Improvement of Geotechnical Properties of Expansive Soil by Lime and Polypropylene Fiber Material

Abstract

Improvement of the Geotechnical properties of expansive soils by mixing Lime and Polypropylene Fibers is the main concentration of this research. For this research purpose, expansive soil samples were collected from the North-East part of Dhaka. The soil has been proved to be expansive (Plasticity Index, Plastic Limit, Liquid Limit, Swelling Pressure, Swell Index, and Swelling Potential). In this study, polypropylene fibers and lime were used with soil to observe its effect on the strength and swelling properties of expansive soil. The soil sample was formulated with 2.5% to 10% lime by the weight of soil and 2% polypropylene fiber was mixed with soil. Compared with the raw sample with swelling properties of the stabilized samples decreases in the beginning when lime content up to 7.5%, then it increased. Polypropylene fiber was used to reduce the axial and lateral expansion of this soil. The results show that the untrained shear strength and unconfined compressive strength of improved samples with the addition of lime and fiber concentration is substantially higher than the unimproved samples. Whereas, axial compression decreases finally, it may be said that the stabilization of expansive soils with lime and polypropylene fiber could be a practicable method.