International Conference on Soil and Environment, ICSE 2016, Bangalore 

Modification of Subgrade Properties using Waste Generated from Sand

Manufacturing Unit and Fiber
Sharon Raju1, Sreevalsa Kolathayar2 and Anil Kumar Sharma3
1
Post Graduate Student, Department of Civil Engineering, Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore,
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amrita University, India. sharonraju20@gmail.com
2
Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore,
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amrita University, India. sreevalsakolathayar@gmail.com
3
Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore,
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amrita University, India. sharma.kr.anil@gmail.com

Abstract. In pavements all the loads have to be finally carried by the sub grade. The sub
grade layer should be strong enough to withstand all the loads it is subjected to. In this paper
an attempt has been done to improve the sub grade properties in an economical and
sustainable way with admixtures. The Sand Manufacturing Dust (SMD) generated during the
production of manufactured sand, (an alternative for river sand), was added in different
percentage to the virgin soil. Tensile stresses are set up in sub grade due to the movement of
traffic on pavement, shrinkage of soil, seasonal variation of temperature and alternative
wetting and drying of soil. Addition of polyvinyl alcohol fibers in the subgrades can improve
the tensile strength of the subgrades. In the present work the optimum percentage of SMD and
fiber to be added to the soil for maximum performance of sub grade is calculated and hence
their suitability for using in pavement construction is studied. Further the soil is stabilized
with a fixed quantity (3%) of cement content (any PPC cement). The performance is
evaluated in terms California Bearing Ratio (CBR), unconfined compression (UCC) tests and
split tensile tests. All the above tests results have shown that the modified soil performs better
in terms of CBR, UCC and split tensile. The split tensile value of modified soil sample is
greater than the split tensile value of virgin soil which shows that the modified soil sample
have improved tensile strength capabilities

Keywords: soil, polyvinyl alcohol fiber (PVA), SMD, subgrade

Introduction
The subgrade soil acts as a supporting layer for the road pavement structures which points
towards the necessity to have a deeper understanding about its properties. As all the loads are
finally to be carried by the subgrade, the subgrade layer should have sufficient stability when
subjected to repeated loadings and should perform better under severe climatic conditions.
The occurrence of waves, undulations, and rutting in flexible pavements and the
process of pumping and cracking of rigid pavements are generally happening as a result of
poor subgrade performance. Hence it is necessary to improve the subgrade properties for
improving the pavement performance.
Excavation of soil for subgrade development will have a major impact to the
environment. When excavation is done more intensively the chances of landslides and
reduction of ground water table are more. This will harm both man and environment in the
long run. The subgrade development in any pavement construction requires large volume of
soil which points towards the need to find an alternative for soil. Nowadays river sand is
replaced by manufactured sand in almost all parts of India in order to account for sustainable
development and environmental protection. The manufactured sand is produced by a series of
processes which includes crushing of rocks in crushers, removing of the very fine particles
and dusts which can cause cracks in concrete by washing and screening. A large quantity of
these fine powder left after production of manufactured sand is stock piled in sand

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International Conference on Soil and Environment, ICSE 2016, Bangalore 

manufacturing units. This can be used as an alternative for soil in subgrade, thereby reducing
the huge mass coming on the earth due to stockpiling of these waste materials and also
reducing the magnitude of excavations done for obtaining soil for subgrades. This paper
investigates the suitability of such materials (SMD) to be used in subgrades and thereby
pointing towards sustainable development and environmental protection.

