IMPROVEMENT OF SHEAR STRENGTH OF SOIL USING BITUMEN EMULSION

Soil is one of the nature's most abundant construction materials. Almost all type of construction is built with or upon the soil. If the sub grade is not enough good the whole structure will face failure such as cracks. Therefore the sub grade is normally replaced with stronger soil material so as to improve the strength but this is not economical. In this project the strength of soil is increased by adding bituminous emulsion instead of replacing with stronger soil. The initial strength of the soil is determined by conducting soil tests such as sieve analysis, plastic limit, liquid limit, shrinkage limit, Modified proctor compaction test and California bearing ratio tests. The results obtained are then compared with the soil treated with 10%, 20% and 25% of bitumen emulsion.