Soil Water Characteristics Curve of Lime Stabilized Soil

Expansive clays are problematic deposits to civil engineering constructions as these deposits exhibit swelling and shrinkage during wet and dry seasons respectively. Therefore stabilization of expansive clay is of interest to engineers who deal with this soil. Among various stabilizing agents addition of lime with clay is considered more effective. The research work on Soil Water Characteristics Curve (SWCC) of lime stabilized soil cured at various curing conditions are limited. Towards understanding this aspect an attempt is made in the present investigation to bring out the effect of curing conditions and lime contents on SWCC of lime stabilized clayey soil. In the present investigation, a black cotton soil, classified as clay of high plasticity, CH, is used for all the experiments. Laboratory grade hydrated lime was used for the stabilization of soil. Based on the experimental results, efforts were made to establish empirical relations between SWCC parameters with curing condition, lime content etc. The SWCC of lime treated soil with different lime content, curing period and curing temperature were plotted. The SWCC parameters a, m, n were affected by lime treatment. The average value of parameter �a� increased with increase in lime content and curing temperature. As far as curing period was concerned �a� increased upto 14 days curing and slightly reduces thereafter.