Stabilization of expansive soil by

bagasse ash and ground

granulated blast furnace slag in
alkali activated medium
By
Saradhi sushanth
Under the guidance of
Dr. Giridhar Rajesh

1
Introduction
 Problem with Expansive soils

https://coloradogeologicalsurvey.org/hazards/expansive-soil-rock/

 Need for soil stabilization

2
Introduction
 Methods for soil stabilization
 Why agricultural waste and industry byproducts?

Hasan et al.,2016 Gokul et al.,2020

3
Introduction
 Alkali activators
 NaOH, KOH etc

Gokul et al., NaOH

 CaO+H2O Ca(OH)2
 Ca(OH)2 + SiO2, Al2O3 C-S-H,C-A-H,
 C-A-S-H
4
Motivation
 In India almost 20% of soil is expansive soil.
 Due to urbanization and land scarcity there is necessity

in infrastructure development on these soils.

 Generally cement and lime are used to stabilize the

soil, but using these are not sustainable.

 As agricultural waste are dumped in dump yard, these

waste can be used in soil stabilization for sustainability.

5
Literature review
Author Material Proporti Optimu Major Result of Result of
used on m stabilizat virgin treated
(%) % ion soil soil
properti
es
Anupam Rice 5 to 35 25% CBR 11.8% 17.84%
et al., straw ash at 28
2008 days
curing
Kharade Bagasse 3, 6, 9, 12% UCS 138.58 245.65 at
Et al., ash 12 KPa 28 days
2009 curing

CBR 1.91% 22.04%

Subbarao Fly ash, 2, 4, 6 4% UCS 70KPa 1120KPa
et al., lime for 28
2011 days 6
 Literature review
Author Material Proporti Optimum Major Result Result of
used on % stabilizati of virgin treated
(%) on soil soil
properties
Obuzor GGBS, 0%-16% 4% lime UCS 1500KPa 4400KPa
et al., lime 0%-16% and 12% @7 @ 90
2012 GGBS days days
curing curing
Pourak Palm oil Combine Only UCS 80KPa 324KPa
bar et fuel ash, d (0%- POFA- @28
al. 2015 cement 20%) 15% days.
Both UCS 80KPa
POFA and 3500KPa
cement for 28
(15%) days
curing

7
 Literature review
Author Material Proportio Optimum Major Untreated Results of
used n(%) % stabilizati soil treated soil
on
propertie
s
Hasan Bagasse Combine 6.25%L- CBR 7.1 62.5 @28
et al., ash, d 6%-25% 18.75%BA days
2016 lime (3:1) ratio curing
UCS 180 KPa 1200 KPa
Pourakb Palm oil POFA 10M UCS, 400KPa 6400KPa
ar et al. fuel 20% and NaOH+ Micro For 10M
2016 ash, Fibers 20% structural NaOH
10M (5%-15%) POFA+ analysis
NaOH, 15%
10M fibers 8
 Literature review
author Material proporti Optimu Major Untreate Test
used on m% stabiliza d soil result of
tion strength treated
properti soil
es

Karatai Rice husk 0-40% 20% CBR 7% 20% @

et al., ash, RHA+4% 28 days
2017 Lime 0-6% lime curing
Gokul GGBS, 6, 12, 24% UCS 124KPa 4603KPa
et al., 12M NaOH 18, 24 GGBS for 7 for 28
2020 A/B A/B=0.6 days days
0.4,0.6 curing

9
Critical appraisal
 In many papers UCS and CBR are the major tests
conducted to determine the strength characteristics.
 More tests like tensile strength and micro structural

analysis can be done to get better idea of stabilization.

 Different combinations of agro wastes and industry

byproducts in different molar alkali solutions can be

checked for better results of soil stabilization.

10
Objective
 To know the index properties like liquid limit, plastic
limit when soil treated with ground granulated blast
furnace slag and sugar cane bagasse ash.
 To improve dry densities
 To determine the performance of waste materials like

sugarcane bagasse ash and ground granulated blast

furnace slag in alkali medium.
 To determine optimum percentage of SCBA and GGBS

in 10 molar NaOH solution for soil stabilization.

