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FLSEVIER Transporation Research Procdia 172016 558 S66 r ! ‘wow levi convlocate/procedia Ith Transportation Planning and Implementation Methodologies for Developing Countries, TPMDC 2014, 10-12 December 2014, Mumbai, India Laboratory Investigation In The Improvement Of Subgrade Characteristics Of Expansive Soil Stabilised With Coir Waste Leema Peter’, PK Jayasree™, K Balan”, Alaka Raj S” * Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering Trivandrum, Ke Igo. ceayatooco in Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering Trivandrum, Kerala, Email: Ipyeseepeost cin Profesor, Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering Trivandrum, Kerala, Ema gipalangoratcom = Former M.Tech Student, Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering Trivandrum, Kerala, Email alekarajzz0eqenaleom Email Abstract, Soft soils form problematic subgrade for pavements due to its low bearing capacity and strength. Pavement loads coming on the soft subgrade soil may cause detrimental pumping actions when they are located in areas With high water table whieh causes both eonstrution and in-service performance problems. The common solutions on encountering such problems include excavation and replacement of soil, lime teatment oF chemical stabilization. Excavation and replacement of soil becomes very expensive especially when usable soils have to be hauled to signifeant distance. Stabilization using various additives ean improve the properties Of soft soils. A recent trend in stabilization is t0 utilize locally available industrial wastes to improve the properties of soft soils. This method has the dual advantage of increasing the strength of soil and a solution for the problematic disposal of such wastes. Coir waste consisting of coir pith and coi fibre is a by-product of coir ‘manufacturing industry obtained from coconut husk during the extraction of coir fibre. The pollution caused due to the polyphenol leaching and the resistance to degradation due tothe stable ignin structure makes the coir waste a potential threat tothe land resourees. Ths paper presents an investigation on the behavior of soft soil stabilized with varying percentages of coir pith (0-3%) and coir fibre (0-I%) by carrying out Standard Proctor, Static Triaxal test and California Bearing Rati(CBR) tess. The tes results showed that stabilization ith coir waste hada significant effect onthe compaction , Elastic modulus as well as CBR characteristics. 2382-1465 Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access antcle under the CC BY-NC-ND license (bp reativscommons orglicensestby-ne-nd4.0), Peerreview unde esponsibility ofthe Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay oi:10,1016.pr0.2016.11.110,Leema Peter eta. / Transportation Research Procedia 17 (2016) S88 ~ 566 Published by Elsevier B.V. This i an open acess article under the CC BY-NC-ND Heense (hsp:ereavecommons orgficensesby-ne-nd4.0) P esponsibility ofthe Department of Civil gineering Indian Instiute of Tecnology Bombay Keywords: Coiz Pith; Short Coir fibre; Expansive Sol; Marine Clay view unde A. Introduction Service life ofa pavement is dependent on the subgrade conditions among many other factors. Earth o sil forms the receiving platform forthe pavement layers and hence should be strong enough to support the weight of overlying ‘pavement layers and also the weight of the wheel loads coming over it. Ina developing county like India, where a large number of population reside, the inadeguate availabilty of land is the major hindrance to carry out ‘onstruction, This situation forces engineers fo cary oul constuction on weak or soft soil Soft soils such a clayey or silty soil do not have sufficient swength to withstand heavy loads and hence pavements constructed over such soils are subjected to early degradation. Earlier practice of replacing soft soil with ood quality soils are nowadays not feasible due to the high cost invalved, The method of treating sof soils at the field itself using additives is called stabilization of soil. In this treatment, the properties of soil are improved by mechanical or chemical means. Stabilization of soils has been always an interesting topic to researchers. Over the years various materials have been used for stabilization