Evaluation of Index Properties of Black Cotton Soil Stabilised with Plantain Peel Powder

Evaluation of index properties of black cotton soil stabilized with plantain peel powder (PPP) evaluated. Black Cotton Soils are a type of expansive soil which are basically susceptible to volumetric changes, with the changes in moisture. This is due to the presence of mineral montmorillonite, which as an expansive lattice. There are various materials that may be used as stabilizers but now in this research an attempt was made by stabilizing with plantain peel powder Black cotton soil was obtained from Yola Adamawa state Nigeria which was stabilised in (0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10) % proportion respectively. Laboratory test such as Natural Moisture Content (NMC), Specific gravity (Gs), Grain size analysis, Liquid Limit (LL), Plastic Limit (PI), Linear Shrinkage (Ls), All the test were carried out in accordance with the British Standard code of practice (BS13771990). The laboratory preliminary tests on the soil results showed that the %passing sieve 200 is greater than 35 % while Gs, LL, PI, Ls and NMC gave 2.6, 48 %, 20 %, 14 % and 14 % respectively. AASHTO and USCS soils classification system classified the soils as A-7-5 for (AASHTO) and CH materials which describe the soil as Clay of High Compressibility. The effect of PPP on the index properties showed that the LL %, PI % and Ls % varied between 48 and 32 for LL %, varied between 28 and 13 for PI % and varied between 14 and 7.5 for Ls % for ( 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10) PPP admixture which indicate that the higher the PPP the lower the clay content and the better the index properties examined. It was concluded that with the addition of PPP admixtures enhanced the index properties of the black cotton. Thus Plantain Peel Powder (PPP) can be used as a stabilizing agent for road works.