Mechanical behaviour of lateritic soil stabilized with bone ash and hydrated lime for sustainable building applications

This research is aimed at achieving effective utilization of lateritic soil as a sustainable building material by improving its strength using lime and bone ash. Different percentages of hydrated lime (3%, 9% and 15%) and bone ash (5%, 10%, 15% and 20%) were used. Room-drying, sun-drying and oven-drying methods of curing were explored to cure the lateritic brick samples. The bricks were crushed using the universal testing machine to obtain the compressive strengths. Samples cured using the room-drying method gave the highest compressive strength. The optimum composition of 9% hydrated lime and 5% bone ash respectively increased the compressive strength of soil significantly, after 28 days. The microstructural analysis gave a morphology with reduced porosity for the stabilized soil samples. Bone ash can be used in place of lime for stabilization of lateritic soil for making of bricks.