
istic behaviour of treated soil is equally important as selecting
species-B. Pasteurii (DeJong et al. 2010). They found that the
the stabilizer. The dredged material possesses all kinds of
results demonstrated a non-collapsing strain softening shear
contaminants, ranging from heavy metals to oil and pesticides
CONTACT K. M. N. Saquib Wani sakibwani_02phd17@nitsri.net; sakibwani17@gmail.com Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology,
Srinagar, J&K 190006, India
© 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
2 K. M. N. S. WANI AND B. A. MIR
behaviour, with higher initial shear stiffness and ultimate shear Bang 1999; Evans et al. 1995; Arunachalam et al. 2010). Its
capacity. Calcite-forming microorganisms, B. thuringiensis and activity increases at a pH nearing 8.0 and continuously
B. pumilis were extracted from stalactites, sampled from three diminishes at a pH of 8 or higher. It was concluded that the
caves in Sahastradhara, Dehradun, India (Baskar et al. 2006). ideal pH for the activity of the greater part of the microbial
They inferred that urease activity and temperature are the key urease is around 7 (Mobley, Island, and Hausinger 1995). In
factors promoting calcite precipitation. Research on distribu- spite of the fact that an ideal pH had been reported for
tion and fixation of B. Pasteurii homogeneously in sand bed different microbial species, the initial pH of the system
was also conducted (Harkes et al. 2010). They found that the increases amid precipitation, in this way changing the envir-
homogeneous distribution can be achieved by performing two- onment for ideal precipitation. The rise in pH is due to the
phase injection: injection of bacterial pellets into the sand body hydroxide ions (OH−) generated during ureolysis, which
immediately followed by injection of a fixation fluid of high changes the pH of the soil to alkaline (DeJong et al. 2010;
salt content. Ivanow and Chu (2008) provided a detailed Mobley, Island, and Hausinger 1995). When ammonia is
review on MICP applications in soil improvement including added, a temporal increase in pH is found in slightly acidic
bio-clogging. Although there are innumerous applications of soil, but the difference is trivial in slightly alkaline soils
MICP, they concluded that, at present, promising applications (Akiyama and Kawasaki 2012).
are only focused on bio-clogging and bio-cementation. Bio- This research deals with the soft soil deposits generated by
cementation is defined as the enhancement of shear strength dredging of Bemina-HMT flood channel of river Jhelum. The
parameters of the soil by the production of particle-binding flood channel runs for a stretch of almost 80 km from
materials through microbial means, while bio-clogging is the Padshahi Bagh to Wullar Lake in North Kashmir. The flood
reduction of permeability of soil or porous rock by pore-filling capacity of this channel has been reduced drastically over
materials generated by microbial processes (Ivanov and Chu a period of the last Century mainly due to the infringements
2008; Chu et al. 2014). The process of MICP begins by the by local people and the sediment deposits over the years. Post
introduction of large population of urease-producing micro- September 2014 floods the government took an appreciable
organisms and cementation reagents into the soil, whereby step to restore the water carrying capacity of river Jhelum by
cementation occurs and a cementing compound is formed dredging, this would, in turn, increase the load on engineers to
which in turn improves the strength of the soil. As almost all use the bulk sediments for various geotechnical applications.
urease-producing microbes are non-pathogens, they will cause Also, the area falls under the periphery of world-famous wet-
no impairment to the soil, ground water and environment. land, ‘The Hokersar Wetlands’ which is an internationally
Most Bacillus strains can form calcite through the change renowned bio-diverse area. The fact that the flood channels
of urea into ammonia and carbon dioxide (Hammes et al. have not been dredged for almost a century now, the water
2003). Microbial action and generation rate are represented levels have drastically come down, in-turn affecting the ecosys-
by numerous variables including accessibility to nutrients, tem of the wetland. The past research has mostly dealt with
water, or other natural elements. The ecological components coarse-grained soils and residual soils with the vast majority of
comprise of pH, redox potential, temperature, nearness to the researchers employing B. Pasteurii as the urease-producing
predators, which may confine bacterial growth, and space microorganism to consolidate loose sand columns. Studies
limitations (Mitchell and Santamarina 2005). These compo- which employed other Bacilli and distinctive soil types are
nents have been studied broadly to identify the ideal condi- still limited. The present research work explores the feasibility
tions for soil improvement and to prove the applicability of of an alternate Bacillus strain, B. Subtillis, in improving the
the technique in the field of geotechnical engineering (Harkes shear strength of dredged soil type. Therefore, in this study,
et al. 2010; Chu et al. 2014; Ng, Lee, and Hii 2012; Mujah, a facultative anaerobic bacterium, B. Subtilis is used to induce
Shahin, and Cheng 2017; Wang et al. 2017; Cheng, Shahin, calcite precipitation in dredged soil (ML) with the help of
and Mujah 2016; Soon et al. 2014; Umar et al. 2016a; Achal a cementing solution (urea and calcium chloride). This
and Pan 2014; Shahrokhi-Shahraki et al. 2015). A factor that research becomes a very important factor in terms of both
strongly impacts MICP is the pH, with an alkaline domain bulk utilization of the dredged materials/sediments from the
known to be good for the progression (Cheng et al. 2014). flood channels and restoring the ecological balance that has
Urea (CO (NH2)2) is hydrolyzed by the urease enzyme into been altered by humans and natural disasters like floods.
ammonium (NH4+) and carbonate ions (CO32−). This CO32−
is combined with calcium ions (Ca2+) supplied through
cementing solution to form calcium carbonate (CaCO3). Materials
COðNH2 Þ2 þ 2H2 O ! 2NH4þ þ CO2ÿ (1) Dredged soil

3
The dredged soil samples were collected and transported
Ca 2þ
þ CO2ÿ ! CaCO3 (2) from four different boreholes at Bemina area of Srinagar
3
city outskirts, as shown in Fig. 1(a). At each site, both
The urea enzyme is active at a specific range of pH; the undisturbed and disturbed soil samples were collected keep-
optimum pH for releasing active enzyme ranges between 7 ing a distance of 250–300 m in-between, sealed and trans-
and 8.0 (Ng, Lee, and Hii 2012; Stocks-Fischer, Galinat, and ported with utmost precaution for studying their various
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING 3
100
90
80
Percentage finner %
70
Soil properties Site 2
60
D10 0.008
50 D20 0.012
D30 0.015
40 D50 0.025
D60 0.035
30 Cu 4.375
Cc 0.803571
20 Sn 281
10
0
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10
Partical size in mm
(a).Four sites on the flood spill channel in (b). Grain size distribution of soil, Site-2
2D (Source: Google maps)
Figure 1. (a).Four sites on the flood spill channel in 2D (Source: Google maps). (b) Grain size distribution of soil, Site-2.
properties and behaviour after treating with microbes (bac-

teria). In-situ or undisturbed samples were collected in sam-
pling tubes and sealed in polythene zipper bags so as to
restrict the loss of moisture whereas the disturbed samples
were collected in large 40–50 kg bags to be studied for
further research. The particle size distribution of dredged
soil site-2 is shown in Fig. 1(b).
Bacteria- Bacillus Subtilis

