Abstracto

Studies on Black Cotton Soil Stabilization Using RBI Grade- 81

Venugopal G, Chetan Fakkerappa Babji

Road infrastructure in India is developing at a very fast pace. A good pavement is needed for the safe, comfortable and economical movement of traffic. The thickness of road depends on geotechnical properties of subgrade soil and traffic intensity. The soil having more liquid limit (LL), lower Maximum dry density (MDD) and higher Optimum moisture content (OMC) is suitable for subgrade of road. The black cotton soilis not suitable for subgrade due to its swelling characteristics and causing number of damages to the structures particularly light buildings and pavements. Thus, worldwide these soils are considered to be problematic soils and pose several challenges for engineers.This paper investigates the effect of using a new stabilization product, RBI Grade-81 on black cotton soil to improve the properties of subgrade soil.Atterberg’s limit, Compaction, California Bearing Ratio (CBR), Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) and X-ray diffractiontests were carried out on the samples of soil and soil with stabilizers.Various samples have been made by taking soil with different percentage 2%, 4%, 6% and 8% ofRBI Grade-81.The comparison of the strength results with or without RBI Grade-81 has been done. The subgrade soil can be improved by using RBI Grade-81 and cost of construction can be reduced to certain extent.