Effect of Marble Dust on UCS and CBR of Gypsum Stabilized Clay

Abstract

Waste minimization by its utilization in various engineering constructions is the thought of every field engineer. Clay soil stabilization using lime along with fly ash has been in practice since good olden days. Marble dust is one amongst the waste being generated huge quantities in the recent past. Improved living standards and infrastructure development caused use of polished marbles and in the process of it, huge marble waste is getting generated. In this research, the combination of marble dust and gypsum is introduced into the clay soil to investigate its geotechnical properties, aiming to determine optimal values for Atterberg limits, Maximum Dry Density (MDD), Unconfined Compression Stress (UCS), and California Bearing Ratio (CBR). Also, on the soil and admixed soil samples, the XRD and SEM analysis is carried out to identify the mineralogical composition. The results revealed that with the addition of marble dust to the 6% gypsum stabilized clay resulted in liquid limit and the plasticity index have decreased. The CBR and UCS of mixes especially at 15% marble dust showed better performance. Further, the curing of mixes for 14 days and 28 days resulted in improvement in UCS. Overall, the marble dust of 15% yielded better performance of clay stabilized with 6% gypsum.