11
Materials
1. Expansive soil is collected and Atterberg limits and
grain size distributions tests are conducted for the
classification of the soil.
2. GGBS is collected from Sagar cements industry from
rajahmundry. CaO and SiO2 are the main chemical
compounds present in GGBS.
3. Sugarcane bagasse ash is collected from sugarcane
factory in Choudavaram. SCBA is then processed by
sieving through 300µ and grinded for about 3-4
hours.

12
Materials
 Chemical composition of SCBA is determined
by XRF
property CaO SiO2 Fe2O3 Al2O3 K2O

% by 10.2 49.55 7.62 3.29 18.7

weight
 SEM analysis

SEM photograph of SCBA

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/SEM-photomicrographs-of-the-
sugarcane-bagasse-ash-fractions-a-Ash100-b_fig1_250349109 13
Materials
 Sodium hydroxide ; These are available in
pellet forms. In this work10M concentration
is used. This is used to create the alkaline
medium in the soil stabilization.

Gokul et al.,2020 NaOH

14
Methodology

15
Methodology

% of stabilizer material
10% GGBS
10%SCBA
10%
5% with 10M
GGBS+5%SCBA NaOH and
20%GGBS wthout 10M
20% SCBA NaOH
20%
10%
GGBS+10%SCBA

16
Results
 Properties of the soil
S.No Properties Values
1 Liquid limit 86.39
2 Plastic limit 43.86
3 Plasticity index 40.52
4 Specific gravity 2.31
5 Soil type MH
6 OMC 29.83%
7 Maximum dry density 1.388 g/cc
8 Free swell index 47.5
9 Unconfined compressive 121.2 KN/m2
strength 17
Results
 Grain size distribution
 Coefficient of uniformity= 4.264
 Coefficient of curvature =1.0247

Grain Size distribution

100

80
% of passing

60

40

20

0
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10

Particle size

18
Results
 Liquid limit for untreated soil
 Average liquid limit = 86.39

soil
120
sample2
100
Moisture content

f(x) = −f(x)
0.907901929563175 x + 111.544451889991 Linear (sample2)
= − 0.336735943665125 x + 101.59610618874
80 sample1
f(x) = − 0.527300838752931 x + 93.5232915065474
Linear (sample1)
60
Linear (sample1)
40 sample3
Linear (sample3)
20
Linear (sample3)
0
10 15 20
number
25
of blows
30 35 40 45

19
Results
2. Compaction curves

20
Results
3. Unconfined compressive strength

21
Results
Experiment Untreated soil 10% ggbs and 20% ggbs and
90% soil 80% soil
Liquid limit 86.39% 70.37% 59.32%
Plastic limit 43.86% 40.19% 36.36%
Plasticity index 42.52 30.18 22.96
Optimum 29.83% 27.5% 26%
moisture
content
Maximum dry 1.388 g/cc 1.4 g/cc 1.488 g/cc
density
Compressive 121.2kN/m2 142.1 kN/m2
strength

22
Future plan
Preparation
of samples

Conducting
experiments

Comparing
of results

23
Conclusion
 Till now bagasse ash and ground granulated blast
furnace ash are used for soil stabilization.
 In this research combination of bagasse ash, GGBS in

alkali medium is used for soil stabilization.

 Future plan of action ; Determining the strength

characteristics by UCS and direct shear tests.

24
references
 V. Gokul, D. Anolin Steffi, R. Kaviya, C.V. Harni,
S.M.A. Dharani.
 Hayder Hasan 1* , Liet Dang1 , Hadi Khabbaz1 ,

Behzad Fatahi1 , and Sergei Terzaghi.

 Shahram Pourakbar, Ph.D.1 ; Afshin Asadi2 ; Bujang

B. K. Huat3 ; Nuno Cristelo, Ph.D.4 ; and Mohammad

Hamed Fasihnikoutalab.
 Aditya Kumar Anupama , Praveen Kumarb r 1 and G D

Ransinchung R N

25
References
 Amit S. Kharade , Vishal V. Suryavanshi , Bhikaji S.
Gujar , Rohankit R. Deshmukh.
 G. V. Rama Subbarao, D. Siddartha, T.

Muralikrishna, K. S. Sailaja, and T. Sowmya.

26
THANK YOU

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