AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON EXPANSIVE SOIL IN CONJUNCTION WITH EGG SHELL POWDER AND ROCK DUST

Expansive soils are problematic due to the presence and consequent effect of their clay mineral constituents, which makes them show the volume change characteristics. The expansive and shrinkage behavior makes expansive soils unsuitable for direct engineering application in their natural form. In an effort to make them more practicable for different engineering applications, various additives and techniques are employed to improve the soil properties. Stabilization of soil with lime, cement, bitumen are expensive and therefore they are in need of an economic replacement. Further, replacement of expansive soils with good quality soil is quite uneconomical. The present investigation considers the effect of Egg Shell Powder (ESP) on expansive soil. The ESP Eggshell is a desecrate material from domestic sources such as poultries, hatcheries, homes and fast food hotels. Proper utilization of the ESP in conjunction with soil, if proved effective, could mitigate environmental pollution to larger extent. The Rock Dust (RD) which is being thought of as alternative to sand in the construction field, has been used, in proportion of 10-30%, in combination with optimum content of ESP for deriving maximum advantage of improving the engineering characteristics of soil. The sample of expansive clay has been extracted from Emani village of Duggirala Mandal of Tenali revenue division of Andhra Pradesh. The laboratory tests were conducted to find out the effect of these additives on consistency limits, compaction properties and California Bearing Ratio (CBR) at soaked condition. The purpose of the study is essentially to suggest the optimum combination to practicing engineers for use in various reengineering applications