Chemically Stabilized Laterite Soil Using Rice Husk Ash

Abstract

This research focuses on optimum usage of industrial waste in soil stabilization. Shear strength alteration happens in subsoil due to environmental fluctuations or seismic events that are generally observed in hilly areas with unsupported backfills. This problem becomes worst in the case of problematic soil that causes collapse or swelling followed by shrinkage in contact with water due to the high anisotropic nature of the subsoil. The cyclic behavior of various problematic soils under transient loading directly incorporates the economic loss and human lives. The present experimental work has briefly described the suitability of using rice husk ash (RHA) in soil stabilization and reducing the dumping of toxic waste responsible for environmental pollution. In place of common stabilizer units such as fly ash and pond ash, we use a cheap stabilizing agent which has no use in soil improvement in past as single unit. RHA is used as a chemical stabilizer as it contains high percentage of silica. If the soil has a larger fraction of clay mineral, then RHA (produced by controlled incineration ~400–500 °C) mixed soil in different proportion (4 and 6% by weight of soil sample) performed differently in serviceability and workability tests on soil sample like UCS, modified proctor test, CBR, Atterberg’s limit, permeability, consolidation test, etc. Excellent results were obtained at 6% optimum dosage of RHA in locally available laterite soil (inside NIT Agartala campus) from NE part of India.