Volume Change Behavior of Expansive Soil Stabilized with Coir Waste
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 27, Issue 6
Abstract
Coir waste, as, its name indicates, is a waste by product of the coir manufacturing industry. Past records show that for every ton of fiber extracted, about two tons of coir waste is produced. Thus handling of coir waste has become an immediate concern due to its massive accumulation and lack of dumping yards. The present work aims to study the use of coir waste to control the volume change behavior of marine clay keeping sustainable development in focus. Consolidation tests, swelling pressure tests, and three-dimensional (3D) shrinkage strain tests were conducted to analyze the effect of addition of coir waste on volume change behavior. Coir waste consists of pith along with some short fibers which were separated to study their independent effects on volume change behavior. Volumetric swelling of optimum soil-pith-fiber mix was also studied by conducting three-dimensional free swell tests. Mixing of coir waste with expansive soil helps to mitigate the volume change behavior of expansive soil. Thus the material which was considered as a curse to the environment and the society has turned out to be a boon to the civil engineering community.
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Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE), Kerala, India and the Centre for Engineering Research and Development (CERD), Government of Kerala, India and for funding this research work.
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 27 • Issue 6 • June 2015
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 7, 2014
Accepted: Jun 2, 2014
Published online: Aug 18, 2014
Discussion open until: Jan 18, 2015
Published in print: Jun 1, 2015
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