A Major Project Report

on
BLACK COTTON SOIL STABILIZATION USING LIME
AND STONE DUST

Submitted in partial fulfillment for the award of the degree

of

BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY

in

CIVIL ENGINEERING

Submitted by

Md. SHAIBAZ 13B81A0179

K.VIJAY KUMAR 13B81A01A7
Md. ZUBER 13B81A01C0

Under the Guidance of

Mr. B. Ramanjaneyulu
Assistant Professor

Department of Civil Engineering

CVR COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
ACCREDITED BY NBA, AICTE & Affiliated to JNTUH
Vastunagar, Mangalpalli (V)
 Ibrahimpatan (M), R.R. District, PIN 501 510
CVR COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
ACCREDITED BY NBA, AICTE & Affiliated to JNTU-H
Vastunagar, Mangalpalli (V), Ibrahimpatan (M), R.R. District, PIN 501 510
Web: http://cvr.ac.in, email: info@cvr.ac.in

Department of Civil Engineering

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the project report titled BLACK COTTON SOIL STABILIZATION
USING LIME AND STONE DUST is a bonafide work done as Major project and submitted
by

Md. SHAIBAZ 13B81A0179

K.VIJAY KUMAR 13B81A01A7
Md. ZUBER 13B81A01C0

in partial fulfillment of requirement for the award of Bachelor of Technology degree in Civil
Engineering, CVR College of Engineering, Ibrahimpatnam. This work has not been submitted to
any university or institution for the award of any degree or diploma.

Project Guide Head of the Department

Mr. B. RAMANJANEYULU Civil Engineering
Assistant Professor
 External Examiner

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We owe a great many thanks to a great many people who helped and supported us during the
Mini project work.

We express our earnest gratitude to our internal guide, Mr. B. Ramanjaneyulu, Assistant
Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, for his constant support, encouragement and
guidance. We are grateful for his cooperation and his valuable suggestions.

We also express our thanks to Dr. T. MuralidharaRao, Head of the Department of Civil
Engineering for the encouragement and support given to us.

Finally, we express our gratitude to all other members who are involved either directly or
indirectly for the successful completion of this project.

1) Md. SHAIBAZ

13B81A0179

2) K.VIJAY KUMAR

13B81A01A7

3) Md. ZUBER

13B81A01C0
 DECLARATION
We, the undersigned, declare that the project entitled BLACK COTTON SOIL

STABILIZATION USING LIME AND STONE DUST, being submitted in partial fulfillment

for the award of Bachelor of Technology Degree in Civil Engineering, affiliated to Jawaharlal

Nehru Technological University Hyderabad, is the work carried out by us.

Signature

1) Md. SHAIBAZ

13BA0179

2) K.VIJAY KUMAR

13B81A01A7

3) Md. ZUBER

1381A01C0
TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction
2. Literature review
3. Materials Used And Objectives
4. Experimental Studies And Results
5. References

ABSTRACT
Black cotton soil is one of the major soil deposits of India. It is highly expansive in nature due to
presence of clay mineral especially montmorillonite. It expands greatly when comes in contact
with water and contracts when the water squeezes out. Due to this alternate swell and shrink
behavior of the black cotton soil, severe damages cause to foundations of the buildings and
structures founded on them. Many stabilization techniques are in usage for improving the
geotechnical characteristics of black cotton soil. This experimental study was undertaken to
improve the engineering characteristics of black cotton soil by utilization of Quarry dust, which
is a waste material produced during stone quarrying along with Lime as Lime is already proven
as a good material to improve the index properties. Here we are taking three testing samples with
variation of Lime and Stone Powder in various percentages like
Soil sample 1 with Clay80% +Stone Powder 15% + Lime 5%,
Soil sample 2 with Clay80% +Stone Powder 10% + Lime 10%, and
Soil sample 3 with Clay70% +Stone Powder 15% + Lime 15%.
We are trying to improve soil properties like Liquid limit, Plastic Limit, Dry density, California
Bearing Ratio and Free swell project.
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION
Soil stabilization is the process of improving the engineering properties of the soil and thus
making it more stable. It is required when the soil available for construction is not suitable for
the intended purpose. In its broadest senses, stabilization includes compaction, preconsolidation,
drainage and many other such processes.

