The process of soil stabilization is a fundamental requirement before road infrastructure development is possible. Different binding materials have been used worldwide as soil stabilizers. In this study, water treatment waste (i.e., alum sludge (AS)) was used as a soil stabilizer. Alum sludge can work not only as a low-cost soil stabilizer but also can solve the problem of waste management at a large scale. Utilization of alum waste can be a sustainable solution and environmentally friendly exercise. Thus, in consideration of the pozzolanic properties of alum, it was applied as a binder, similar to cement or lime, to stabilize the soil with the addition of 2%, 4%, 6%, 8%, and 10% of dry soil by weight. To analyze the resulting improvement in soil strength, the California Bearing Ratio (CBR) test was conducted in addition to three other tests (i.e., particle size analysis, Atterberg’s limits test, and modified proctor test). The soil bearing ratio was significantly improved from 6.53% to 16.86% at the optimum level of an 8% addition of alum sludge. Furthermore, the artificial neural networks (ANNs) technique was applied to study the correlations between the CBR and the physical properties of soil, which showed that, at 8% optimum alum sludge, maximum dry density, optimum moisture content, and plasticity index were also at maximum levels. This study will help in providing an eco-friendly soil stabilization process as well as a waste management solution.
The amount of fines in sand greatly influence the permeability of sandy soils. Thus, this research was conducted to study the effect of plastic and non-plastic fines on the permeability of three types of sands (Lawrencepur sand, Chenab sand and Ravi sand). For this purpose, plastic and non-plastic fines were collected from different location of Lahore. Samples were prepared by mixing plastic and non-plastic fines into each type of sand separately, in amounts ranging from 0% to 50% with increments of five percent. Overall 63 samples were prepared. Sieve analysis and hydrometric analysis were performed to obtain particle size distribution for each sample. Atterberg’s limits were also determined and each sample was classified according to the Unified Soil Classification System (USCS). Compaction tests were performed on all samples as per the procedure in a standard Proctor test. The test samples were compacted in permeability molds with optimum moisture contents to obtain the density, as per a standard Proctor test. Hydraulic conductivity tests were performed on all sixty-three samples using a constant head permeameter and a falling head permeameter. Permeability results were plotted against the percentage of fines added. It was noted from the curves that the permeability of sand-fine mixtures shows a decreasing trend with the addition of fine contents. A few trials were performed to formulate a correlation. Validation of the correlation was performed with the results of 52 data sets from the field. Finally, the devised correlation was compared with three empirical equations proposed by Mujtaba, Kozeny–Carman and Hazen.
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