Abstract
The iron mill scale (IMS) is a by-product produced in the mills while rolling the hot iron. The IMS is a sustainable material that can be recycled and used again in a variety of applications, including concrete and asphalt mixes. The objective of this study was to analyze the IMS from a chemical, environmental, physical, and mechanical standpoint. Acceptable heavy metals limits were revealed by the environmental assessment. The material’s results for its chemical and physical properties were comparable to those of other materials that had previously been studied in previous works. Additionally, basic geotechnical and strength assessments were carried out on the IMS material, which revealed that it functions as a dense, dilative, non-plastic, and environmentally friendly sandy soil. The utilization of IMS into soil improvement was then numerically examined using three-dimensional finite element modeling, taking into account the aspects of soil-structure interaction. A typical medium-dense sandy soil, which supports various shallow foundations, was improved by mixing different IMS percentiles (ranging from 0 to 100%). Typical soil-slag’s parameters were considered for this analysis based on correlations collected from the literature. The improvement was quantified by the settlement improvement factor (SIF) determined from the numerical analysis (ranging from 1 to 3.5), and a dimensionless design chart was provided. Finally, a case study in Bahrain, where cavities are located based on site and geophysical observations, is presented utilizing the IMS in the cavity filling process. This study demonstrates the potential of IMS as a sustainable and affordable material for use in a variety of civil engineering applications.
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Data Availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available on request.
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Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the University of Bahrain and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals for supporting the experimental work of this study. Furthermore, the authors appreciate the support of Strong Force-MGC W.L.L. — Bahrain, in providing the IMS material, case study, and PLAXIS 3D license.
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Hamzah Al-Hashemi initiated the research idea and contributed to the experimental work, calculations, numerical modeling, results interpretation, and manuscript development. Alaa Kourdey participated jointly in numerical modeling. Nuha Alzayani and Omar H. Jasim contributed to the manuscript’s discussion and submission review. Yassir Mustafa contributed to the manuscript’s experimental work and submission review.
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Al-Hashemi, H.M.B., Mustafa, Y.M.H., Kourdey, A. et al. Characterization and numerical analysis of the utilization of iron mill scale in soil improvement: a case study from the Kingdom of Bahrain. Arab J Geosci 16, 608 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-023-11721-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-023-11721-6