Title: Use of wood ash waste to stabilise soils

Authors: K. Divya Krishnan; P. Kiruthika; P.T. Ravichandran

Addresses: Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Tamil Nadu – 603203, India ' Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Tamil Nadu – 603203, India ' Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Tamil Nadu – 603203, India

Abstract: The stability of the structure constructed over an expansive soil becomes questionable when it comes in contact with water. This is mainly due to the montmorillonite minerals in soil which causes expansiveness and resulting in failure problems in foundation. To overcome the problems of soil, the stabilisation method is one of the techniques which can contribute modifications. This study was carried out with two clay soil exhibiting high expansive nature is treated with an agrowaste, Woodash of varying percentages of 3%, 5%, 7%, 9%, 11% at different curing periods. The response of the treated soils was studied through the strength test at different curing periods and the improvement was confirmed by microstructural analysis. From the experimental results, it was observed that the increasing percentages of Woodash content in clay soils will leads in gaining bearing strength and suggesting an effective utilisation method of agrowaste.

Keywords: soil; wood ash; SEM; stabilisation; bearing capacity; UCS; curing period; agro waste; wood ash waste.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEWM.2020.104350

International Journal of Environment and Waste Management, 2020 Vol.25 No.1, pp.112 - 120

Received: 02 Jan 2018
Accepted: 29 Dec 2018
Published online: 06 Jan 2020 *

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