Geophysical use of quarry dust (as admixture) as applied to soil stabilization and modification-a review

The availability of build able land is fast drifting away each day due to scarcity of lands with good natural bearing capacity. This leads to construction of buildings on poor soils which eventually lead to structural foundation failures. It has become very imperative to improve soils or the quality of grounds by the adoption of suitable improvement methods depending on the materials available. However, during soil or ground improvement, cost effectiveness is one of the major factors considered cardinal. Consequent upon this, there is a paramount need to adopt the use of admixtures during cement/soil improvement or stabilization. This necessitated the review on a very important admixture in geotechnical engineering and in cement stabilization of soils during pavement construction. However, quarry dust which is a waste product from aggregate production could replace some proportions of sand/soil. This admixture not only replaces some proportions of soil for cost effective soil improvement but according researches carried over the years on this waste product, improves the geophysical properties of the joint mixture; cement/soil/quarry dust. Since the introduction of quarry dust improves the engineering behavior of soils, this review work exposes those qualities and applications that make quarry dust a good replacement or admixture during soil improvement and for a more economic approach. The present review also gives researchers and geotechnical engineers a clue on the application of quarry dust and the limit for its usage.