The Effect of Waste Marble Dust and Corncob Ash on the Engineering and Micro-Structural Properties of Expansive Soil for Use in Road Subgrades
Received: 8 February 2024 | Revised: 27 February 2024 and 6 March 2024 | Accepted: 12 March 2024 | Online: 20 March 2024
Corresponding author: Leonardo Z. Wongbae
Abstract
This research investigated the effect of Waste Marble Dust (WMD) and Corncob Ash (CCA) on expansive soil's engineering and microstructural properties. Various laboratory experiments were performed on the natural soil to ascertain its characteristics. The corncobs underwent pre-water treatment for fourteen days to remove excess potassium and increase their silica content, resulting in a rise in the silica level from 0% to 50%. At first, only WMD was added to the soil in increments of 5% to 30% using compaction and California bearing tests. The optimum dosage of 15% WMD addition yielded the best result. CCA was then incorporated by the weight of the soil from 2% to 10% in increments of 2% to the first optimum (15% WMD) to obtain the overall optimum for the study (15% WMD and 8% CCA). Stabilization of the natural soil using both materials led to the modification and solidification of the soil mass, evident by the rise in California bearing ratio values from 1.68% to 15.53% and unconfined compressive strength from 41.33 kN/m2 to 174.68 kN/m2. There was also a decrease in the soil's free swell from 120% to 15% as well as reductions in the liquid limits from 56.23% to 36.01% and in the plasticity index from 29.74% to 8.72%, respectively. The microstructural images showed the formation of cementitious compounds in the form of calcium silicate hydrate and calcium aluminate hydrate gels. The findings indicate that using WMD and CCA as a unit has great potential in enhancing engineering properties, like strength parameters and the swell potential of expansive soils.
Keywords:
corncob ash, expansive soil, free swell index, waste marble dust, microstructureDownloads
References
K. Jamaluddin and R. P. Munirwan, "Improvement of geotechnical properties of clayey soil with saw dust ash stabilization," E3S Web of Conferences, vol. 340, 2022, Art. no. 01009.
M. K. Atahu, "The Effect of Coffee Husk Ash on Geotechnical Properties of Expansive Soil," Ph.D. dissertation, University of Rostock, Rostock, Germany, 2020.
S. Y. Amakye, S. J. Abbey, C. A. Booth, and A.-M. Mahamadu, "Enhancing the Engineering Properties of Subgrade Materials Using Processed Waste: A Review," Geotechnics, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 307–329, Dec. 2021.
S. J. Abbey, E. U. Eyo, and S. Ng’ambi, "Swell and microstructural characteristics of high-plasticity clay blended with cement," Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment, vol. 79, no. 4, pp. 2119–2130, May 2020.
X. Yang, "Mitigating Dry Shrinkage Pavement Cracking by Geocell," University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA, Technical Report SPTC15.1-06, Nov. 2019.
H. Sellaf and B. Balegh, "An Experimental Study on the Effect of Plastic Waste Powder on the Strength Parameters of Tuff and Bentonite Soils Treated with Cement," Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 10322–10327, Apr. 2023.
S. Y. Amakye and S. J. Abbey, "Understanding the performance of expansive subgrade materials treated with non-traditional stabilisers: A review," Cleaner Engineering and Technology, vol. 4, Oct. 2021, Art. no. 100159.
F. E. Jalal, Y. Xu, B. Jamhiri, and S. A. Memon, "On the Recent Trends in Expansive Soil Stabilization Using Calcium-Based Stabilizer Materials (CSMs): A Comprehensive Review," Advances in Materials Science and Engineering, vol. 2020, Mar. 2020, Art. no. e1510969.
M. Zumrawi, A. Abdelmarouf, and A. Gameil, "Damages of Buildings on Expansive Soils: Diagnosis and Avoidance," International Journal of Multidisciplinary and Scientific Emerging Research, vol. 6, pp. 108–116, May 2017.
O. F. Fadmoro, S. S. Kar, D. Tiwari, and A. Singh, "Environmental and Economic Impact of Mixed Cow Dung and Husk Ashes in Subgrade Soil Stabilization," International Journal of Pavement Research and Technology, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 835–846, Jul. 2022.
S. Mishra, S. N. Sachdeva, and R. Manocha, "Subgrade Soil Stabilization Using Stone Dust and Coarse Aggregate: A Cost Effective Approach," International Journal of Geosynthetics and Ground Engineering, vol. 5, no. 3, Jul. 2019, Art. no. 20.
W. Yifru, N. Getu, D. Kifile, A. Mesfin, A. Sewunet, and M. Tamene, "Effects of Corn Cob Ash as Partial Replacement of Cement for Stabilization of an Expansive Clay," Advances in Civil Engineering, vol. 2022, Nov. 2022, Art. no. e6788120.
