Effect of marble dust and steel slag on consistency limits and compaction characteristics of lateritic soil

Abstract

Engineers are faced with the problems of providing very suitable materials for highway and other foundations construction. Lateritic soils are highly weathered indigenous soil available in large quantities but generally need improvements to adequately satisfy the required construction purposes. This research investigates the influence of steel slag and marble dust addition on some geotechnical properties of lateritic soil. The results revealed that the soil is well graded based on particle size distribution and is classified as A-2-5 under AASHTO system. With progressive increase in each stabiliser, both the liquid limit, plastic limit and plasticity index exhibit fluctuating patterns. In addition, both marble dust and steel slag increased the maximum dry density with increasing proportions in the soil sample but exhibit irregular patterns for optimum moisture content. This research provides an insight to the quality of lateritic soils obtainable in the study area, and the level of improvements required before they are suitable for road construction.