Frozen Bacillus Subtilis (Steinberg et al. 2016) (procured from
MTCC Culture supply- Chandigarh equivalent to ATCC-
55,422) was rejuvenated on LB-agar plate (1% yeast extract,
2% peptone, 2% tryptone, 1.5% agar-autoclaved) at
37° C (24 h). Single colonies were patched on LB-agar plate Figure 2. Frozen stock of Bacillus Subtilis.
the next day and grown in a 37° C incubator (24 h). The cells
were then implanted in 5 ml LB broth and grown at 180 rpm,
37°C(24 h). The next day, cells were sub-cultured by adding
2 ml of the saturated culture in 250 ml of LB broth, grown at
190rpm, 37°C over night. Cells were checked for OD at 600 nm
after every 2.5 h till the required OD was attained. In this
research, an OD of 1 and 1.3 (equivalent to 107 cells/ml) is
used. The cells were spun at 8000 rpm for 10 min, supernatant
was discarded and the bacterial pellets were stored at −40°C till
further use. One important thing was taken into account and
adhered to, that no bacterial pellet was used after 48 h as it
could cause contamination to the cells. Fig. 2–5 shows the
stock cells and final bacterial pellets. The concentration of
cells suspended in growth media was estimated by the expres-
sion (Ramachandran, Ramakrishnan, and Bang 2001).
Y ¼ 8:59 107 Z1:3627 (3)
Where Z = reading at OD600; and Y = concentration

(cells · mL−1). Figure 3. Single colonies of bacteria.
Table 2. Physical properties of the dredged soil.

Properties Site-2
Natural moisture content (%) 24.8
Bulk unit weight (kN/m3) 19.1
Insitu dry unit weight (kN/m3) 15.4
Specific gravity (G) of dredged soil 2.66
% Finer than 75 µm 95
Clay (%) 1
Silt (%) 94
Sand (%) 5
Gravel (%) 0
Coefficient of uniformity, Cu 4.38
Coefficient of curvature, Cc 0.80
Suitability number, Sn 281
Liquid limit (%) 28.45
Plastic limit (%) 24.02
Shrinkage limit (%) 17.0
Plasticity index (%) 4.52
Figure 4. Bacteria culture grown overnight @180 r.p.m. P.I, A-line 6.17
P.I, U-line 18.40
Classification ML
Clay mineral Kaolinite
Flow index, If 4.94
Toughness index, It 0.91
Activity 4.52
Consistency index, Ic 0.807
Liquidity index, IL 0.172
In-situ unconfined compressive strength, qu (kPa) 15.5
Unconfined compressive strength at OMC, qu (kPa) 33.25
In-situ cohesion by direct shear test, cu (kN/m2) 14.7
Cohesion by direct shear test at OMC, cu (kN/m2) 22.3
In-situ angle of internal friction by DST, фu (°) 25.6
Angle of internal friction by DST at OMC, фu (°) 27
Optimum moisture content (%) 16
Maximum dry unit weight (kN/m3) 17.5
CBR, un-soaked (%) 5.6
CBR, soaked @ 94 hrs (%) 1.3
Figure 5. Final bacterial solution.

Testing methodology
Physical properties of dredged soil
Table 1. Chemical composition for cementation media.

Different soil tests like gradation, specific gravity, light com-
Chemical Concentration (grams)
paction tests, Consistency limits, etc., were conducted on the
disturbed soil samples. Unconfined compressive strength,
Chemical 0.25 M 1M
Urea 15.015 60.06
CBR and direct shear tests were conducted on in-situ and
CaCl2.2H2O 36.754 147.01 remoulded samples to determine strength parameters as per
Distilled Water 1000 1000 the Standard Codal procedures. Table 2 gives the different
pH 6.5 6.5
geotechnical properties of the weakest soil site i.e. site 2 near
khushipora, HMT (ASTM Codes). Dredged soil from site 2
was chosen as the final material only after comparing the
Cementation media strength properties of all the sites.
Cementation solution was used for ureolysis consisting of
urea, CaCl2 · 2H2O and distilled water. Table 1 shows the
chemical compositions of cementation solution for MICP Unconfined compression tests on MICP treated soil
treatment. In many researches, researchers have used nutri- samples
ent broth with cementing solution (Cheng et al. 2014; The specimens for UCT were cylindrical in shape with 38 mm
Stocks-Fischer, Galinat, and Bang 1999) in order to provide diameter and 76 mm height. Porous stones with filter papers
nutrient to the bacteria but keeping the multiplication rate were placed at the top and the bottom in order to avoid
of Bacillus Subtilis into account we will not be able to keep clogging and escape of material through the moulds, which
account of the colony formation units of the microbes, were prefabricated and formed a part of PhD research work at
hence we have not included nutrient broth in this study NIT Srinagar. Brass was used for the fabrication in-order to
which would otherwise deter us in knowing the actual avoid rusting because the treatment was to be carried out for
mechanism of the microbes based on c.f.u. 48 h continuously (Umar et al. 2016b). One hundred and
thirty-two grams of oven-dried dredged soil (γd = 17.5kN/m3) Micro-structural analysis using scanning electron
was uniformly mixed with bacteria and 21 ml distilled water microscope and X-ray diffraction technique
(OMC) and then added into the mold to maintain compactive
Micro-structural changes and formation of calcite crystals
effort at OMC and γd(max) . A total of 26 samples were made
were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and
and tested. Each sample was given a treatment of 48 h before
XRD analysis, Model: HITACHI S- 3600N and RIGAKU.
being cured for 7 and 28 days, respectively. The treatment
Samples which showed the highest shear strength and high-
was given in a temperature-controlled chamber maintaining
est CaCO3 precipitates were selected for analysis. SEM
an average temperature of 25–28°C (Whiffin 2004; Van-paas-
images showed reduced pore sizes, flocculated structure
sen 2009). The UC tests were conducted under strain-con-
and filled void spaces whereas XRD analysis gave clear
trolled conditions at a uniform loading rate of 1.2mm/min in
results on crystal compositions and supported the experi-
accordance with standard ASTM codes. The pH was main-
mental data.
tained within a range of 6.5–8 continuously.
Results and discussions

Direct shear tests on MICP treated soil samples
Effect of MICP on the UCS value of dredged soil
Comparative analysis of treated and untreated soil samples
was done for cohesion and angle of internal friction based on Unconfined compression test is the quickest and simplest
optimum bacterial concentration and optimum cementing method to determine the shear strength of soils. Test speci-
solution molarity as concluded from UCT. Nine treated sam- mens were prepared in fabricated brass moulds (Figure 6–7),
ples of 60*60*25 mm dimensions were tested in accordance compacted at 0.85 γd(max) and optimum moisture content, in
with standard ASTM codes. Each sample was given order to provide enough pore space for the bacteria to infil-
a treatment of 48 h and curing of 0, 7 and 28 days, trate into the soil and adhere to the soil particles. The samples
respectively. were mixed with bacteria and treated with cementing solution
Calcium carbonate content determination