A. Soltani, A. Taheri, M. Khatibi, and A. R. Estabragh, "Swelling Potential of a Stabilized Expansive Soil: A Comparative Experimental Study," Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 1717–1744, Aug. 2017.
J. Nelson and D. J. Miller, Expansive Soils: Problems and Practice in Foundation and Pavement Engineering. New York, NY, USA: John Wiley & Sons, 1997.
R. P. Munirwan, D. Sundary, Munirwansyah, and Bunyamin, "Study of coffee husk ash addition for clay soil stabilization," IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, vol. 1087, no. 1, Oct. 2021, Art. no. 012016.
O. Adebisi, A. M. Taiwo, O. B. Julius, and A. E. Olusola, "Partial Replacement of Cement with Corn Cob Ash -A Review," Global Scientific Journals, vol. 7, no. 11, pp. 82–87, 2019.
G. Tariq et al., "Influence of green technology, green energy consumption, energy efficiency, trade, economic development and FDI on climate change in South Asia," Scientific Reports, vol. 12, no. 1, Sep. 2022, Art. no. 16376.
N. S. Ikhlef, M. S. Ghembaza, and M. Dadouch, "Effect of Cement and Compaction on the Physicochemical Behavior of a Material in the Region of Sidi Bel Abbes," Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 677–680, Aug. 2014.
M. R. Hakro et al., "Compaction Characteristics and Permeability of Expansive Shale Stabilized with Locally Produced Waste Materials," Materials, vol. 15, no. 6, Jan. 2022, Art. no. 2138.
N. Gupta and T. Sharma, "Experimental Study on The Effect of Marble Dust and Paddy Straw on The Strength Characteristics of Clayey Soil," International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology, vol. 29, pp. 5267–5281, Jun. 2020.
A. K. Jain, A. K. Jha, and Shivanshi, "Improvement in Subgrade Soils with Marble Dust for Highway Construction: A Comparative Study," Indian Geotechnical Journal, vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 307–317, Apr. 2020.
H. A. El-Sayed, A. B. Farag, A. M. Kandeel, A. A. Younes, and M. M. Yousef, "Characteristics of the marble processing powder waste at Shaq El-Thoaban industrial area, Egypt, and its suitability for cement manufacture," HBRC Journal, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 171–179, Aug. 2018.
C. A. Hwayyiz, A. M. Hasan, R. A. Hummadi, and H. H. Ibrahim, "Impact of Marble Powder on the Geotechnical Behavior of Expansive Soil," Zanco Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 30–37, 2023.
H. A. M. Abdelkader, M. M. A. Hussein, and H. Ye, "Influence of Waste Marble Dust on the Improvement of Expansive Clay Soils," Advances in Civil Engineering, vol. 2021, Sep. 2021, Art. no. e3192122.
S. Amena and W. F. Kabeta, "Mechanical Behavior of Plastic Strips-Reinforced Expansive Soils Stabilized with Waste Marble Dust," Advances in Civil Engineering, vol. 2022, May 2022, Art. no. e9807449.
P. Murthi, K. Poongodi, P. O. Awoyera, R. Gobinath, and R. Saravanan, "Enhancing the Strength Properties of High-Performance Concrete Using Ternary Blended Cement: OPC, Nano-Silica, Bagasse Ash," Silicon, vol. 12, no. 8, pp. 1949–1956, Aug. 2020.
S. Mohan and P. Chandrasekaran, "Effect of Artificial Fibers and Corn Cob Ash on Mechanical Behavior of High Performance Concrete," Polish Journal of Environmental Studies, vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 3713–3721, Jul. 2022.
O. D. Afolayan, O. M. Olofinade, and I. I. Akinwumi, "Use of some agricultural wastes to modify the engineering properties of subgrade soils: A review," Journal of Physics: Conference Series, vol. 1378, no. 2, Sep. 2019, Art. no. 022050.
N. Bheel et al., "Utilization of Corn Cob Ash as Fine Aggregate and Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag as Cementitious Material in Concrete," Buildings, vol. 11, no. 9, Sep. 2021, Art. no. 422.
H. A. M. Abdelkader, A. S. A. Ahmed, M. M. A. Hussein, H. Ye, and J. Zhang, "An Experimental Study on Geotechnical Properties and Micro-Structure of Expansive Soil Stabilized with Waste Granite Dust," Sustainability, vol. 14, no. 10, Jan. 2022, Art. no. 6218.
P. Singh, A. Boora, and A. K. Gupta, "Sub-grade characteristics of clayey soil incorporating municipal solid waste incineration ash and marble dust," Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 712–726, Dec. 2021.
