Durability of commercial waste bagasse ash and ground granulated blast furnace slag stabilized high plastic clay

Abstract

In the current work, a problematic expansive high plastic clayey (CH) soil of Surat, Gujarat, India has been treated with commercial waste bagasse ash (BA) and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) for sustainable development. Swell shrink behavior, California bearing ratio, unconfined compressive strength for different curing period have been studied. As expansive soil is very sensitive to seasonal variation, cyclic drying and wetting study has been carried out on both treated and untreated samples. The optimum blend is observed to be in the proportion of 82.5%CH + 10%BA + 7.5%GGBS. The unconfined compressive test results indicate that strength of 28 days cured samples of optimum mix increases about three times and eight times when compared to untreated sample and uncured sample respectively. The soaked California bearing ratio (CBR) indicate the increase in strength with increasing curing periods from 7 to 28 days. Optimum mix shows the decrease in swelling pressure and an increase in shrinkage limit as compared to untreated soil. The experimental results show good improvement in swell-shrink behavior, unconfined compressive strength, and soaked California bearing ratio when combined with bagasse ash and slag. The findings of this study revealed that bagasse ash in combination with ground granulated blast furnace slag is suitable as a pozzolanic material in stabilization of high plastic clay to reach the target strength for structures with improved swell-shrink behavior.