Effect of Lime and Rice Husk Ash on Index Properties of Black Cotton Soil.

This paper present an experimental investigation, carried out to study the effects of Rice Husk Ash on index properties of black cotton soil stabilized with 5%lime.Black cotton soil blended with 5% lime are treated by mixing Rice Husk Ash in 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% ratio by weight of dry soil as per relevant IS code of practice and tests for index properties are carried out. The results showed a marked change in index properties of soil sample. The liquid limit and plasticity index decrease from 48.5% to 41.8% and 25.8% to 12.3% respectively with increase in rice husk ash from 5% to20%to 5% lime blended black cotton soil whereas plastic limit and shrinkage limit increase from 22.7% to 29.5% and 8.61% to 13.76% respectively. Also the Differential Free Swell decreases from54.3% to 7.1%, showing appreciable decrease in swelling behavior. The improvement in Index properties of soil reveals that Rice Husk Ash is an important material to stabilize the Black Cotton soil and make suitable for construction purpose.