D. Alemshet, B. Fayissa, A. Geremew, and G. Chala, "Amelioration Effect of Fly Ash and Powdered Ground Steel Slag for Improving Expansive Subgrade Soil," Journal of Engineering, vol. 2023, Feb. 2023, Art. no. e1652373.
BS 1924-2:1990 Stabilized materials for civil engineering purposes - Methods of test for cement-stabilized and lime-stabilized materials. London, UK: BSI, 1990.
International Standard ISO11277. Soil quality — Determination of particle size distribution in mineral soil material — Method by sieving and sedimentation. ISO, 2020.
BS 1377-2(1990), Methods of test for soils for civil engineering purposes. Classification tests. London, UK: British Standards Institution, 1990.
M. Otieno, Z. Gariy, and C. Kabubo, "An Evaluation of the Performance of Lateritic Soil Stabilized with Cement and Biochars to be Used in Road Bases of Low-Volume Sealed Roads," Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 11366–11374, Aug. 2023.
IS 2720. Indian Standard Methods of Test for Soils. Part Xl. Determination of Free Swell Index of Soils. Bureau of Indian Standards, 1978.
BS 1377-2:2022. Methods of test for soils for civil engineering purposes - Classification tests and determination of geotechnical properties. London, UK: BS, 2022.
ASTM D2166-06(2006), Standard Test Method for Unconfined Compressive Strength of Cohesive Soil. West Conshohocken, PA, USA: ASTM International, 2006.
H. Jamal, "AASHTO Soil Classification System - AASHTO Chart," About Civil. https://www.aboutcivil.org/aashto-soil-classification-system.
Road Design Manual. Part III. Material and Pavement Design for New Roads. Nairobi, Kenya: Ministry of Transport & Communications, 1987.
J. Kamau, A. Ahmed, P. Hirst, and J. Kangwa, "Suitability of Corncob Ash as a Supplementary Cementitious Material," International Journal of Materials Science and Engineering, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 215–228, 2016.
J. Kamau and A. Ahmed, "Suitability of Maize Cob Ash as a Partial Cement Replacement," Juniper Online Journal Material Science, vol. 2, no. 5, Sep. 2017, Art. no. 555599.
BS EN 197-1(2011), Cement - Composition, specifications and conformity criteria for common cements. London, UK: British Standards Institution, 2011.
H. Poernomo, "Preliminary Study of the Utilization of the Fly Ash from Coal-Fired Power Plant for Immobilization of Radioactive Waste," Indonesian Journal of Chemistry, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 258–266, Dec. 2011.
S. Asuri and P. Keshavamurthy, "Expansive Soil Characterisation: an Appraisal," INAE Letters, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 29–33, Jun. 2016.
Pavement Design Guielines. Nairobi, Kenya: Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure, Housing, and Urban Development, 2011.
R. Malaoui, E. H. Harkati, M. R. Soltani, A. Djellali, A. Soukeur, and R. Kechiched, "Geotechnical Characterization of Phosphate Mining Waste Materials for Use in Pavement Construction," Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 10005–10013, Feb. 2023.
M. Otieno, C. Kabubo, and Z. Gariy, "Mechanical and Structural Correlation of Lateritic Soil Road Base Stabilized with Cement and Selected Biochars," Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 11070–11077, Aug. 2023.
S. Singh, "Experimental investigation of corn cob ash on silty clay stabilized with calcium carbide," Materials Today: Proceedings, vol. 37, pp. 3658–3660, Jan. 2021.
O. S. Olafusi, W. K. Kupolati, E. R. Sadiku, J. Snyman, and J. M. Ndambuki, "Characterization of corncob ash (CCA) as a pozzolanic material," International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology, vol. 9, no. 12, pp. 1016–1024, 2018.
D. Barman and S. Dash, "Stabilization of expansive soils using chemical additives: A review," Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, vol. 14, pp. 1319–1342, Apr. 2022.
K. Prakash and A. Sridharan, "Free Swell Ratio and Clay Mineralogy of Fine-Grained Soils," Geotechnical Testing Journal, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 220–225, Mar. 2004.
A. K. Jain, A. K. Jha, and Shivanshi, "Geotechnical behaviour and micro-analyses of expansive soil amended with marble dust," Soils and Foundations, vol. 60, no. 4, pp. 737–751, Aug. 2020.
F. E. Jalal, S. Mulk, S. A. Memon, B. Jamhiri, and A. Naseem, "Strength, Hydraulic, and Microstructural Characteristics of Expansive Soils Incorporating Marble Dust and Rice Husk Ash," Advances in Civil Engineering, vol. 2021, Nov. 2021, Art. no. e9918757.
Downloads
How to Cite
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Leonardo Z. Wongbae, Charles Kabubo, Dr. Owayo
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain the copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) after its publication in ETASR with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
