Black Cotton Soil in Highway Construction *

Abstract

The use of naturally available unsuitable soils in the construction of roads will open new avenues in the construction industry. The process of making the naturally available unsuitable soil being suitable is known as soil stabilisation. Black cotton (BC) soil is highly expansive in nature when gets in contact with water, thus making it unsuitable for construction. The unsuitability of BC soil can be changed by making the soil water repellent and exhibiting high bond strength. This can be achieved by application of Terrasil and Zycobond (A Zydex product) when added to soil mixed with water. It improves the bond strength between the soil particles and creates a protective layer by permanently changing the soil properties. It increases the California Bearing ratio of the soil mass exponentially over a period of time thus, making it suitable for infrastructure projects and high chances to be used as non-expansive BC soil in infrastructure development. This paper demonstrates the use of organosilane based nano materials and nano acrylic co-polymer to convert expansive BC soil into non-expansive BC soil by stabilisation. This will have substantial impact on the use of naturally available unsuitable material which can be made suitable by stabilisation process.