Effect of Curing Period on Strength Development in High Plastic Expansive Clay Stabilized with Industrial Waste

A key layer of any pavement, subgrade must be able to support loads transmitted from top without excessive deformation under adverse conditions. Researchers and pavement designer have adopted combined treatment techniques to improve the strength and stability of this layer or foundation soil of problematic site. In this study, investigation has been carried out to check the effect of curing time on strength development of problematic high plastic expansive clay stabilized with commercial waste material bagasse ash (BA) and blast furnace slag (BFS). Laboratory studies were carried out to evaluate the influence of combine effect of bagasse ash (BA) and blast furnace slag on high plastic clay soil of study area. Preliminary tests such as Atterberg limits, compaction parameter test together with a series of unconfined compression strength (UCS) and California bearing ratio (CBR) were obtained on different mix proportion to get optimum mix of different proportion. Number of UCS sample were prepared for untreated and optimum mix for different curing period such as 0, 7, 14, 28, 56, 112, 140, and 180 days and tested. It was observed that UCS values were improved for treated soil, with curing periods and also with respect to untreated samples. Study revealed that the curing duration exerted a significant influence on the stress–strain behavior of bagasse ash and blast furnace slag mixed clay. From the experimental results, it can be concluded that this industrial waste can be used to enhance the subgrade strength of high plastic clay. Such combined waste material in its optimum content can be used by pavement designers and engineers in the field on any construction works on expansive clay site.