of weak sols such as clays. A recent tend is o utilize waste materials for modifying soft soils. The advantage of using waste materials in construction ineludes is low cost involved and a new solution forthe waste disposal, Various waste materials were used to improve the propertics of weak soil. Fly ash when used in weak soil improves the CBR value ofthe sol by the soil-fly ash interlocking phenomenon [3, 6, 10]. Industrial wastes such as blast furnace slag, rice husk ash, foundry sand, foundry slag, cement kiln dust when used to stabilize clayey sand have shown satisfactory stength and durability characteristics (5, 7]. Reeyeled plastic waste from wast bottles can bbe advantageously used to improve bearing capacity of soft soil [I]. Improvement of subbase or subgrade layer with fibers is also common area of esearch, Inclusion of coir fers in clayey soil along with fly ash is found to increase the shear strength parameter [4, 9, 11, 12] Peat soils stabilized with polypropylene fibers have showed considerable increase in CBR vale inthe order of 15 to 22 times [8]. Ina is one ofthe leading countries in the production of coconut. Cocosut palm is one ofthe most useful tropical palms and one of the important cottage industries related to coconut palm is coir industry. 1 i estimated that the coirprocessing industis in India produce roughly 0:5 million tonnes of coir waste (2, 13], These coir wastes are sccumilated slong the sides of the production nits thus creating environmental solution problems. Open disposal of coir pith into heaps acts asa bacteria growing medium and results in poor hygiene ofthe surrounding areas. A major portion of the cor pith is utilized as fuel in domestic stoves which creaes air polation. Also, dumping of coir Waste into water bodies like rivers, lakes etc, may affect the life within water bodies. Thus & proper disposal method of coir waste is tobe dispensed a. ‘The present investigation aims to study how coir waste can be effectively utilized in combination with sof soil to improve subgrade characteristics. Various properties like grain size distribution, moisture-density relations, California bearing ratio (CBR) and elastic modulus are studied individually and fr soil Blended with coir waste 2, Experimental Programme 24. Soil ‘The soil chosen for the present study is Cochin marine clay, which is collected from a depth of Im, The soil was sundried to bring down the moisture content to 0% and it was then powdered (toa size less than 4.75 mam)560 Leemea Peter etal. Transportation Research Procedia 17 (2016) $88 ~ 566 ‘using mallet, in order to mix the cor pith and coir fibre in e uniform manner, ‘The engineering and index properties such as specific gravity, Atterberg’s limits, unconfined compressive strength, compaction characteristics of the pertcular soil selected for this study were determined in the laboratory as per iS 2720 (14. The properties of the soil obtained are given in Table | Reape Save ‘Speic ei 25 Tro Lins 0) 2 Pi Lim) B Pussy Index (5) By Stig Lit (9) 2 Optom Mostar Comet (3) at Dry Dewy) Tt Uncntnd Corpse Stengh ks) 42, Gayt = 2.2 Coir waste Coir waste chosen for the study was collected from Chirayinkeezhu, Thiruvananathapuram District, Kerala ‘The coir waste was obtained in @ soaked state which was then sundried to reduce its moisture content to Zero, The coir waste consisted of coir pith commonly called coir dust along with short coir fibres. Inorder to have a beter Control over test resutl the coir waste was seperated into coir pith and coir fibres by sicving through 4.7mm IS seve. The waste materials passing 4.7Smm sieve was designated et coir pith and the short to long fibres that retained on te sieve was designated es coir fibres. (Fig. 1a, and le). @ igs |) Coir waste, (baie) Coir re 23, Experimental Programme All experimental studies were conducted by varying cor pith content inthe range of 0, 0.5, 1.0, 15, 2.0,2.5, 3.0% and coir fibre content by 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0% of dry weight of soil. Coir flbre was varied in small percentages singe the uniform mixing and testing in higher percentages is tedious. Standard Proctor test was condveted with different percentages of coir pth (0%, 0.5%, 1%, 1.5%, 2, 2.5% and 3% by dry weight of soil) and coir fibre (0%, 0.2%, 0.4%, 0.6%, 0.8% and 