Strength and Compressibility Characteristics of Peat Soil

Abstract

Peat soil is a very soft soil with low shear strength, high organic matter, and high compressibility exists in unconsolidated state. These characteristics of soils can cause an excessive settlement which is very challenging to geotechnical engineers and the construction industry at large for construction in this type of soils. The main focus of the present paper is to discuss the strength and compressibility characteristics of stabilized peat soil by using lime and flyash based on various laboratory test results. The unconfined compressive strength of stabilized peat soil using fly ash increases with increase in percentage of fly ash and same trends are observed for the lime treated soils. The compression characteristics of treated peat soils are improved due to the influence of lime and flyash. Primary compression and secondary compression is found to decrease for the treated peat soil as compared to an untreated peat soil.