High plastic soils present major difficulties for civil engineering structures because of their high shrinkage-swell tendency, weak shear strength, and very high compressibility. Such soils set off distress in structures through cracking and differential settlement. Traditional methods of stabilizing high plastic soils include cement and lime; although these techniques work, but they have some disadvantages, such as high CO2 emissions, high construction costs, and soil pollution issues. Rice Husk Ash (RHA) is an agro-industrial by-product that has significant pozzolanic potential due to its high amorphous silica (SiO2) content. This paper presents an informative and experimental evaluation of RHA as a sole stabilizer for high plastic soil, evaluating Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) and Split Tensile Strength (STS) over the 0, 7, 28, and 56 days of curing time with 0
The sustainable utilization of manufactured sand slurry waste (MSSW) as reinforced backfill material was investigated through a comprehensive laboratory testing programme. Sand was partially replaced with MSSW at different proportions, and the mixtures were evaluated using index property tests, compaction tests, conventional direct shear tests, large-scale interface shear tests, and geogrid pullout tests. The results indicated that the 40
The increasing generation of pond ash from thermal power plants has emerged as a critical environmental concern, highlighting the need for its utilization. Concurrently, the growing scarcity of suitable construction sites has led to an increasing demand for closely-spaced foundation systems, particularly dual footings. In this context, geocell reinforcement has emerged as an effective technique for improving the load-bearing capacity of weak geomaterials. The present study investigates the pressure-settlement response of closely-spaced dual circular footings resting on geocell-reinforced pond ash using finite element modelling, explicitly incorporating the actual three-dimensional geometry of geocell. A comprehensive parametric study is conducted to evaluate the influence of key parameters, including the depth of geocell placement below the footing base, footing-spacing, and geocell characteristics such as aperture-shape, geocell-height, and aperture-size. The results indicate that interaction between the pressure bulbs of adjacent footings leads to a significant increase in ultimate bearing capacity (qu), with the maximum improvement observed at an optimum spacing equal to twice the footing diameter. Furthermore, geocell-geometry plays a crucial role in governing the confinement mechanism and load transfer efficiency. With an increase in normalized geocell-height from 0.25 to 0.75, the qu increases by approximately 46
Colluvium is a complex material consisting of a soil-rock mixture with a wide range of particle sizes. Due to the presence of large particles, the assessment of shear strength is complex. In the present study, an attempt is made to examine the shear strength behaviour of partially saturated Soil-Rock Mixture (SRM) using a large-scale direct shear test and a static triaxial compression test. Rock particles are obtained from quartzite rock, and tests are conducted on three soil-rock compositions with rock contents of 25
Stabilization of black cotton soil (BCS) using ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) and microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP) has been investigated in this study. For the purpose of MICP treatment, an indigenous bacterium, i.e., Methylobacterium radiotolerans (MRT), was extracted from the black cotton soil. Laboratory tests were carried out for evaluation of the engineering properties and microstructural characteristics of the treated soil at different curing periods. The unconfined compressive strength (UCS) improved from 160.51 kN/m2 to 1058.78 kN/m2 (560
