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Sustainable soil stabilisation with ground granulated blast-furnace slag activated by olivine and sodium hydroxide

  • Mohammad Hamed Fasihnikoutalab
  • Shahram Pourakbar
  • Richard J. Ball
  • Cise Unluer
  • Nuno CristeloEmail author
Research Paper
First Online:
  • 41 Downloads

Abstract

Ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS), activated with olivine (Mg2SiO4) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH), was used to stabilise a clayey soil. Mechanical and microstructural properties of the stabilised soil were assessed through uniaxial compression strength (UCS) tests, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), after curing periods of 7, 18 and 90 days. The UCS of the GGBS-treated soil (without activation with NaOH), even at the highest slag dosage (G20S), after 90 days, showed only a slight increase (142 kPa) relatively to the original soil. When olivine was added to the GGBS-treated mixture (O20G20S), the UCS increased to 444 kPa, after 90 days. However, when NaOH was used as an activator, the UCS of the olivine–GGBS-treated soil (NO20G20S) increased to more than 6000 kPa, after 90 days. This significant strength increase was attributed to the higher reaction degree provided by the NaOH, which enabled a more effective exploitation (dissolution) of the Ca and Mg present in the slag and olivine, respectively, forming a mixture of C–S–H and M–S–H gels.

Keywords

Alkaline activation Ground granulated blast-furnace slag Olivine Soil stabilisation 
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Notes

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of Civil EngineeringUniversity Putra MalaysiaSerdangMalaysia
  2. 2.Department of Civil EngineeringUniversity of BinaloudMashhadIran
  3. 3.BRE Centre for Innovative Construction Materials, Department of Architecture and Civil EngineeringUniversity of BathBathUK
  4. 4.School of Civil and Environmental EngineeringNanyang Technological UniversitySingaporeSingapore
  5. 5.CQ-VR, Department of EngineeringUniversity of Trás-os-Montes e Alto DouroVila RealPortugal

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