IGC-2005, 17-19 December 2005, Ahmedabad, INDIA

EFFECT OF LIME STABILIZED FLYASH LAYER ON CBR VALUES OF

BLACK COTTON SOILS
Sridevi G
Senior Lecturer, Department of Civil Engg, R.V.R.& J.C.College of Engineering,Guntur-522 019
gudasridevi@yahoo.co.in

Rama Rao M
Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engg, R.V.R.& J.C.College of Engineering,Guntur-522 019
muvvalaramarao@rediffmail.com

J Padmini , B Priyanka, M Swapna

U.G.Students, Department of Civil Engineering, R.V.R.& J.C.College of Engineering,Guntur-522 019

ABSTRACT: Black cotton soils which are highly sensitive to seasonal moisture content variations are responsible for
substantial distress to the structures that are built over these soils. Civil Engineering Structures especially pavements in
these areas suffer from premature failures. Stabilizing black cotton soil with chemicals, industrial wastes, geotextiles
etc. have been found to be effective in improving their engineering properties, strength characteristics and CBR value.
Use of flyash as stabilizing agent is one of the additives that can improve the strength of black cotton soil apart from
solving disposal of flyash partly since geotechnical applications require bulk quantities of flyash material. But thorough
mixing of soil and flyash is very difficult in the field. In this context an attempt is made to study California bearing ratio
of soil and flyash when placed in layers. In the present paper experiments are conducted by placing flyash and soil in
layers. Study has also been made with lime stabilized flyash layer by varying lime content from 0 to 10%. The study
reveals that providing lime stabilized flyash layer can improve CBR of black soil.

1. INTRODUCTION particles are fine which are easily blown off by air and
possess toxic elements and can cause environmental
Black cotton soils are problematic for Civil Engineers,
hazards. But the pozzolanic reactivity of flyash plays an
because of their unconventional behaviour. These soils
important role in improving geotechnical properties of
show large volume changes with respect to variation of
soil. More over bulk utilization is possible only in
seasonal moisture content. These soils when subjected
geotechnical applications like embankments, dams, fills
vehicular traffic, road pavement gets heaved and
and in road construction. Flyash has several advantages
cracked due to swelling and shrinkage. Hence, these
such as low unit weight, high shear strength, low
soils are to be stabilized before constructing the roads in
compressibility, insensitivity to moisture variations and
order to have efficient and long lasting roads.
pozzolanic properties. In the present paper efforts are
Considerable research has been taken place using
being made to study the effect of lime stabilized flyash
different stabilizing materials such as lime, flyash,
layer on CBR value of BC soil.
cement, rice husk ash, industrial wastes and
geosynthetics etc. and proved to be useful in
stabilization of black cotton soils.
2. PROBLEMS IN EXPANSIVE SOILS
In India thermal power plants produce abundant
Expansive clay subgrades have low strength in wet
quantities of flyash. Thermal power plants produce
conditions and lead to subgrade intrusion into overlying
about 100 million tonnes of flyash per year. The annual
layer and penetration of subbase material into it
production of flyash from thermal plants in the world is
(Holz.1959; Stevens et al, 1986; Steinberg, 1985).
about 1000 million tones this has resulted in several
Pavements over expansive soil subgrades exhibit cracks
problems such as land use, health hazards and
resulting from alternate heave and settlement that lead
environmental dangers. Disposal of these huge
to ultimate failure of pavements (Sen and Chakraborthy,
quantities of flyash is becoming very difficult as the
1977).

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IGC-2005, 17-19 December 2005, Ahmedabad, INDIA
3. MATERIALS
Materials Used
Soil: The soil used in this investigation is an expansive
clay, collected from Chuttugunta, Guntur. The physical
properties of the soil are presented in Table 1.
The liquid limit of soil is high. This is indicative of the
volume change potential of the soil. A free swell index
of 150% shows that the soil is of high degree of
expansiveness.
Flyash: The flyash is obtained from the Vijayawada
Thermal Power Station, about 15 km away from the
Vijayawada City. The flyash used in this study is
collected from the electrostatic precipitator (ESP)
hoppers. The chemical composition of the flyash is
given in Table 2.
Table 1 : Physical Properties of Soil
Table 2 : Chemical Composition of Flyash from
VTPS, Vijayawada
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4. CBR TESTS
California bearing ratio test is performed on soil sample
as per BIS specifications. CBR samples were prepared
and tested as per IS:2720 part 16 after four days of
soaking. In the experimental study a layer of soil of 42
mm thick is placed and over it lime stabilized flyash
layer to a thickness of 42 mm is placed and is
superimposed by another soil layer of 42 mm thick. The
lime content in the flyash layer is varied from 0% to
10% with an increment of 2%. In another study the lime
stabilized flyash layer thickness was reduced to 21 mm
and is placed between two soil layers. 63 mm thick soil
layer was placed above the flyash layer and 42 mm
thick soil layer was placed below the flyash layer.
Flyash / lime stablised flyash layers in soil specimens
are shown in Fig. 1.
The tests were performed for specimens of soil and
flyash in layers with and without lime. Surcharge
weight of 5 Kg., sufficient to produce an intensity of
load equal to the weight of the base material and
pavement was used during soaking and penetration. A
metal penetration plunger of diameter 50 mm was used
to penetrate the samples at the rate of 1.25 mm/min.
Three CBR tests were conducted on each of specimen
type and average of the three samples has been used.
5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In the present study soil layers, flyash / lime stabilized
flyash are used in layers. Significant increase in CBR of
soil can be observed from the test results. The soaked
CBR of untreated black cotton soil is 1.69% and the low
CBR of the black cotton soil is because of inherent low
strength due to the dominance of clay fraction. There is
considerable increase in CBR when flyash layer is
introduced and the improvement in CBR is 9.49% for
21 mm flyash layer and 12.45% for 42 mm flyash layer
thickness. The higher CBR is due to its better strength
characteristics, primarily due to friction.
IGC-2005, 17-19 December 2005, Ahmedabad, INDIA
The effect of lime stabilized flyash layer indicated in
Figure 1. The plot is made between % lime content in
flyash as abscissa and % CBR as ordinate. The plot
reveals that with the increase of lime content in flyash,
the CBR value has increased. The lime reacts with
flyash and results in cementitious compounds thereby
increasing the CBR. The increase in CBR was as much
as 28.37% when 21 mm thick flyash layer stabilized by
10% lime is used and the CBR was 39.48% when 42
mm thick flyash layer stabilized by 10% lime is used.
The study has shown that CBR of black cotton soils can
be improved without blending soil and flyash materials,
but can be achieved by placing these materials in layers.
6. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Thermal power plants are producing huge amounts of
flyash causing environmental hazards apart from
occupying precious land. Efforts should be made to
utilize these bulk wuantities of flyash rather than
dumping it. Geotechnical applications like
embankments, fills, road construction proved to be one
of the effective ways of utilizing flyash. The present
study focuses on the use of flyash in road construction.
1. Lime stazbilized flyash and soil placed in layers are
effective in improving the CBR of soil, which also
solves blending problem. This increase is due to
pozzolanic reaction between reactive silica present
in the soil and flyash and lime.
2. Increase in layer thickness of lime stabilized flyash
layer has improved CBR value.
3. The increase of lime content in flyash has resulted
in increase in CBR of black cotton soil.
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