Literature References. Amadi[1] studied the effect of including Cement Kiln Dust (CKD) to
Black Cotton (BC) Subgrade soil improved with Quarry Fines (QF) in terms of durability.
Durability was assessed in terms of California Bearing Ratio swelltest. The test was done on
soil samples made of a fixed dosage of 10% QF mixed with BC soil with five different
percentages of CKD (0%, 4%, 8%, 12% and 16% ) He found that the samples with CKD have
performed better in terms of durability when subjected to long term saturation.Kumar and
Gupta [2] studied the effect of addition of rice husk ash, pond ash, cement and fibre on the
compaction and strength behaviour of clay. Modified proctor tests were done to study the
compaction behaviour, while unconfined compression tests (UCS) and split tensile strength
(STS) results were analysed to study the strength behaviour of clay. They showed that by
reinforcing the soil with fibre caused a hike in the UCS, STS and axial strain at failure for
both cemented and un-cemented soil samples.Chauhan[3] studied the suitability of subgrade
soil reinforced with fiber (coir fiber and synthetic fiber) with strength as the major
consideration. It was concluded that with decrease in confining pressure the permanent as
well as the resilient strains were reducing whereas it increases with increase in the deviator
stress and number of load cycles in both unreinforced and reinforced conditions. Lekha [4]
studied the effect randomly spread arecanut coir in the subgrade soil. It was concluded that
the modification of properties of soil cement mixtures were a function of curing days, type of
soil and coir percentage.Yetimoglu [5] studied the effect of addition of randomly distributed
fibers on the shear strength property of sand. He conducted direct shear test and found that the
addition of fiber reinforcement had negligible effect on the initial stiffness and the peak shear
strength of the sand. However fiber reinforcements helped reducing the soil brittleness as a
result of which the post peak shear strength was slightly reduced. He also found that the
residual strength angle of the sand was increased to some extent with fiber reinforcements.
Ranjan [6] found that the stress and deformation behavior of sand reinforced with randomly
distributed fiber depends mainly on the fiber properties and the friction developed on the
fiber-sand interface. He performed triaxial tests on sand reinforced with randomly distributed
fiber and the stress-strain behavior of fine sand and the influence of fiber properties on shear
strength of the sample were studied. He found that the sample made by the composition of
sand and fibers failed at critical confining stress and the shear strength increased with increase
in fiber content. Ibraim [7] studied the effect of addition of polypropylene fiber in very fine
sand as reinforcement. He assessed the mechanical response in terms of direct shear and
found that the maximum strength and the strain required to obtain that strength increased with
increase in the fiber content. He proved that the strength can be relatively increased upto 50%
when the fine sand is reinforced when compared to the sample without reinforcement. Yi
Cai[8] studied the effect of lime and polypropylene fiber in soil for reducing the brittle nature
of the soil. He found that the UCC and direct shear results increase with increase in the lime
and fiber percentage. He also found that the strength developed was also a factor of the curing
period. He also conducted SEM analysis to study the effect of fiber and lime. Praveen
Kumar[9] studied the suitability of using fly ash in subgrade soil. He conducted various static
and dynamic load tests and found that by reinforcing fly ash with polypropylene fiber it can
be used in subgrades. Kumar[10] found the suitability of polyester fiber to be used as
reinforcement to soil fly ash mixtures with lime as stabilizer. The performance of the fly ash-
soil mixtures reinforced with polyester fibers were evaluated in terms of UCC, compaction

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International Conference on Soil and Environment, ICSE 2016, Bangalore 

and split tensile tests (STT). He found that soil can be stabilized by the combination of lime
,fly ash and polyester fiber as reinforcement.

Scope of present study. The geotechnical characteristics of the clay mixed with Sand
Manufacturing dust generated during the production of manufactured sand, polyvinyl alcohol
fibres(PVA) and cement were investigated. Cement was added at a fixed rate of 3%, the
quantity of quarry dust to be entered was found from CBR tests (found as 10%), and PVA
fibres of 6 mm cut length were varied from 0.5% to 1%. Test specimens were cured for 28
days after which they were subjected to California Bering Ratio (CBR) tests, Unconfined
Compression Tests (UCC) and Split Tensile Tests(STT). This paper includes the results and
details of the experimental study and the conclusions obtained from it.

Materials and Methodology.

Materials.
Virgin Soil: Virgin Soil sample investigated is a clayey soil obtained from the campus of
Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore. The Liquid Limit of the soil sample 36% and the
plastic limit was 28%. The specific gravity of the soil sample were obtained as 2.7.
Sand Manufacturing Dust: This was obtained from a local sand manufacturing unit located in
Thodupuzha, Kerala. This material is generated while producing manufactured sand which is
used as an alternative for river sand in Kerala. The specific gravity of the SMD was found to
be 2.2. Manufactured sand is produced by crushing of rocks in crushers. Then screening is
done to get sand particles of desired size and the obtained aggregates are washed to eliminate
very fine particles which are undesirable for concrete. These fine waste generated is stock
piled in large quantities in sand manufacturing units. The suitability of these materials to be
used in pavement subgrade is checked in this paper.
Fibers: Polyvinyl alcohol fibers were used as reinforcing material throughout the study (Fig.
1). The fiber diameter was 2.2/14.2 Dtex/um. The cut length of the fibre used in this study
was 6 mm. The tensile strength and modulus of elasticity of the fibre was 13 Cn/Dtex and 280
Cn/Dtex.

