Stabilization of Highly Expansive Clayey Soil by Addition of Demolished Concrete Waste Materials
摘要
The behavior of expansive soil (ES) is challenging for foundation engineers since its existence. Its physical treatment to improve its engineering behavior is expensive and difficult, due to its high swelling and shrinkage characteristics with change in moisture content. On the other hand, the construction activities produce huge amount of construction and demolished waste all over the world. For sustainable and eco-friendly development, it is required that the construction-demolished wastes should be reused to minimize the environmental impacts. This study deals with the utilization of Demolished Concrete Waste (DCW) materials by blending with ES in varying percentages of 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25% by weight for reducing the swelling and shrinkage characteristics and enhancing the Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS). The virgin ES was classified to be highly compressible clay (CH) as per Indian Standard. The Free Swell Index (FSI) of virgin ES was initially found to be 55%, which comes in the range of high swelling category as per Indian Standards. The FSI of virgin ES amended with 15% of DCW was found to reduce up to 20% with optimum enhancement in maximum dry density and optimum moisture content as compared to virgin ES. The UCS value of virgin ES was found to be 0.4956 kg/cm2. With the addition of DCW, the UCS value was found to be enhanced up to 20% of amendment. For the sample with 90% ES and 10% DCW, the UCS value was increased up to 58% and found to be 1.2061 kg/cm2. The findings of this study will provide insight into the use of DCW as a viable solution for expansive soil stabilization, particularly in regions where highly ES is present, and leads to a reduction in the environmental impact due to construction activities.