When soft clay soils are included in engineering projects, it’s stabilized usually with some kinds of admixtures named as stabilizers. The common stabilizers that highly practiced are OPC, lime, high calcium fly ash (FA), etc. Each one of these stabilizers has its shortcomings. Geopolymers are the product of alkali activated aluminosilicate sources that excelled as an alternative to ordinary binders due to its sustainability, low cost and good mechanical properties. This study investigates the effects of some key elements like liquid over fly ash ratio (Liq/FA), initial duration curing time (D) and its temperature to soil – FA based Geopolymers samples characterized by its unconfined compressive strength testing (UCS), volumetric measurements, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and X-Ray diffraction (XRD). The Liq/FA taken as 2.71, 3.167, 3.8 and 4.75 respectively and the duration time taken were 1, 6, 18 and 24 hrs. respectively. The tests results showed that the maximum peak strength gain when Liq/FA is 3.8 at 90 oC with 24 hrs. D. It was observed that Young’s Modulus increased with increasing curing temperature for certain D. Volumetric strain increased by increasing D and its temperature. SEM and XRD analyses confirmed the Geopolymers gels formation for a selective precursor while EDX analyses showed that silicon over aluminium ratio is 1.38 for selective spectrum within the gel to the same mixture.

The civil engineering projects that includes soft clay within its activities has a serious concern of hazards, such hazards can be overcame by treating the existing soils by certain materials which are named as "stabilizers". The common materials that are highly used in this field are ordinary Portland cement, fly ash, lime and rice husk ash, etc. Each one of these stabilizers has its known shortcomings. The alkali activation of any alumina silicate source produces some kind of cost effective primary binding gel which is known as "Geopolymers". This study is devoted to investigate the role of liquid over fly ash ratio to some soil – FA based Geopolymers geotechnical properties. Such ratio is taken as 2.71, 3.167, 3.8 and 4.75 respectively within the experimental program and the investigated geotechnical properties are the specific gravity, liquid and plastic limit, compaction characteristics and California bearing ratio. The tests results showed that the maximum dry density decreased about 42 % at 2.71 liq/FA whereas this the specific gravity decreased 27 % at the same this ratio. In addition, the 3.8 and 4.75 of such limits revealed no plastic behavior due to the high presence of liquid.

In this research, the potential improvement of some geotechnical characteristics of soft clay soil using the low Calcium fly ash was evaluated. (These characteristics include unit weight, shear strength, compaction characteristics and soil plasticity characteristics). In addition, the X-ray diffraction test was performed to measure the mineralogical changes in the soft clay soil when the low Calcium fly ash is added. The ordinary Portland cement was used to activate the fly ash. The total percent of flash and cement was10% to investigate the variation in the effectiveness of activation. The optimum moisture content that which computed by the compaction test was adopted in the rest of the experimental program. The test results revealed that the cement could be used to improve the activating of the fly ash efficiently. The maximum value of dry density was marginally affected due to activation from 1.747 to 1.738 g/cm3 along with a corresponding change in optimum water content from 17.45 to 15.5 %. The soil cohesion parameter increased from 188 to 206 kN/m2 whereas the angle of internal friction rose from about 56.7o to 59.1o. Finally, the results of the unconfined compression test reveal that the cement-activated fly ash could present better results than those obtained from a 28-days curing cement.