Figure 1. Polyvinyl alcohol fibres

Cement
The cement used was a PPC cement by ACC Cements, which was available in the concrete
laboratory of Amrita School of Engineering.

Experimental Program. A complete series of laboratory tests were done on the virgin soil
sample modified with different percentages of SMD, fibres and cement. The test performed

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International Conference on Soil and Environment, ICSE 2016, Bangalore 

includes Compaction Tests, CBR tests ,UCC tests, and ST Tests. The optimum percentage of
SMD to be added to stabilize the soil was obtained by CBR results and was found to be
10%.PVA fibre of cut length 6 mm was used to reinforce the modified soil. The fibre content
was varied in various percentages (0.5%, 1%and 1.5%) by dry weight of the soil. The
specimens was prepared at Optimum Moisture Content(OMC) and were tested after curing it
for 28 days.

Preparation of Specimens and Testing Procedures. Oven drysoil samples were taken to
determine the OMC and max dry density by light compaction. The relation between moisture
content and maximum dry density for virgin soil and soil added with SMD was obtained.
CBR values of virgin soil and soil added with different percentage SMD were found by
performing California Bearing Ratio Tests and optimum percentage of stabilizer was
determined from the test results; percentage of stabilizer which gave maximum CBR value
was taken as the optimum. Now with the optimum percentage of stabilizer and soil the fiber
percentage was varied with and without the inclusion of a fixed quantity of cement and its
effect is studied. All the samples in which cement is included was cured for 28 days. Split
Tensile tests and Unconfined Compressive Strength tests were done on cylindrical specimens
of diameter 39 mm and height 78 mm. Mechanical properties like compressive strength and
split tensile strength were obtained.

Testing Methods
Compaction Tests: The tests were conducted according to Indian Standard Specifications for
modified Proctor compaction tests IS: 2720 (Part V11)-1980. Light compaction tests were
performed on various combinations of quarry dust, soil, cement and fiber mixtures.
California Bearing Ratio Tests: The tests were conducted according to Indian Standard
Specifications for laboratory determination for CBR, IS: 2720 (Part 16) - 1987. The CBR tests
were conducted for various percentages of quarry dust,soil ,cement and fibermixtures .The
specimen was heavy compacted at optimum moisture content and was cured for 28 days in the
standard CBR mould and then the CBR value for different combinations were obtained.
Unconfined Compressive Strength tests: UCS tests were carried out on cylindrical specimens
39 mm diameter and 78 mm long. The SMD, fiber, soil and cement mixtures were compacted
at optimum moisture content and maximum dry density in standard moulds .The mixture was
compacted in five layers and each layer was compacted using 4.89 kg rammer under a free
fall of 450 mm. In the present investigation, both the un-stabilized and stabilized samples
were subjected to UCS tests according to IS:2720 (Part 10)-1991. Three specimens of each
category of samples were tested, and the average of the three results was reported as the UCS
of the particular sample type.The detail of various mixture combinations for which tests were
conducted are given in Table 1.
Split Tensile Strength Tests: In general, the strength of soil is estimated in terms of
compressive strength. In pavements the need to study the effect of tensile stresses is of great
importance. Since the pavement is subjected to wheel load, seasonal variations, alternate
wetting and drying cycle and shrinkage, tensile stresses can be developed. Addition of
polyvinyl alcohol fibers in the subgrades can improve the tensile strength of the subgrades.
The split tensile stress values of samples made with optimum percentage of SMD obtained
from CBR tests plus soil and different percentage of fiber, compacted at optimum moisture
content was compared with the split tensile value of samples made of virgin soil compacted at
optimum moisture content. The detail of various mixture combinations for which tests were
conducted are given in Table 1. The split tensile strength is calculated according to IS
5816:1999, as follows:

2 max dL (1)
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International Conference on Soil and Environment, ICSE 2016, Bangalore 

where T is the split tensile strength; max is the maximum applied load; L and d are length and
diameter of the specimen respectively.