Soil stabilization is used to reduce the permeability and compressibility of the soil mass in earth
structures and to increase its shear strength. Soil stabilization is required to increase the bearing
capacity of foundation soils. However, the main use of stabilization is to improve the natural
soils for the construction of highways and airfields. The principles of soil stabilization are used
for controlling the grading of soil and aggregates in the construction of bases and sub- bases of
the highways and airfields.

The term soil stabilization means the improvement in the properties of poor soils by the use of
controlled compaction; proportioning and the addition of suitable admixtures or stabilizers. Soil
stabilization deals with mechanical, physic-chemical and chemical methods to make the
stabilized soil serve its purpose. The stabilization process, essentially involve excavation of the
in-situ soil, treatment to the in-situ soil and compacting the treated soil. As the stabilization
process involve excavation of the in-situ soil, this technique is ideal for improvement of soil in
shallow depths such as pavements.

In India, the black cotton soil covers a range of around 0.8 million sq. km. which is around 20%
of the aggregate area zone. It is considered as dangerous soil because of hindering volume
changes with variety in moisture content. When it interacts with water it demonstrates
tremendous swelling while it shrinks with the decline in water substance and creates cracks on
drying. Now days the usage of waste items with soil has picked up consideration because of the
deficiency of suitable soil and expanding issues of mechanical waste administration. The dark
color of black cotton soils is because of the vicinity of iron, manganese and titanium in the
diminished state. This dirts are framed under states of poor waste from essential rocks, or in
some cases limestone under exchange wet and drying conditions. Leftover far reaching soil
stores possessing a vast part of south and focal India are weathered items created from hidden
guardian shakes, for example, basalt, quartzite, schist or limestone. Huge amount of soil is
utilized as a part of the development of roadways however adequate measure of soil of obliged
quality may not be accessible effortlessly. Likewise, the expense included in extraction of good
quality, normally accessible material is expanding step by step. Successful usage of minor
materials as a road development material has been a challenge to the contemporary and imminent
designers. This determination give various critical advantages to the developing business and to
the nation all in all by protection of common assets, diminishment in the mass of waste to
landfills, decreasing the expense of improvement resources, bringing down disposing expenses
and by propelling an uncontaminated and green surroundings.

Every year many civil engineering structures like buildings, embankments, roads and dams
constructed on expansive soils got damaged due to highly expansive behavior of such soils. The
main reason behind such behavior of expansive soils is the presence of mineral called
montmorillonite. It has high water content capacity and swells significantly when it comes in
contact with water. In India expansive soils are also known as Black Cotton Soils as cotton is
cultivated in majority of the areas where this black soil is found. It covers around 20% of total
land area of India. It is largely found in southern, western and central parts of India, covering
Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat and some parts of Madhya Pradesh.

The construction on Black Cotton Soil has always been a big challenge to geotechnical
engineers. Many researchers have worked to improve or stabilize its expansive behavior with
various admixtures. They have used waste materials as admixtures and showed their best results
in soil stabilization. Modak studied the combined effect of lime and fly ash in Black Cotton Soil
and concluded that with increasing the percentage of lime and fly ash in Black Cotton Soil,
California bearing ratio (CBR) and maximum dry density (MDD) values are also increases.
Nadgouda and Hegde found optimum value of CBR and MDD at 3.5 % lime addition in Black
Cotton Soil. Ijimdiya estabilized the Black Cotton Soil by groundnut shell ash (GSA) and
observed that unconfined compressive strength increased from 91 kN/m2 without adding GSA to
a maximum value of 211 kN/m2 at 8% GSA, whereas the optimum value of CBR was found on
the addition of 6.3% of GSA. Calcium oxide (CaO) known as quicklime is a widely used
chemical compound. It is a white, caustic and alkaline crystalline solid at room temperature. As a
commercial product, lime often also contains magnesium oxide, silicon oxide and smaller
amounts of aluminium oxide and iron oxide .Lime in the form of quicklime (calcium oxide -
CaO), hydrated lime (calcium hydroxide Ca(OH)2), or lime slurry can be used to treat soils.
Quicklime is manufactured by chemically transforming calcium carbonate (limestone-CaCO3)
into calcium oxide.

