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Stabilization of soft clay in irrigation projects
Author(s) -
Mubeen M. M.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
irrigation and drainage
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.421
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1531-0361
pISSN - 1531-0353
DOI - 10.1002/ird.165
Subject(s) - lime , geotechnical engineering , compressive strength , crusher , soil water , irrigation , environmental science , clay minerals , clay soil , waste management , materials science , geology , engineering , soil science , metallurgy , mineralogy , composite material , agronomy , biology
Clay–lime improvement is an effective means to improve soft clay soil. Lime stabilization especially improves the strength and the workability of the clay soil. In addition, lime improvement provides more resistance to the soil structure and to the effect of weather on the soil structure. This study has investigated lime stabilization of soft clay and the possibility of utilizing waste rock powder produced in crusher plants as a supplemental material for lime stabilization in order to increase the strength of the soil structure. The purpose of the study was to apply the results especially in irrigation projects in order to avoid the problems of soft clay on irrigation structures in Sri Lanka. However, the results and conclusions can be considered for other regions, where the same type of soft clay problems exists. The Dutch Oostvaardersplassen (OVP) soft clay, which has a high plasticity, low shear strength and high natural water content, was chosen for the investigations. The results of unconfined compressive strength for different water contents of clay and also for different lime and waste rock powder contents show an excellent increase in strength and workability. The waste rock powder proved to increase the effect of lime stabilization. The strength improvement caused by waste rock powder is more significant for those soils which have a low clay content. Since in irrigation projects a wide range of clay soils exist, this investigation may be useful to utilize waste rock powder in order to improve the quality and the durability of the foundation of irrigation structures in the long run. Therefore the application of lime and rock material improvement on soft clay in irrigation projects may be a useful approach to stabilize soft soils and improve medium‐scale shallow foundation irrigation structures and road and canal embankments, including repairing canal leaks. It has also been found that by applying this method in irrigation projects in Sri Lanka, the stabilization cost for structures on soft clay can be significantly reduced compared to other methods. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.