1% by dry weight of soil) as pr IS 2720 Part Vil (1980). The effect of coir pith and coir fibre content on the Maximum Dry Density (MDD) and Optimum Moisture Content (OMC) of soil was studied, ‘The results of Stndard Proctor tet was then used to carry out California Bearing Ratio (CBR) tests on soil, ‘modified with varying percentages of coir pith and coir fore. Samples were prepared and tested according to IS. 2720 Part XVI. The soil specimens were compacted to achieve respective maximum dry densities obtained fron Proctor test. The optimum percentages of coir pith and coir fibre were fixed on the basis of CBR value ‘Unconsolidated undrained wiaxal test on plain soil and soil modified with optimum percentages of coir waste was thon conducted to investigate the improvements in clastic modulus values duc tothe modificationLeema Peter etal. / Transportation Research Procedia 17 (2016) S88 ~ 566 3. Results and discussions 3.1. Effect of coir pith on compaction characteristics Compaction tests were carted out on different proportions of coir pith and soil to study their moisture density relationship Fig2 shows the variation in maximum dry density (MDD) and comesponding optimum ‘moisture content (OMC) fo different percentages of cor pith. It can be observed from the Fig? thet the dry density is constantly decreasing by the addition of coir pith This i because ofthe addition of coir pth having low density in place of sil having comparatively high density. However, i has been noticed that addition of 0.5% enir pith doesn't hhave any influence on dry density but it decreases the OMC. However, more percentage of coir pith reduced dry density, Yay. The inital decrease in the OMC value, as shown in Fig. 2, may be caused due to the high water absorption natute of the cir pith, When eo pth is added to the soil inthe presence of water, the coir pth patieles ‘expand due to he absorption of water and fll she voids of soil thus coateibuting tothe dry density, When higher ‘contents of coir pith is added, the amount of water absorbed by the coir pith in the mixing stage may get expelled ‘under the compactive effort thus contributing tothe increase in OMC at higher coir pth content 40 30 204 oe es) 10 = MDD (Nm) ° . . . ° 1 2 3 Coir Pith Content Figue 2. Variation of Maximum Dry Densy a Optimum More Cae with Ci Pith Cotet 3.2 fect of short coir fibre on compaction characteristics Shott coi fibre addition also showed similar variation as that of coir pith Fig.3 shows the variation in ‘maximum dry density (MDD) and corresponding optimum moisture content (OMC) for different percentages of short coir fibre It ean be observed from the figure 3,that there was a sudden decrease in OMC with the addition of| 0.2% coir fibre, but the OMC was found to increase afterwards. The intial decrease may be caused due to FMoceulation of clay particles with the addition of car fibre which implies thatthe water-coir Fibre — soil mixtures ‘ean be compacted with low moisture content, The increase in optimum moisture content at high ear fibre conten ‘may be due tothe greater water absorption capacity of fibres S61562, Leema Peter etal. Transportation Research Procedia 17 (2016) $58 ~ 566 ” 30 2 ronces) -#MDD Ns) 0 ° : ro 0 02 04 06 of 1 Coir Fie Content (2) ie 3. Varin of Maximum Dry Dea and Opa Moise Comet with Coe ie Cate 3.3 Bffect of Coir pith and short coir fibre on strength characteristics ‘The California bearing ratio test (CBR ) were carried out on soil mixed with differeat proportion of coir pith and short coir fibre by compacting the mixture to maximum dry density and optimum moisture content corresponding to Standard Proctor tet. The specimens were sosked in water for 96 hours and tested to evaluate the strength in the worst subgrade conditions, Variations in CBR rato for the addition of coir pith and coir fibre are shown in Table 2 and3 Table: Vataton n CUR values wi he son of cp conent Ferewatage Soaked CR Feeeatage CBR Watio = Valery Tr a rr an 20 i i It can be observed from the Table 2 that with the increase in coir pth content, CHR value is increasing and reaches « maximum value of 2.79 at 2% coir pith addition and then decreases. Hence 2% coir pith content ean be taken as the optimum coir pth content, Eventhough the maximum dry density decreases with addition of eoir waste, CBR is found