Hydrated lime is created when quicklime chemically reacts with water . It is hydrated lime that
reacts with clay particles and permanently transforms them into a strong cementitious matrix.
Usually, limes used for soil treatment are "high calcium" limes, which contain no more than 5
percent of magnesium oxide or hydroxide. Lime, either alone or in combination with other
materials, can be used to treat a range of soil types. Again, the annual generation of quarry dust is
roughly around 200 million tons in India. Limited researches are available regarding the
utilization of Stone Dust with lime for stabilization of expansive soils. So, in the present study,
lime and Stone Dust was used as admixtures for Black Cotton Soil. The maximum dry density
(MDD) and optimum moisture content (OMC), California bearing ratio (CBR) and unconfined
compression strength (UCS) characteristics were studies. The present study aims towards
showing how these two above materials can be utilized in Black Cotton Soil in an optimum way
to assure a win-win condition for both soil stabilization and quarry waste disposal.
 CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW

Sabat and Das (2009) had stabilized expansive soil using quarry dust and lime for
strengthening the sub grade of a rural road for low volume traffic. The properties tested
were compaction (standard proctor), UCS, soaked CBR and Ps. The stabilizer
strengthened road was found to be cost effective for low volume traffic.

Sabat (2012) had investigated the effect of lime on Atterbergs limit,

compaction(modified proctor), shear strength parameters and durability of an expansive
soil stabilized with optimum percentage of quarry dust (40%).The lime added were 2 to 7
% at an increment of 1%. The effect of 7 and 28 days of curing were also studied on
shear strength parameters. From the study it was concluded that with increase in
percentage of addition of lime the wP, wS, C, , OMC increased, the wL, IP,, MDD of
the soil-quarry dust mixes decreased. Though MDD decreased but it was greater than the
MDD of the virgin soil at 5% addition of lime. Addition of lime had made the soil-quarry
dust mixes durable. Curing had positive effects on shear parameters and had maximum
values at 5% addition of lime and 28 days of curing.

Sabat (2012) had developed statistical models for prediction of Ps of expansive soil
(Bentonite) stabilized with quarry dust and lime by correlating the percentage of
stabilizers,MDD, OMC, curing period and activity.
Models were also developed to predict the Ps of stabilized expansive soil cured at 7 and
28 days from the Ps of the expansive soil cured at 0 day and the Ps of expansive soil
 cured at 28 days from the Ps of the expansive soil cured at 7 days. The models developed
were found to be very accurate in predicting the swelling pressure.

AI-Azzo (2009) had studied the stabilizing effect of crushed limestone on engineering
properties of expansive clayey. Different percentages of crushed limestone dusts added
were 2,4, 6, 8 and 10%.It was found that there was reduction in the plasticity of the clay
and significant decrease in expansion.
Phanikumar et al. (2004), Qian Guoping et al. (2011), Kumar Sabat. (2012), Osman
Sivrikaya (2013) have investigated the use of industrial wastes like fly ash, granite mill
tailings, marble dusts, other stone wastes to improve the properties of weak/ expansive
soils. They concluded that these industrial wastes can increase the strength and decrease
the swelling behaviour of expansive soils if mixed in optimum proportions.
H.Venkateswarlu, A.C.S.V Prasad, Dr. DSV Prasad & Dr.GVR Prasada Raju (2015)
Study on Behavior of Expansive Soil Treated With Quarry Dust This paper presents the
variation of index and engineering properties of expansive soil such as liquid limit,
plastic limit, plasticity index, compaction characteristics, California Bearing Ratio and
shear strength when it is mixed with different percentages (0%, 5%, 10% and 15%) of
Quarry dust.
Manjunath K R , Rohith L (2015) Effect of stone dust on the strength characteristics of
black cotton soil stabilized with rice husk ash in the present circumstance as the
industrialization and urbanization is occurring, it has created numerous unsafe and non-
perilous wastes. This prompts draining landfill space, soil contamination and numerous
different risky impacts; henceforth in this study use of waste (i.e., Rice husk ash) for
enhancing the soil properties is made.
 CHAPTER 3
MATERIALS USED AND OBJECTIVES OF STUDY
3.1 Black Cotton Soil
Soil stabilization is carried out for weak soils having low strength and poor engineering
properties, the mostly available black cotton soil has low strength and stability to resist load
coming on it and also it has high settlement characteristics. For our project work we collected
Black cotton soil sample from SGSITS campus, Indore region. About 175 Kg soil sample was
brought by us to soil mechanics lab for carrying out our project work.

