Enhancing Properties of Black Cotton Soil Using Bacterial Culture

Abstract

Black cotton soil is considered as most traitorous soil because of is high swelling and shrinking properties and extremely low bearing capacity. Pavements or structures constructed directly on black cotton soil without any treatment may lead to failure of the structure. Many stabilization techniques like use of fiber, geotextiles, fly Ash, rice husk ash, plastic waste, etc., have already been successfully used to stabilize such soils. In this work, an attempt has been made to stabilize and improve the engineering properties of black cotton soil of Surat zone using bacterial culture technique. Many bacteria have been found to precipitate calcium carbonate, which is a cementetious material, increases the strength of clayey soils by altering their properties.