Stabilization of Black Cotton Soil Using Silica Fume and Coconut Coir Ash

Abstract

Building construction activities have increased dramatically as a result of India's urbanisation and economic expansion. Quite often, large areas are covered with black soil, which is not suitable for such purposes. Excessive volume variation with change in water content is one of the unfavourable engineering characteristics of black cotton soil. There is considerable shrinkage on drying result in the formation of extensive cracks. The objectives of the present studies focus on to analyse property of soil such as Atterberg’s limit, Compaction curve (O.M.C and M.D.D), shrinkage limit, effect of silica fume, Coconut coir as with various combinations of the aforementioned quantities of elements, usage of waste products instead of traditional materials like cement, lime, etc., and how to enhance the cost benefit ratio Physical characteristics of soil are determined, including hygroscopic moisture content, particle size distribution, specific gravity, Atterberg's limits, MDD-OMC, and CBR. In second phase, various test investigation performed on black cotton soil using different percentages of silica fume (SF) at (5%, 10%, 15%, 20%), and coconut coir ash (CCA) at (0.5%, 0.1%, 1.5, 2%). The study reveals that the most favourable results can be obtained by using the silica fume at 15% with coconut coir ash of 2% which may be termed as optimum percentage of silica fume and coconut coir ash that can be mixed with the soils under study.