Table 3.1 Physical Properties of Black Cotton Soil

TESTS PROPERTIES

Optimum Moisture Content 18%

Maximum Dry Density 1.71gm/cc

CBR(unsoaked) 3.00

CBR(soaked) 1.53

UCS 2.41kg/cm2

FREE SWELL INDEX 0.096kg/cm2

LIQUID LIMIT 55%

PLASTIC LIMIT 32%

SHRINKAGE LIMIT 12.10%

 3.2 Stone Dust
Pulverized stone used in the construction of walkways or other stable surfaces. The dust is
mixed with soil and compacted or used with gravel to fill spaces between irregular stones.
Stone dust is a by-product of stone crushing operations. The building stones are obtained
from rocks. These rocks have a distinct plane of division along which stones can easily split.
The plane is known as the natural bed of stone and it thus indicates the plane or bed on which
the sedimentary stone was originally deposited. The natural bed of stone need not necessarily
be horizontal. For sedimentary rocks, it is easy to observe and locate the natural bed as it lies
along the plane of stratification. For igneous rocks, the natural bed is of little significance or
importance and it is also difficult to determine.

Table 3.2 Chemical Properties of Stone Dust

COMPONENT WEIGHT (%)

Cao 3.5-40
Al2O3 0.5-40
Mgo 2.5-25
Sio2 1-12
So3 0.23-3
Available Alkalis 0-4

3.3 Lime
 Hydrated lime was used as stabilizing agent in this research. Major chemical
constituent of lime is calcium hydroxides [Ca(OH)2]. Lime stabilisation is done by adding
lime to a soil. It is useful for stabilisation of clayey soils, When lime reacts with soil, there is
exchange of cations in the adsorbed water layer and a decrease in plasticity of the soil occurs.
The resulting material is more friable than the original clay, and is, therefore, more suitable
as subgrade. Lime is produced by burning of lime stone in kilns. The quality of lime obtained
depends upon the parent material and the production process.

Table 3.3 Chemical Properties of Lime.

TEST PROPERTIES
Tensile strength 553-759Mpa
Youngs modulus 3450Mpa
Specific Gravity 0.9
Melting Point 160-1700C
UV Resistance Poor
Acid Resistance Very Good
Alkali Resistance Good

OBJECTIVES
1. To analyze property of soil such as Atterbergs Limits, standard proctor Compaction, Free
Swell Index, swelling pressure, shear parameters, permeability, UCS and CBR.
2. To analyze the effectiveness of optimum value of ingredients as an admixture to stabilize the
Black Cotton soil for the sub-base.

3. Design the pavement thickness compositions for untreated black cotton soil and treated black
cotton soil with optimum value of ingredients.

4. To analyze the costs of pavement for untreated black cotton soil and treated black cotton soil
with optimum value of ingredients.

CHAPTER 4
EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES AND RESULTS

Table 1. Properties of soil.

S NO. Type of test on clay Results
1 Grain Size Distribution
Gravel (%) 0.5
Coarse Sand (%) 1.5
Medium Sand (%) 6
Fine Sand (%) 9
Silt & Clay (%) 83
2 Atterberg Limits

Liquid Limit (%) 67

Plastic Limit (%) 30
Classification CH
Standard Proctor Compaction Test
Maximum Dry Density (kN/m3) 14.71
Optimum Moisture Content (%) 23.50
3.
Modified Proctor Compaction Test
Maximum Dry Density (kN/m3) 17.06
Optimum Moisture Content (%) 15.60

100

80

60

Pe rce ntage fine r, %

40

20

0
0.01 0.1 1 10
Particle size , mm
 Fig.1.Grain size distribution

Table 1: Observations for Standard Proctor Test of Black cotton Soil.