Table 1. Details of the samples tested

S. No. Combinations
1 Pure Soil
2 Soil+10% SMD +0.5%fiber
3 Soil+10% SMD +1.0%fiber
4 Soil+10% SMD +1.5%fiber

Results and Discussions

For better understanding on the effect of stabilizer (SMD), PVA fiber and cement results
obtained from, California Bearing Ratio,Unconfined Compressive Strength tests and Split
Tensile Strength test results are presented separately.

California Bearing Ratio Tests. The CBR values for different proportions of stabilizer
(SMD), soil, fiber and cement were found. The water added for each proportion was found
from standard proctor test. The results obtained from the CBR tests is presented in Table 2.

Table 2. CBR results for different combinations of stabilized soil cured for 28 days
Soil combination CBR value
Pure Soil 1.569%
Soil+10% SMD 14.98%
Soil+20% SMD 8.5%
Soil+30% SMD 2.5%
Soil+10% SMD +0.5%fiber 16.936%
Soil+10% SMD +1.0%fiber 19.78%
Soil+10% SMD +1.5%fiber 29.37%
Soil+10% SMD +0.5%fiber+3%cement 38.96%
Soil+10% SMD +1.0%fiber+3%cement 46.76%
Soil+10% SMD +1.5%fiber+3%cement 77.936%

The CBR tests was taken as the parameter to determine the optimum percentage of SMD to be
used along with soil .With the obtained percentage of SMD further tests were done for CBR,
Unconfined Compression and Split tensile. Fig. 2 shows the CBR tests results which was
taken as the base for determining the optimum quantity of SMD to be added.
20

15
CBR(%)

10

0
0 10 20 30 40
SMD content(%)

Figure 2. Determination of optimum quantity of SMD from CBR values

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International Conference on Soil and Environment, ICSE 2016, Bangalore 

From Fig. 2, it is clear that when the soil is mixed with 10% stabilizer (SMD) it performs well
in terms of CBR and hence the quantity of SMD to be used is adopted as 10%. The CBR
value obtained for virgin soil was 1.57% while when 10% SMD was added it raised to
14.98%.The CBR values obtained for samples made of 20% and 30% SMD was 8.5% and
2.5% respectively. Based on this result an optimum waste dosage of 10% was fixed. For soil
samples prepared with 90% soil, 10% SMD and different percentages of fibres (0.5%, 1%,
and 1.5%) CBR tests were performed both by the addition of a fixed quantity (3% by dry
weight of soil) of cement and without including the cement. The results obtained without the
addition of cement is presented in Fig. 3.

35
CBR Values(%)

30
25
20
15
10
5
0
0 0.3 0.6 0.9 1.2 1.5
percentage of fiber

Figure 3.Variation of CBR values with different percentage of fibre

From the above results it is clear that with increase in fibre percentage the CBR value is also
found to increase. Further CBR tests were done by stabilising the above percentages of fibre
with a constant 3% cement and after curing it for 28 days. The variation of CBR with
different percentage of fibre in the presence of cement is shown in Fig. 4. It is seen that the
addition of cement increases the CBR value significantly.

90
CBR values(28day

70
result)%

50

30
0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
percentage of fiber

Figure 4. Variation of CBR values with different percentage of fibre and 3% cement
Unconfined Compression tests. Here unconfined compression tests were performed on
samples made of 10% SMD, 90% soil, 3% fibre and different percentages of fibres (0%, 1%,
and 1.5%) after curing for 28 days.
The UCC samples for virgin soil was also made and the results were compared with
that of the modified soil samples. All the UCC samples were made at constant percentage of
10% SMD, obtained from CBR results, 3% cement content and 90% soil. The stress strain
curve for each percentage of fibre were obtained. Fig. 5 shows the stress strain plot for 90%
soil, 10% SMD, 3% cement and 0.5% fibre. Similarly the stress strain plots for different fibre
percentages were obtained.

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International Conference on Soil and Environment, ICSE 2016, Bangalore 

The average Unconfined Compressive Strength of sample made of virgin soil and with
different percentages of fiber is shown in table 3,where 90% soil+10% SMD +3% cement will
be called as *new mix.

