Assessment of Geo Technical Properties of Nano-Lime Treated Expansive Clay

Abstract

In geotechnical engineering practice, expansive clay is widely encountered. It poses to be a serious problem especially in metropolitan areas by virtue of its low strength and high compressibility. Further, these soils undergo significant change in volume as a consequence of variation in the moisture content. Soil stabilisation is one such technique practiced to improve the shear strength and to control volume change in expansive clays. Among various stabilisation techniques, Lime has been found to be an effective stabilizer, which appreciably alters the properties of expansive clay. Further, the reaction will be very effective on the usage of nano size particles in the stabilisation of expansive clay. At the first step, the effect of lime stabilisation on geotechnical properties such as grain size distribution, index properties, compaction characteristics, differential free swell and unconfined compressive strength of expansive clay was studied by varying percentages of lime. At the second step, the effect of nano- lime on the properties of optimum soil-lime mixture was investigated. The percentage of nano- lime is varied from 0.25- 1.0% by dry weight of the soil. The measured results show that the use of nano- lime in expansive clay significantly improves its strength and reduces swell behaviour resulting in reduced pavement thickness.