S.no Details Trail Trail Trail Trail Trail Trail Trail

2 3 4
1 5 6 7

01 Water to be added(%) 13 16 19 22 25 27 30

02 Wt of water added(gm) 390 480 570 660 750 810 900

03 Wt of mould +compacted 3659 3748 3866 3921 3951 3910 3884

soil(gm)

04 Wt of compacted soil(gm) 1511 1575 1693 1748 1778 1737 1711

05 Container number 219 235 201 146 42 50 41

06 Wt of container +wet soil(gm) 72 43 61 49 51 55 57

07 Wt of container+ dry soil(gm) 69 41.5 57 45 46 50 50

08 Wt of empty container(gm) 39 32 38 32 39 31 37

09 Water content (%) 10 15.78 23.48 26.3 41.66 45.45 51.84

11 Dry density 1.35 1.36 1.37 1.384 1.255 1.194 1.12

1.5

1.45

1.4

1.35

1.3

DRY DENSITY(gm/cc) 1.25

1.2

1.15

1.1

1.05

1
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55

WATER CONTENT(% )

Fig.2

Table 2: Observations for Standard Proctor Test of Soil sample 1.

Volume of the mould v(cm3) 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000
Mass of the mould (gm) 2170 2170 2170 2170 2170 2170
Mass of mould+ compacted
soil(gm) 3840 3920 3940 4000 3930 3870
Mass of compacted soil(gm) 1670 1750 1770 1850 1760 1700
wet density 1.67 1.75 1.77 1.85 1.76 1.7
Mass of bin +wet soil 64 64 70 83 76 84
Mass of bin +dry soil 59 59 64 72 68.1 70.9
Mass of water 5 5 6 11 7.9 13.1
Mass of bin 33 38 41 40 40 38
Mass of dry soil 26 21 23 32 28.1 32.9
Obtained Moisture content=
Mass of water/mass of dry soil 19.23 23.80 26.08 34.37 28.11 39.81

Added Moisture content 18 21 24 27 30 33

Dry density=wet density /

(1+moisture content) 1.40 1.41 1.40 1.37 1.37 1.21
1.45

1.4
Dry density in g/cc

1.35
15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35

Moisture content in %

Fig.2 Standard proctor compaction results of soil 1

Table 3: Observations for Standard Proctor Test of soil sample 2.

Volume of the mould v(cm3) 1000 1000 1000 1000

Mass of the mould (gm) 2170 2170 2170 2170
Mass of mould+ compacted soil(gm) 3860 3910 3860 3830
Mass of compacted soil(gm) 1690 1740 1730 1660
wet density 1.69 1.74 1.73 1.66
Mass of bin +wet soil 83 82 80 83
Mass of bin +dry soil 72.1 72.4 68 70.3
Mass of water 10.9 9.6 12 12.7
Mass of bin 38 39 38 38
Mass of dry soil 34.1 33.4 30 32.3
Moisture content=mass of water/mass
of dry soil 31.96481 28.74251 40 39.31889
Added Moisture content 24 27 30 33
Dry density=wet density /(1+moisture
content) 1.280644 1.351535 1.235714 1.191511

1.4

1.35

1.3

1.25
Dry density in g/cc

1.2

1.15

1.1
20 25 30 35 40 45

Moisture content in %

Fig.2 Standard proctor compaction results of soil 2

Table 4: Observations for Standard Proctor Test of Soil sample 3.