0.8
0.6
stress(N/mm^2)

0.4
0.2
0
0 0.01 0.02 strain(%) 0.03 0.04 0.05

Figure 5. Stress-Strain relationship for UCC sample made with 90% soil ,10% SMD ,3%
cement and 0.5% fibre

The Effect of fiber on unconfined compression test is shown in Fig. 6.The UCC values
increase with increase in fiber content

1.5
UCC(N/mm^2)
average

0.5

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
percentage of fiber
Figure 6. Effect of fiber on samples made with 90% soil,10% SMD,3% cement and different
percentage of fibers

Split Tensile Tests. UCC samples of different soil proportions were made and split tensile
strength of the samples were found. The split tensile strength value increased with increase in
the amount of fiber added, which gives the conclusion that polyvinyl alcohol fibers can take
the tensile stresses coming on the pavement surfaces. The variation of average Split Tensile
Strength with increase in fiber percentage is shown in Figure 7. From the results it is clear that
the split tensile value increases with increase in the fiber content.

0.25
tensile (N/mm^2)

0.2
average split

0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
percentage of fiber

Figure 7. Effect of fiber on samples made with 90% soil,10% SMD ,3% cement and different
percentage of fibers

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International Conference on Soil and Environment, ICSE 2016, Bangalore 

Conclusions
In the present study the suitability of SMD obtained from the production of manufactured
sand and the use of polyvinylalcohol fiber in subgrade is studied on the basis of California
Bearing Ratio tests, Unconfined Compression Tests and Split Tensile tests. The major
conclusions drawn are presented below.
• The CBR value increased with the addition of SMD to the soil ,however when the
quantity of SMD added exceeded 10% the CBR value started to decrease. Hence the
optimum percentage of SMD that can be added to the subgrade soil was fixed as 10%
• The samples made with 10% SMD, different percentages of fibre(0%,0.5%,1%1.5%) and
3% cement showed increased values of CBR when compared to virgin soil.
• The UCC values as well as the split tensile values were also increased when compared to
virgin soil, which shows its capability to account for the tensile stresses in pavements.

References.
[1] Agapitus Ahamefule Amadi."Enhancing durability of quarry fines modified black cotton
soil subgrade with cement kiln dust stabilization",Transportation Geotechnics 1 (2014),
pp.55-61.
[2] Arvind Kumar, Deepak Gupta, " Behavior of cement-stabilized fiber reinforced pond ash,
rice husk ash soil mixtures," Geotextiles and Geomembranes xxx (2015), pp.1-9.
[3] Mahipal Singh Chauhan, Satyendra Mittal, BijayanandaMohanty," Performance
evaluation of silty sand subgrade reinforced with fly ash and fibre," Geotextiles and
Geomembranes 26 (2008), pp.429-435.
[4] B.M.Lekha,S.Goutham ,A.U.R.Shankar." Evaluation of lateritic soil stabilized with
Arecanut coir for low volume pavements".TransportationGeotechnics 2 (2015) 20-29.
[5] Temel Yetimoglu, Omer Salbas ," A study on shear strength of sands reinforced with
randomly distributed discrete fibers ''. Geotextiles and Geomembranes 21 (2003) 103–110
[6] Gopal Ranjan ,R.M Vasan, H.D Charan, '' Behaviour of Plastic Fiber Reinforced Sand''.
Geotextiles and Geomembranes 13 (1994) 555-565
[7] Erdin Ibraim ,Stephane Fourmont '' Behaviour of Sand Reinforced With Fibres'',Soil
Stress-Strain Behavior: Measurement, Modeling and Analysis Geotechnical Symposium in
Roma, March 16 & 17, 2006
[8] Yi Cai , Bin Shi , Charles W.W. Ng , Chao-sheng Tang '' Effect of polypropylene fibre
and lime admixture on engineeringproperties of clayey soil ''Engineering Geology 87 (2006)
230–240
[9] Praveen Kumar,ShalendraPratap Singh'' Fiber-Reinforced Fly Ash Subbases in Rural Roads'',
10.1061/(ASCE)0733-947X(2008)134:4(171)
[10] Arvind Kumar; Baljit Singh Walia; and Asheet Bajaj '' Influence of Fly Ash, Lime, and
Polyester Fibers on Compaction and Strength Properties of Expansive Soil'',
0.1061/(ASCE)0899-1561(2007)19:3(242)

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