To determine precipitated CaCO3 in the soil specimens, the
simple gravimetric analysis was performed. Specimens were
crushed using a mallet and oven-dried. The dry soil was then
treated with HCl acid solution (0.2 M) to dissolve precipitated
carbonates and oven-dried again. The difference between the
two weights gave the amount of CaCO3 precipitated (Hien
Xuan 2016). It should be noted that many other methods of
CaCO3 determination are available including ASTM method
and all the methods are approximate methods. The purpose
of using simple gravimetric analysis is because it is a relatively Figure 7. Treatment in process while as effluent gets collected for pH
easier and quick method. determination.
Figure 6. Fabricated brass moulds.

for 48 hrs continuously from bottom of the moulds to the top 600
in order to avoid piping which may lead to uneven distribu- 500 Different curing period test series
tion calcite precipitate. The samples were tested for different In-situ sample
Axial stress, qu (kN/m2)

400
curing times i.e. Immediately, after 7 days and after 28 days. Without treatment
1.0 O.D-0.25M(Imm.)
The test results showed an increase in the UCS strength of the 300
1.0 O.D-0.25M(7days)
soil with increasing concentration of the bacteria and the 200 1.0 O.D-0.25M(28days)
cementing solution (Chen and Bin Qassim 2015). However
100
with increasing the molarity of the cementing solution it is
found that the strength decreases at 28 days of curing which 0
0 5 10 15 20 25
can be due to the fact that there is accumulation of salt in the
Axial strain, a (%)
sample which is adverse to the bacterial growth (Ng, Lee, and (a). Variation in the stress-strain behaviour of MICP treated dredged soil at 1.0 O.D bacterial
Hii 2012). The optimum content has been found out to be concentration and 0.25M cementing solution.
600
1.0M cementing solution with 1.0 O.D bacteria as it showed
less variations, the increase in strength was appreciable i.e. 500
250%. As it can be clearly seen from Figure 8(a−d), the value Different curing period test series

of shear strength increases with an increase in cementing 400
In-situ sample
solution molarity, the maximum affect being noticed after 7 Without treatment
300
days of curing at 1.O.D and 1.0M. It is worth mentioning 1.0 O.D-1.0M(Imm.)
here that for each variable combination two samples were 200
1.0 O.D-1.0M(7days)
prepared and average value was taken. 1.0 O.D-1.0M(28days)
100
Effect of MICP on the direct shear test parameters of 0

0 5 10 15 20 25
the dredged soil Axial strain, a (%)
(b). Variation in the stress-strain behaviour of MICPtreated dredged soil at 1.0 O.D bacterial
Shear strength parameters ‘c’ and ‘ф’ were evaluated by con- concentration and 1.0Mcementing solution.
ducting DST on MICP treated the soil. The Mohr–Coulomb 600
failure envelopes are shown in Figure 9 for a cementing
500
solution concentration of 1.0M at 1 O.D bacterial concentra- Different curing period test series
tion. The shear strength parameters are considerably 400
In-situ sample
Without treatment
improved as compared to the in-situ and untreated soil speci-
300 1.3 O.D-0.25M(Imm.)
men. The angle of internal friction increases from 35° to 41°
and cohesion increases from 38 kN/m2 in the untreated state
1.3 O.D-0.25M(7days)
200
1.3 O.D-0.25M(28days)
to 57 kN/m2 . The observations clearly establish a relationship
100
with other researchers (Pakbaz, Behzadipour, and Ghezelbash
2018). Figure 10 shows the variation in the angle of internal 0
friction and cohesion in the dredged soil samples for 1 O.D 0 5 10 15 20 25
bacterial concentration and 1.0M cementing agent molarity. Axial strain, a (%)
(c). Variation in the stress-strain behaviour of MICPtreated dredged soil at 1.3O.Dbacterial
concentration and 0.25Mcementing solution.
600
Effect of MICP on the micro-structure of the dredged soil
500
Different curing period test series
The SEM images Figure 11(a-d) shows the variation between 400 In-situ sample
untreated and treated samples and it can be visualized that Without treatment
300 1.3O.D-1.0M(Imm.)
the CaCO3 crystals were irregular blocks, similar to observa- 1.3O.D-1.0M(7days)
tions made by other researchers (Al Qabani et al. 2011; Zhao 200
1.3O.D-1.0M(28days)
et al. 2014). However, the crystal size is smaller than the size
100
indicated in their results, probably due to the different soil
samples used. All the SEM images were captured at 100 µm 0
0 5 10 15 20 25
because the soil consisted mostly of silt, Table 2. Utmost Axial strain, a (%)
(c). Variation in the stress-strain behaviour of MICPtreated dredged soil at 1.3 O.Dbacterial
care was taken to maintain the flow velocity of cementing concentration and 1.0Mcementing solution.
solution as a lower flow would cause precipitation at the
Figure 8. (a).Variation in the stress-strain behaviour of MICP treated dredged soil
entrance, reducing the permeability of the sample and at 1.0 O.D bacterial concentration and 0.25M cementing solution. (b) Variation in
thereby affecting the end results whilst a higher velocity the stress-strain behaviour of MICP treated dredged soil at 1.0 O.D bacterial
would disturb the sample and may even push the bacteria concentration and 1.0M cementing solution. (c) Variation in the stress-strain
behaviour of MICP treated dredged soil at 1.3 O.D bacterial concentration and
out with the effluents. 0.25M cementing solution. (d) Variation in the stress-strain behaviour of MICP
The X-ray diffraction technique also gave conclusive treated dredged soil at 1.3 O.D bacterial concentration and 1.0M cementing
evidence of the formation of CaCO3. The different peaks solution.
200
Different curing period test series
In-situ test
Shear stree, τ (kN/m2)

150 Untreated Soil
1 O.D-1M (Imm. test)
1 O.D-1M (7D test)
100
1 O.D-1M (28D test)
50
0
0 50 100 150 200
Normal stress, σn (kN/m2)
Figure 9. Mohr-Coulomb failure envelope for 1 O.D bacterial concentration, 1M cementing solution and different curing time.
58 44
Cohesion 43.5
57.5
Angle of internal friction
Angle of internal friction,

