UNCONFINED COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH BEHAVIOR OF SOIL STABILIZED BY VARIOUS FIBER COMBINATIONS – A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Stabilization of soil can be done in number of ways like cement stabilization, chemical stabilization, etc. Generally, modification of the soil properties can be done by blending it with different materials such as lime, cement and fly powder or by reinforcing the soil. Real challenge in front of civil engineers is to lay the substructure over poor soil like clay. Stabilization of the soil is one of the conventional and most preferable ways to improve the properties of the kind of soil. Shear strengths of the stabilized soil with different fiber combinations is determined by conducting series of Unconfined Compression (UCC) tests. California Bearing Ratio (CBR) tests are also conducted on stabilized soil to determine the suitability of the best fibre reinforcement. The natural fibers used as reinforcement are coconut coir fibre and Rice husk powder whereas the synthetic fibers used as reinforcement are nylon fiber and glass fiber. The results obtained are compared and inferences are drawn towards the usability and effectiveness of best fiber reinforcement which improves the strength of the soil. In the present study, clay soil is satisfied using combination of natural and synthetic fibers. Studies have already been carried out by many researches to stabilize clay using natural or synthetic fibers. Here the best combination of fiber is found to effectively stabilize the soil.