to be increasing. This may be attebuted tothe ineease in fictional properties due to the addition of coir fibre, It can be observed from Table 3 also thatthe inclusion of shor coir fibre inereased the CBR valve significantly than that eaused by the inelusion of coir pith. The maximum increase was observed at 0.6% fibre ‘content having a CBR value 4 times that obtained for plain soil which can be seen from figure 4Leema Peter eta. / Transportation Research Procedia 17 (2016) $88 ~ S66 ‘Tubes Vrain in CBR ves wit the ado of sire coment n » Fereerage CHR Fao um lo Plain Soil~ Soil~ Soil~ Soil Soil= Soil ——15 oe Pe x 2s e. dis. i u F vol 03% 1% 15% 2% 25% 3% pith pith pith pith pith pith | € S34 2 B27 3 1 a Plain Soil Soll 0.236 fibre @ Soil+ Soil+ Soil+ Soil+ 0.4% 0.6% 0.8% 196coir coir coir coir fibre fibre fibre fibre O gue 4. Vato of CBR valu wih varying (ae pith ad (eo ee estat 563Leema Peter etal. Transportation Research Procedia 17 (2016) 558 ~ 566 3.4 Combined effect of coir pith and short coir fibre on compaction and strength characteristics ‘Compaction tests were carted out with optimum percentages of coir pith and shor coir fibre, to investigate their combined effect. Results indicate that MDD value decreases and OMC increases which ean be observed in figure 5. may be attributed to the replacement of soil with coir pith and cor fibre of low specific eavity and high water absorption capacity ‘The CBR value ofthe soil treated with optimum percentage of coir waste was obtained as 4.33% whichis 4.6 times the CBR value of the plain soil. The increase was marginal compared with the CBR value of the soil eated with optimum short coir fibre, thus showing the major contribution of short coir fibre in the stabilization of soil compared. tw cot pith, Table 4.shows the variation in CBR and E-values obtained for the soil - optimum coir waste mixtures. Unconsolidated undrained triaxial test was also conducted on plain soil and soil reinforced with optimum percentages of coir waste (0,6% fibre and 2% pith by dry weight of sil) to determine the elastic modulus values. ‘The stress stain curves were plotted for these two cases and are shown in Figure 6, The elastic modulus value obtained from initial tangent of the stress strain curve indicates thatthe E-value increased from 7.9 MPa to 9.6 MPa de to coir waste addition % En 3, En z &. ie e z 2 at é Feinsot " Soi-2%6 8-066 Sl ° sees wa ice hae ths Se ge $Vatation of Maxima ry Densy a nd Opin Moisture Cover ( or aptinu el epi he mistes : ry gue StosStnin curves fr lain si and sirens wth opium pteaage foi pith nd coi teeLLeema Peter eta. / Transportation Research Procedia 17 (2016) 88 ~ S66 “Tobled Veriton of CBR an Flac Meda aaee Sample haste Modulus CRY OMtPa) Plain Sot To 195 Soil + optimum coir pth ~ optimum coir fibre 9.660 433 Conclusions | Tn the present study, the suitability oF using coir waste as a stabilizer for improving the subgrade characteristics of ‘expansive soil was studied. According to the test results, the following outcomes ean be summarized, (©The CBR value was increased by 192% and 335 % for 2% coir pith and 0.6% of shor coir fibre addition, and the combined treatment increased the CBR by 4.6 times. ©The E-value forthe combined treatment increased from 7.92MPa a 9.66 MPa. (© The Engineering properties of soil vary with the addition of coir waste but further studies need to be conducted befor its implemeatation in te fel. ‘© Processing of coir waste in usable form is an employment generation activity in coir fibre manufacturing units and the effective use of coir waste can uplift rural economy and leads to beneficial offects in ‘engincering construction, Acknowledgement ‘The authors acknowledge the Kerala State Couneil for Science Technology and Environment (KSCSTE) for ‘funding this esearch work. References [1] Babu G. LS. and Chouksey 8. K. (2011), Siressstrain espouse if plastic waste mined soil. 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International Journal of Innovative Researchin Science, Brginering and Technology 28) S487-3452, 201 (13) Thomas G. V.,Pelaniswam C, Prabhu S. Gopal M. and Gupta A. (2013), Co-composting of coconut coir pith with slid poulzy manure. Curent Science 104(2: 245-250, [14]18 2720" 1972 (Reatfrmed 1985, Indian Standaé Methods of Test for Soil, BIS, New Delhi