43
57
42.5
Cohesion, c (kN/m2)
56.5 42
41.5
56
41
55.5
º
40.5
55 40
0 7 14 21 28
Curing period (Days)
Figure 10. Variation of cohesion and angle of friction with a bacterial concentration of 1.0 O.D and 1.0 M cementing solution.
confirmed the calcite formation after the treatment with rate of formation of crystals and the time determine the
microbes which was the result of improved cohesive nature overall strength imparted.
and improved strength parameters of the dredged soil.
Figure 12(a, b).
Conclusions
Effect of MICP on the caco3 content formation Based on the experimental results and microstructural analy-
sis, it can be concluded that:
The stabilization of the dredged soil specimens is due to the
calcite formation that bonds the soil particles together. (1) The microbial treatment proved an effective means for
Based on the values of CaCO3 content as shown in improving the engineering properties of the dredged
Table 3, we can conclude that the amount of calcite soil.
increases with an increase in cementing solution molarity, (2) The unconfined compressive strength increased by
bacterial concentration and the curing time shows a similar about 2.5 times than the un-treated soil. The opti-
trend. However, based on the end results which clearly mum value of cementing solution and bacterial con-
show that even at higher calcite content we have reduced centration was found to be 1.0M and 1.0 O.D,
values of UCS strength, the amount of calcite is not solely respectively.
responsible for imparting strength to the soil. Many factors (3) The Mohr-Coulomb parameters showed a significant
like the distribution of calcite crystals, the dead microbes, increase, at 1O.D the soil showed enhanced consistency
Whitish colour and decreased pore size
Voids
(a)Scanning electron micrograph of (b)Scanning electron micrograph of MICP

untreated dredged soil. treated dredged soil-1.0 O.D (7days-0.25M)
Reduced voids
Calcite
Calcite
(c) Scanning electron micrograph of MICP (d) Scanning electron micrographof MICP
treated dredged soil-1 O.D(7days-1.0M) treated dredged soil-1.0O.D (28days-1.0M)
Figure 11. (a) Scanning electron micrograph of un-treated dredged soil. (b) Scanning electron micrograph of MICP treated dredged soil-1.0 O.D (7days-0.25M). (c) Scanning
electron micrograph of MICP treated dredged soil-1 O.D (7days-1.0M). (d) Scanning electron micrograph of MICP treated dredged soil-1.0 O.D (28days-1.0M).
(a) XRD graph for un-treated soil (b) XRD graph for treated soil
Figure 12. (a) XRD graph for un-treated soil. (b) XRD graph for treated soil.
and the soil state changed from loose to dense. kept at room temperature in a fully saturated phase,
However, due to the formation of calcite the failure hence increasing the strength at 7 days overall. The
pattern changed to brittle. flocculation increased with a reduction in voids.
(4) The curing period enhanced the bonding as some (5) The SEM and XRD analysis showed that as calcite
bacteria might be releasing urease even after being content increased, the structure changed from
Table 3. CaCO3 content at different O.D’s, C.A molarities and curing period. Arunachalam, K. D., K. S. Sathyanarayanan, B. S. Darshan, and
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Possible Origin for Stalactites in Sahastradhara Caves, Dehradun,
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. India.” Current Science 90 (1): 58–64.
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International Journal of Technical Research and Applications e-ISSN: 2320-8163
www.ijtra.com Special Issue 12 (Jan-Feb 2015), PP. 04-09
SOME STUDIES ON GEOTECHNICAL CHARACTERIZATION

OF DREDGED SOIL FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF
DAL LAKE AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION
B. A. Mir
Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology Srinagar-190006, Kashmir, J&K (India)
E-mail: p7mir@nitsri.net, bamiriitb@gmail.com, bashiriisc@yahoo.com
Abstract- Dredged soil is a solid waste generated due to Knowledge of the sources and types of solid wastes, along
dredging of Dal Lake. The Dal Lake has been the centre of with data on the composition and rates of generation is basic
Kashmir civilization and is among the most beautiful National to the design and operation of the functional elements
heritages. This lake with its multi-faceted eco-system and associated with the management of solid wastes. The goal of a
grandeur has been inviting the attention of national and waste characterization study is to identify the sources,
international tourists. The urban lake, which is the second largest characteristics, and quantities of the waste generated, and the
in the state, is integral to tourism and recreation in Kashmir. But goal of a waste diversion study is to identify the types and
during the past few years grave concern is being voiced by people quantities of waste soils that are now separated for recycling
from different walks of life over the deteriorating conditions of
or otherwise diverted from disposal in Lakes. Sources of solid
Dal Lake. It has been estimated that on an average 90,000 ton’s
of silt flows annually into the lake resulting in large quantities of
wastes in a community are, in general, related to land use and
silt deposits in the lake. The problems of Lake have been well zoning such as residential, commercial, institutional,
recognized and efforts are on to save it. The scheme for shoreline construction and demolition, municipal services, treatment
dredging of Dal Lake has been formulated with the primary plant sites, industrial, and dredging of water bodies. But this
objective to help in Eco-regeneration and sustainable study deals with the solid waste generated by dredging the
development of the lake. Dredging of the Dal Lake generated the world famous Dal Lake, one of the most beautiful lakes of
dredged soil in large quantity posing serious disposal and India and the second largest in the J&K State with the primary
environmental problems all-around the Dal Lake. Concern over objective to increase the clear water expanse of the lake,
environmental effects of dredging, disposal of dredged soil, and improve water circulation and consequently help in Eco-
the increasing unavailability of suitable disposal sites, has put regeneration of the lake. Dredging is simply the removal of
pressure for characterization of this soil as a resource for various sediments from a body of water that have accumulated due to
beneficial uses/engineering applications. For all above upland erosion in order to maintain a desired depth, as in a
applications, a brief study about some physical and mechanical reservoir, dam, shipping berth, marina or navigation channel.
properties of dredged soil forms an important consideration, But the Dredged soil has posed serious problems of disposal
which will help in proper use of this unwanted soil as well as and environmental hazards all around Dal Lake (Fig. 1). The
sustainable development of the Dal Lake. Hence, using dredged condition of Dal Lake before and after dredging is shown in
soil has a two-fold advantage. First, to avoid the tremendous Fig. 2.
environmental problems caused by large scale dumping of
dredged soil and second, to help in sustainable development of
the world famous lake in the capital City Srinagar.
Keywords-Solid waste soil, Waste management, Dredged soil,

Sustainable soils management approach,
Environmental problems, Soil stabilization
Dredging in progress Dredged soil