Volume of the mould v(cm3) 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000

Mass of the mould (gm) 2170 2170 2170 2170 2170

Mass of mould+ compacted

soil(gm) 3767 3851 3917 3815 3780
Mass of compacted soil(gm) 1597 1681 1747 1645 1610
wet density 1.597 1.681 1.747 1.645 1.61
Added Moisture content 24 27 30 33 36
Dry density=wet density /
(1+moisture content) 1.287903 1.323622 1.343846 1.236842 1.183824

1.4

1.35

1.3

Dry density in g/cc 1.25

1.2

1.15

1.1
20 40

Moisture content in %

Fig.2 Standard proctor compaction results of soil 3

CALIFORNIA BEARING RATIO:

1. Unsoaked CBR test.

 We have conducted experiments on Unsoaked and Soaked soil samples to evaluate the strength of
the subgrade.
Determination of the California bearing ratio value for the untreated soil sample:

S.No Penetration Readings Proving ring readings

1 0 0
2 50 4.5
3 100 7
4 150 8.5
5 200 9.5
6 250 10
7 300 11
8 350 12
9 400 12.5
10 450 13
11 500 13.5
12 750 15
13 1000 17
14 1250 19

Table 11: Shows the values of Unsoaked CBR for untreated soil.

Fig. 25 Shows the compaction of soil sample in CBR Mould

GRAPH:
 16

14

12

10

PROVING RING READINGS 8

0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

PENETRATION READINGS

RESULT:

The CBR Value at 2.5mm = 4.348%

The CBR Value at 5.0mm = 3.776%

2. Soaked CBR test.

S.No Penetration Readings Proving ring readings

 1 0 0
2 50 3
3 100 4
4 150 4
5 200 5
6 250 5
7 300 5
8 350 5
9 400 6
10 450 6
11 500 6
12 750 7
13 1000 8
14 1250 9

Table 14: Values of soaked CBR of untreated soil.

GRAPH:

14

12

10

8
proving ring reading
6

0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400

penetration reading

RESULT:

The CBR Value at 2.5mm = 2.5%

The CBR Value at 5.0mm = 2
 CHAPTER 5
REFERENCES

1. Modak, P.R., Nangare, P.B., Nagrale, S.D. Nalawade, R.D, and Chavhan, V.S. (2012).
Stabilization of Black Cotton Soil using admixtures, International Journal of Engineering
and Innovative Technology, Vol. 1 No.5.

2.Nadgouda, K.A. and Hegde, R.A. (2010). The effect of lime stabilization on properties of
Black Cotton Soil, proceeding, Indian Geotechnical Conference-2010 (GEOtrendz),Bombay, pp.
511-514.

3.Hunter D. (1988). Lime induced heave in sulphate bearing clay soils, ASCE. J. Geot. Eng.
114, 150-167.

4.Haldar, M. K. and Das, S. K. (2012). Effect of sand stone dust for quartz and clay in
triaxialporcelain composition, Indian Academy of Sciences, Vol. 35 No. 5, pp. 897904.

5. Ijimdiyaa, T.S., Ashimiyu, A.L. and Abubakar, D.K. (2012). Stabilization of Black Cotton Soil
using groundnut shell ash, Electronic Journal of Geotechnical Engineering (EJGE), Vol. 7 No.4,
pp. 3645-3652.

6. Sarkar, R., Abbas, S.M., and Shahu, J.T., (2012). A comparative study of geotechnical
behavior of lime stabilized pond ashes from Delhi region, International Journal on GEOMATE,
Japan, 03(01), 273-279.
7.Lekha, B M., Goutham, S., and Shankar, A U., (2013). Laboratory investigation of soil
stabilized with nano chemical, Indian Geotechnical Conference, Roorkee.

8.IS: 2720 (Part 3) (1980). Methods of Test for Soils: Determination of Specific Gravity, Bureau
of Indian Standards, New Delhi, India.
9.IS: 2720 (Part 4) (1985). Methods of Test for Soils: Determination of Grain Size Analysis,
Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, India.

10.IS: 2720 (Part 5) (1985). Methods of Test for Soils: Determination of Liquid and Plastic
Limit,Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, India.

11.IS: 2720 (Part 40) (1977). Methods of Test for Soils: Determination of Free Swell Index of
Soils, Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, India

12.IS: 2720 (Part 7) (1980). Methods of Test for Soils: Determination of Water Content-Dry
Density Relation Using Light Compaction, Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, India.

13.IS: 2720 (Part 16) (1987). Methods of Test for Soils: Determination of CBR Value, Bureau of
Indian Standards, New Delhi, India.

14. IS: 2720 (Part 3) (1980). Methods of Test for Soils: Determination of Unconfined
Compression Strength, Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi,