Abstract:
Coastal cities are in desperate need of suitable land to meet the ever-increasing demand for urban infrastructure to support commercial, residential, tourism, and off-shore activities. Countries with a lengthy coastal line, such as India, possess significant areas of wide spread highly saline soils subjected to periodic seawater intrusion. One such soil stratum was encountered at the Gulf of Cambay, Bhavnagar district, Gujarat, India. The Gulf has a positive water balance, mainly due to the high volume of river runoff. The relative humidity ranges between 65%-86% thus offering semi-arid to sub-humid climatic conditions. The high salinity, mineral content, basaltic origin, and deeper water table offered the impetus to investigate applicability of various soil treatment options for such saline soils. Admixture stabilization techniques have been shown to help with problematic soil features. The current study aims to determine the effectiveness of adding and combining locally available Class C fly ash (10% - 30% by weight) and cement (6% - 9% by weight) to Bhavnagar saline soil in terms of strength, electrical conductivity and California Bearing Ratio. To quantify mineralogical features and the nature of cementation for strength development, X-ray diffraction analysis and scanning electron microscopy were performed respectively. In this assessment, a comparison of stabilized and unstabilized saline soil mixtures is expected to highlight the need of understanding influence of treatment on mechanical behaviour of stabilized saline soils, as well as assist practitioners in efficacious treatment of extreme saline soils for diverse geotechnical and construction applications.
Abstract: Theme 5