I. Introduction
Due to rapid urbanization and huge population increase Fig. 1. Dredging of Dal Lake in progress and accumulation of dredged
particularly in developing countries around the world, there is Soil along Lake Shores
scarcity of good construction sites as well as construction
soils. Hence, there is lot of pressure on Structural and
Geotechnical Engineers to use marginal/weak soils for
construction of various infrastructures. On the other hand, due
to set-up of various industrial units, lot of solid waste soils is
produced every day, which need to be disposed-off or used in
various construction activities in a scientific way to avoid any
environmental or health problems.
Fig. 2. View of Dal Lake before and after dredging operation
4 Page
But Dredged soil is no longer being regarded as a "spoil" or distributions curves and flow curves of these soils of Tailbal
"waste" but as a resource. Its mineralogy and Geotechnical Basin are shown in Figs. 3 and 4 respectively. Naturally
properties qualify it for use in the manufacture of high available commercial high calcium lime CaO2 was used as an
value, beneficial use products [1-2]. The suitability of dredged additive to stabilize the dredged soil. Lime was mixed in the
soil for different uses varies, however, a wide variety of dry state and the percentage of lime varies from 0 to 9% with
beneficial use options are- Engineered uses, environmental 3% increments. The important properties that are necessary for
enhancement of wetlands, fisheries, and other habitats for using dredged soil in many geotechnical applications are index
wildlife utilization, and beneficial use end products including properties, compaction characteristics, CBR and strength
topsoil, construction-grade cement, lightweight aggregate, characteristics. Lime stabilization is generally cost effective
bricks, architectural tile and can be recommended as fill soil for clayey soils [13], [14], [15].
for low-lying areas, land improvement [3]. The range of
engineering applications for dredged soil is diverse, being TABLE 1. PROPERTIES OF DREDGED SOIL USED
limited only by the ingenuity of the designer. Therefore, for Tailbal Basin of Dal Lake
Property
bulk and an effective utilization of dredged soil, some study I II III
about some physical and mechanical properties of dredged soil Clay Size (%) 77 69 33
was attempted in this paper. Laboratory tests involved Silt Size (%) 19 26 55
Sand Size (%) 04 05 12
determination of some physical and mechanical properties and Specific Gravity 2.60 2.57 2.56
the test results indicated that in-situ state of soil is not suitable Liquid Limit (%) 49 46 39
for using it as a foundation or construction soil alone. Plastic Limit (%) 23 21 24
Therefore, effects of lime on some physical and mechanical Plasticity Index (%) 26 25 15
properties of dredged soil were evaluated. Test results indicate Plasticity Index-Aline (%) 21 19 17
Plasticity Index-Uline (%) 37 34 28
that lime can effectively improve some engineering properties
Shrinkage limit (%) 15 12 11
of soil under consideration. Lime stabilization of sols has been Activity 0.3 0.3 0.5
successfully applied in Highway Works [4], [5], [6], [7]. Thus, Clayey soil of
Clayey silts of
the aim of this study is to improve the soil characteristics for Soil type and classification low to medium
low to medium
sustainable development of Dal Lake and its surroundings in (unified soil classification compressibility
compressibility
system-USCS) (illite-mineral)
the capital City. Based on favorable results, it has been CL CL ML
concluded that using dredged soil as a resource has a two-fold Clayey soil of
advantage, first, to avoid the tremendous environmental Clayey silts of
Soil type and classification medium
medium
problems caused by large scale dumping of dredged soil and (Indian standard soil compressibility
compressibility
classification system-ISSCS) (illite-mineral)
second, to help in sustainable development of the world
CI CI MI
famous lake in the capital City Srinagar. Free Swell Index (%) 03 01 ---
Compression index, Cc 0.27 0.25 0.23
II. ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AND PROBLEMS Natural Moisture Content (%) 41 39 37
Environment is explored through topics covering air, water, Field Dry Density (kN/m3) 13.5 12.8 13.9
land, sea, climate, wild life, pollution, people and our life Maxm. Dry Density (kN/m3) 15.7 15.5 15.9
style, impact of business and industry, how we use resources Optimum Moisture Content (%) 23.1 21 19
CBR (%) 03 03 05
and how we deal with waste. Man’s mad race for acquiring
power has posed greatest danger to environment and Eco-
Clay size Silt size Sand size Gravel size
system. Increase in population and quest for higher living (< 0.002mm) (0.002-0.075mm) (0.075-4.75mm) (4.75-80mm)
standards caused greater demand for earth’s natural resources. 100

S-1
The human activities have thus been altering the atmospheric S-2
90
composition, which in turn affects the regional or even global S-3
climate. Thus, environmental problems are multidimensional, 80

multidisciplinary, and dynamic and require an integrated
70
approach to examine the state of environment and to achieve Tailbal Basin
%age finer (%)
sustainable industrialization. 60
Sample No S-1 S-2 S-3
D10(mm) : --- --- ----
50
III. MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY D20(mm) :
D30(mm) :
---
---
--- ----
--- 0.006
D50(mm) : --- --- 0.016
In the present investigation, dredged soil was collected 40
D60(mm) : --- --- 0.02
from Tailbal Basin of Dal Lake. Disturbed and undisturbed 30
Cu : --- --- ----
Cc : --- --- ----
soil samples were collected from the project site for conduct of Sn : --- --- ----
various field and lab. tests. All the tests necessary for 20
determination of physical and mechanical properties were 10
carried out as per the relevant ASTM Standards [8], [9], [10], 0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100
[11], [12]. The physical properties of the dredged soil used in Particle size (mm)
this investigation are listed in Table 1. The particle size
Fig. 3. Particle Size Distribution Curves for Tailbal Basin
5 Page
From Fig. 3, particle size distribution analysis revealed that that the soil is in a wet and sticky condition, impossible to
the dredged soil contained about 77% and 69% clay for compact and impossible to traffic. It is also seen that the rate
samples I & II, which are far away from the point of disposal of loss of shear strength is more prominent in case of sample-1
and 55% silt (< 0.075mm) and 12% fine sand size particles for (Fig. 4 above), hence this has been selected for stabilization
sample III which is near by the point of disposal of dredged using lime as an additive. The index properties of dredged soil
soil (Table 1 above). From test results, it is concluded that the are significantly altered by the addition of lime. The variation
dredged soil is classified as poorly graded clayey/silty soil of consistency limits with addition of lime is shown in Fig. 5.
with appreciable fines. The particle size distribution curves From Fig. 5, it is seen that addition of 6% of lime ash has
changed the classification of dredged soil from CI to ML, CL-
gives, at a glance, the nature of size gradation, range of
ML. The trends of variation exhibited by plastic limit and
particle sizes, and a comparison of different soils. The particle
plasticity index are also on the same expected lines. The
size curve is used to know the susceptibility of a soil to frost plastic limit of dredged soil–lime composite samples first
action, required for the design of drainage filters, an index to increases ( 23% to 30.7%) and then decreases marginally from
the coefficient of permeability and the shear strength of the 30.7% to 28.3%) as a function of lime percentage increase
soil. The suitability of a backfill material also depends on the (beyond 6%), which shows that the behaviour changes from
gradation. expansiveness to non- expansiveness in nature. The increase in
The consistency limits of untreated dredged soil are given plastic limit on addition of lime is due to lime content
in Table 1 and shown in Fig. 4. It is observed that liquid limit imparted to the dredged soil, which causes reduction in the
is very high and natural moisture content is more than plastic diffuse double layer thickness and flocculation of the clay
limit indicating that the soil is in a wet and sticky condition, particles. The marginal decrease in the plastic limit with an
impossible to compact and impossible to traffic. The dredged increase in percentage of lime content is due to the reduction
soil is classified as clayey soil of medium compressibility of soil available for the lime to react to form a calcium silicate
(illite-mineral) with very high rate of loss of shear strength. gel which coats and binds lumps of clay together and occupies
From test results, it is seen that dredged soil in its in-situ state the pores in the soil. Plasticity index is a good indicator of
is not suitable as a “stand-alone” construction material, and swelling potential. The addition of lime to clayey soils also
needs to be stabilized for use as engineered construction reduces their potential for swelling which means that there is
material in various construction activities in bulk for increase in moisture absorption in lime treated soils. The swell
sustainable development of Dal Lake and environmental potential of the treated soil is often of great importance for
restoration. modified sub-grades.
65 65
Dal Lake-Tailbal Basin
Tailbal Basin Lime- 0 (%): LL=49%
60
Sample No: 1
S-1 60 PL= 23%
55
S-2
S-3 55
{ Lime- 3 (%): LL=42.5%

PL= 27.3%
Lime- 6 (%): LL=33.5%
Water content (%)
PL= 30.7%
50 50
Lime- 9 (%): LL=37%
Water content (%)
PL= 28.3%
45 45 LL: Liquid limit
PL: Plastic limit
NP: Non-plastic
40 40
35 35
30
30
25
25
10 25 100
No of blows (N) 20
10 25 100
Fig. 4. Flow Curves for Tailbal Basin No of blows (N)
Fig. 5. Effect of lime on index properties of dredged soil

IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Effect of fly ash stabilization on compaction characteristics
Effect of lime stabilization on index properties of dredged soil
Consistency limits are extensively used in geotechnical The density of soils is an important parameter since it
engineering and these include; liquid limit, plastic limit and controls its strength, compressibility and permeability.
shrinkage limit. They provide an overall idea for the Compaction of lime stabilized soils is more tolerant than those
engineering properties of the soils. The consistency limits of stabilized with cement. The compaction curves for untreated
untreated dredged soil are given in Table 1. It is observed that soil and soil-lime mixes are shown in Fig. 6. From Fig. 6, it is
natural moisture content is more than plastic limit indicating observed that lime treatment flattens the compaction curve,
6 Page
thereby ensuring that a given percentage of the prescribed an uneven wearing surface. Most methods of design are either
density can be achieved over a much wider range of moisture empirical or semi-empirical in nature and are based upon
contents, so that relaxed moisture control specifications are correlations with field performance. Of all the available
possible. Also the optimum moisture content is moved methods of flexible pavement design, the CBR (California
towards higher values, enabling soils in wetter than original Bearing Ratio) method has been found the most reliable
condition to be compacted satisfactorily. Low unit weight of practical means of evaluating the strength of the sub-grade
soil-lime mixes will result in lower earth pressure leading to (bearing capacity of the soil) and construction soils, and
savings. The “OMC” and “MDD” is 23% and 15.7kN/m3 for estimating the required thickness of pavement to satisfy a
untreated dredged soil for sample-1 and 22% and 15.8 kN/m3 given loading. CBR is a measure of the load carrying capacity
with addition of lime for (soil+6%lime) mix. The variation of (resistance to direct penetration) of any soil which is expressed
OMC & MDD with lime content is shown in Fig. 7. as a percentage of the load carrying capacity of a standard
crushed rock specimen (which is taken as of 100% value)
18 determined by a penetration test. Resistance to penetration of a
Tailbal Basin
rigid plunger is measured and the loads at penetrations of
Sample No: 1
Lime:0 (%)
17 Lime:3 (%) 2.5mm and 5.0mm are expressed as percentage of two
standard loads (1370kg and 2055kg). The higher percentage is
Dry unit weight (kN/m3)
Lime:6 (%)
16
Lime:9 (%) taken as the CBR value (usually at 2.5mm penetration) under
ZAV: G= 2.60 soaked conditions for a period of four days. The soaking
15 period is intended to simulate sub-grade saturation due to high
water table and precipitation, and thus the design test is made
14
when the soil is in its weakest condition. In the present study,
an attempt was made to conduct CBR tests [16] on dredged
soil stabilized with lime. Figure 8 shows the variation of CBR
13
for different lime contents. From Fig.8, the CBR values for
dredged soil are found to be 3% and 2.6% for un-soaked and
12 soaked conditions. The decrease in CBR upon soaking is due
10 15 20 25 30 35
to the decreased effective stress and loss of surface tension
Water content (%) forces. The CBR of the soil is contributed by its cohesion and
friction components. The low CBR of dredged soil is
Fig.6. Effect of lime on compaction characteristics of dredged soil attributed to its inherent low strength due to the dominance of
clay fraction. Addition of 6% lime to the dredged soil
24 increases the CBR due to the pozzolanic reaction between
lime and dredged soil. The addition of dredged soil beyond
6% causes a little reduction in the CBR value, which is the
OMC (%) & MDD (kN/m3)
optimum lime content to enhance the CBR characteristics of

20 Tailbal Basin dredged soil.
Optimum moisture content (OMC)
Maxm. dry unit weight (MDD)
10
Sample-1
16
8 Tailbal Basin
Unsoaked CBR
Soaked CBR
6
CBR (%)
12
0 3 6 9
Lime content (%)

4
Fig. 7. Effect of lime on compaction parameters of dredged soil
2
Effect of lime stabilization on CBR characteristics of
dredged soil
An extensive road network is one of the major indicators 0
of a nation’s economic prosperity, and soil is used as 0 3 6 9
construction soils for roads and airfield pavements. The
Lime content (%)
principles involved in design of flexible road pavements
consist of testing the sub-grade soil and then, from correlation Fig. 8. Effect of lime on CBR characteristics of dredged soil
data or theory, determining the thickness of pavement required
to protect the sub-grade. Ideally, the pavement is built to a Effect of Lime on Strength Behavior of Dredged Soil
depth where stresses on any given layer will not cause undue For any engineering application of soil, its strength
rutting, shoving, and other differential movements resulting in characteristics are essential. In some special cases, as for
7 Page
checking the short-term stability of foundations and slopes that “c & ϕ” parameters vary in the range of
where the rate of loading is fast but drainage is very slow, one 12 kN/m2-50 kN/m2 and 12–46 degrees indicating that the
of the most common shear tests is the unconfined compression untreated dredged soil is of very soft/loose state of
test. The behavior of dredged soil under a load is a measure of compactness in its in-situ conditions. The strength of lime-soil
its shear strength. Before a dredged soil can be used for mixtures is influenced by several factors such as soil type and
construction purposes, its shear strength must be determined. method, unit weight, moisture, mixing and compaction. The
In some special cases, as for checking the short-term stability increase in shear strength parameters on addition of lime is
of foundations and slopes where the rate of loading is fast but attributed due to pozzolanic effect between lime and dredged
drainage is very slow, one of the most common shear tests is
soil. Hence, lime stabilization enhances the strength
the unconfined compression test (UCT). In the present study,
characteristics of dredged soil for its bulk utilization in various
UCT test [17] and Direct shear test [18] with varying lime
content were conducted to evaluate shear strength parameters construction activities. Therefore, the use of pozzolznic
as per relevant procedures. The tests results for UCS tests are additives in ground improvement is an effective means of
shown in Fig. 9. From UCT results, undrained cohesion “cu” waste management.
varies from 19 kN/m2 for untreated soil to 53 kN/m2 for an 150
optimum lime content of 6% respectively. The variation of Tailbal Basin
unconfined compressive strength with addition of lime content Lime:0 (%)
Shear stress, t (kN/m2)

Lime:3 (%)
is shown in Fig. 10.
Lime:6 (%)
100
Lime:9 (%)
120
Sample-1 Tailbal Basin
Uncon.comp. strength, qu (kN/m2)
Lime:0 (%)
100
Lime:3 (%) 50
Lime:6 (%)
80 Lime:9 (%)
60 0
0 50 100 150 200
40 Normal stress, sn (kN/m2)
20 Fig. 11. Effect of lime on shear strength parameters of dredged soil
The undrained shear strength of clays or clayey soil (cu) is

0
0 5 10 15 20 taken equal to qu / 2 , which provides a conservative value and
Axial strain, ea (%)
is also very widely used. For non-cohesive soils, shear tests
give unreliable data because of sample disturbance, whereas in
Fig. 9. Uncon. compression strength tests for lime treated dredged soil case of cohesive soils, loss of strength occurs if they are
sensitive. However, thixotropy in such soils recovers part of
120 the lost strength with passage of time. Hence, strength
correlations are commonly used. In case of cohesive soils,
100 Tailbal Basin Sample-1
cu/p’o correlation is used for preliminary design. It is well
qumax.m (kN/m2)
80 qu v/s Lime content known that the undrained shear strength (cu) of normally
consolidated (NC) clays normalized with respect to the current
60 effective vertical stress is unique, and for over consolidated
40
(OC) clays, the following relationship adequately represents
the normalized undrained shear strength (e. g. the effect of
20 Optimum lime content = 6.3% stress history induced over consolidation on undrained
strength ratio cu / po' ) may be expressed in the following form
0
0 3 6 9 [19], [20], [21], [22]:
Lime content (%) (cu / po' )OC = a(OCR ) m (1)
Fig. 10. Effect of lime on unconfined compression strength dredged soil Where: OCR is the overconsolidation ratio defined as the ratio
between the maximum past effective vertical stress
and the current effective vertical stress,
It has also been observed that the strain corresponding to m is an empirical exponent equal to (1-k/l) and
the peak stress varies with addition of lime content. Hence, k, l are soil model parameters obtained from
care has to be taken for strains where ucs of composite soil laboratory testing; and a is the normalized undrained
matrix changes drastically. The DST results (Fig. 11) revealed shear strength of NC clay (= cu/po)NC for OCR=1.
8 Page
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS [6]. Dunlop, R. J., “Lime stabilization foe New Zealand roads, road
res,” Unit Tech. Recomm. TR/2, National Roads Board,
Following are some of the broad conclusions deduced from Wellington, 1977.
the present study:
[7]. Mir, B. A., “Lime stabilization effects on geotechnical properties
1. The stabilization of the solid waste soil such as dredged of dredged soil from Dal Lake in Srinagar,” Proc. of IGC-2004,
soil with lime is an effective means of chemical vol. 1, pp. 416-419, 2004.
stabilization of soils. [8]. ASTM D 422–63(07e2), “Standard test method for particle size
2. It is seen that the index and engineering properties of analysis of soils,” Annual Book of ASTM Standards,
dredged soil are significantly altered by the addition of Philadelphia, sec. 4, vol. 04-08, pp. 10-16, 1963.
lime. [9]. ASTM D4318-98, “Standard test methods for liquid limit, plastic
3. It has been observed that 6 % of lime ash is the optimum limit, and plasticity index of soils,” Annual Book of ASTM
Standards, Philadelphia, vol. 04.08, Philadelphia, 1998.
amount required to minimize the compressibility
characteristics of dredged soil. [10]. ASTM D698-91, “Standard test methods for laboratory
4. The compacted density of soil-lime mixes is low compaction characteristics of soil using standard effort,” Annual
Book of ASTM Standards, vol. 04.08, Philadelphia, 1991.
compared to untreated soil that will be beneficial since a
lower density will result in lower earth pressure leading to [11]. ASTM D4546-90, “Standard test methods for one-dimensional
swell or settlement potential of cohesive soils,” Annual Book of
savings. However, the influence of marginal reduction of
ASTM Standards, vol. 04.08, Philadelphia, 1990.
dry density may not lead by itself to significant reduction
[12]. ASTM D 2435-96, “Test Method for One-Dimensional
in lateral earth pressures.
Consolidation Properties of Soils,” Annual Book of ASTM
5. With increase in lime content, CBR values are increased Standards, vol. 04.08, Philadelphia, 1996.
and hence stability of pavement increases.
[13]. Bell, F. G., “Lime Stabilization of Clay Soils,” Bulletin of
6. The unconfined compressive strength of soils can be Engg. Geology and the Environment, 39(1), pp. 67-74, 1989.
increased by addition of lime. Lime alters the shear
[14]. Locat, J. Berube, M. A. Choquette, M., “Laboratory
strength parameters (cu and f) of dredged soil investigations on the lime stabilization of sensitive clays: shear
significantly by pozzolanic reactions that increase the strength development,” Can. Geotech. J, 27(3), pp. 294-304,
strength. 1990.
7. The use of lime in ground improvement is an effective [15].Bell, F. G., “Lime stabilization of clay minerals and soils.” Jl of
means of solid waste management, and it is particularly Engineering Geology, Elsevier, 42, pp. 223-237, 1996.
useful for reducing the porosity of blended soils. [16]. ASTM D1883-07e2, “Standard Test Method for CBR
(California Bearing Ratio) of Laboratory-Compacted Soils,”
ACKNOWLEDGMENT Annual Book of ASTM Standards, vol. 04.08, Philadelphia, 2007.
The investigation reported in this paper forms a part of the [17]. ASTM D2166-89, “Standard Test Method for Unconfined
research at the National Institute of Technology Srinagar. Compressive Strength of Cohesive Soils,” Annual Book of
Thanks are due to supporting staff of the Soil Mechanics ASTM Standards, vol. 04.08, Philadelphia, 1989.
laboratory and the office staff of Civil Engineering [18]. ASTM D6528-00, “Standard test method for consolidated
Department for their timely help during the course of undrained direct simple shear testing of cohesive soils,” Annual
investigation. Book of ASTM Standards, vol. 04.08, Philadelphia, 2000.
[19]. Ladd, C. C., Foot, R., Ishihara, K., Schlosser, F. and Poulos, H.
REFERENCES G., “Stress deformation and strength characteristics,” State of the
[1]. Bartos M. J. Jr., “Classification and engineering properties of Art Paper, Proc. of 9th Int. Conf. on Soil Mech. and Foundation
dredged soil,” Technical Report D-77-18, U.S. Army Waterways Engg., vol. 2, Tokyo, Japan, pp. 421-494, 1977.
Experiment Station, Vicksburg, MS, 1977. [20]. Bouazza, A., Van Impe, W. F., and Haegeman, W., “Some
[2] Mir, B. A. and Mir, F. A., “Applications and geotechnical mechanical properties of reconstituted Boom clay,” Jl of
evaluation of dredged soil obtained from Dal Lake in Srinagar,” Geoteehnical and Geological Engineering, 14, pp. 341-352, 1996.
Proc. National Conf. on Soils and their applications in Civil [21].Mir, B. A. and Juneja, A.,”Some mechanical properties of
Engg., pp. 26-37, 2004. reconstituted kaolin clay,” Proc. of the the 17th Southeast Asian
[3] DOER-C2, “Dredged soil characterization tests for beneficial use Geotechnical Conf. Taipei, Taiwan, vol. 1, pp. 145-148, 2010.
suitability,” Technical Note. U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, [22]. Gregory Paul Makusa, “Mechanical properties of stabilized
May, 1999. dredged sediments for sustainable geotechnical structures,”
[4]. Perry, J., Snowdon, R. A. and Wilson, P. E., “Site investigation Licentiate Thesis, Deptt. of Civil, Environmental & Natural
for lime stabilization of Highway Works”. Transport Research Resources Engg., Division of Mining & Geotech. Engg., Luleå
Laboratory, Department of Transport, Berkshire RG40 3GA University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden, 2013.
United Kingdom, pp. 85-96, 1995.
The main emphasis of this paper is to improve solid
[5]. Fossberg, P. E., “Some fundamental engineering properties of a
waste material by means of chemical stabilization
lime stabilized clay,” Proc. of the 6TH Int`l. Conf. on Soil . using lime as an additive, as one of the most cost
Mechanics and Foundation Engg., Montreal, Que., vol. I, effective ground improvement techniques for
pp. 221-225, 1965. sustainable development of Dal Lake and restoration
of its environment.
Corresponding Author: B A Mir: p7mir@nitsri.net
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ȡçĚȣ ĤȫɮȪͬȧ Ȳèȡ ĮȢ NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SRINAGAR

ͧ ͪ \ͧȡȲǒğȧ ͪȡ DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

KIND ATTN: M. TECH. 2ND SEMESTER STUDENTS OF GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING

SUB: COURSE NO: CGE-201: GROUND IMPROVEMENT TECHNIQUES

With Best wishes,

E-mail: p7mir@nitsri.net / bashiriisc@yahoo.com / bamiriitb@gmail.com; http://profbamir.blogspot.in/

M. Tech. 2ND Semester– Geotechnical Engineering

Prof. B A Mir: E-mail: p7mir@nitsri.net / bashiriisc@yahoo.com / bamiriitb@gmail.com, http://www.researcherid.com/rid/F-3770-2017 1

Attendance and Class Interaction

Prof. B A Mir: E-mail: p7mir@nitsri.net / bashiriisc@yahoo.com / bamiriitb@gmail.com, http://www.researcherid.com/rid/F-3770-2017 2

Course and Instructor Evaluation

Prof. B A Mir: E-mail: p7mir@nitsri.net / bashiriisc@yahoo.com / bamiriitb@gmail.com, http://www.researcherid.com/rid/F-3770-2017 3

Course Contents Contact Hours

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Prof. B A Mir: E-mail: p7mir@nitsri.net / bashiriisc@yahoo.com / bamiriitb@gmail.com, http://www.researcherid.com/rid/F-3770-2017 4

SESSION: SPRING - 2020 (BATCH-2019)

Mission of the Institute

M2: To prepare technically educated and broadly talented engineers, future

M3: To inculcate the highest degree of confidence, professionalism, academic

Mission of the Civil Engineering Department

PEO1: To produce professionally competent Civil Engineers, capable of applying the

PSO1: Ability to demonstrate professional engineering approach, including

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE COURSE

PEOGI2: To design techno-economic infrastructure in difficult terrains for

PEOGI3: To design techno-economic infrastructure in high altitude and cold

PEOGI4: To communicate effectively and demonstrate leadership skills for

PEOGI5: To engage in team work and lifelong learning for professional

Mission Statement PEOGI1 PEOGI2 PEOGI3 PEOGI4 PEOGI5

GI: Ground Improvement Course

POGIs PEOGI1 PEOGI2 PEOGI3 PEOGI4 PEOGI5

PEOGI: Program/course education outcomes in Ground Improvement Course

Ground Improvement Techniques

COURSE GRADING POLICY:

X In addition to problematic geomaterials, geotechnical problems may occur due to

X Natural conditions include geologic, hydraulic, and climatic conditions, such as

X Table 1 lists problematic geomaterials and their potential problems

Î Geotechnical Problems and Failures

Sr. No. Problem Theoretical Basis Possible Causes

• High applied pressure

• High applied pressure

• Large creep deformation

Sr. No. Problem Theoretical Basis Possible Causes

Shear stress is higher than • High earth structure

Effective stress becomes • Earthquake

Shear stress induced by • Running water

• High water head

Ä Based on stability criterion, soil deposits can be grouped in to two categories as

Stable Soil Deposits Weak Soil Deposits

Soils generally play a very vital role as a civil engineering material

Therefore, a civil/geotechnical engineer has to go through the

1. What is the in-situ state of soil? i. e., is it saturated or unsaturated, normally or

Hulme Arch, Manchester World's tallest twisting tower Kansai Airport

• Weak deposits can be broadly classified into two categories:

2. Cohesionless deposit comprising of LOOSE SAND

Grain size distribution, maximum grain size, mean grain size,

Sr. No. Equation Reference Regions of Applicability

cu= σ′vc * (0.11 + 0.0037*Ip) Skempton 1954, Bowles Normally consolidated

cu = σ′vc * (0.08 + 0.55*Ip) Larsson 1977 Scandinavian clays

8 cu = 170*exp(-4.6*IL) [kPa Wroth and Wood 1978 Remoulded clays

Sr. No. Equation Reference Regions of Applicability

ȡçĚȣ ĤȫɮȪͬȧ Ȳèȡ ĮȢ NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SRINAGAR

ͧ ͪ \ͧȡȲǒğȧ ͪȡ DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

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$- ," ,

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8 cu = 170exp(-4.6IL) [kPa Wroth and Wood 1978 Remoulded clays