Compaction and Plasticity Comparative Behaviour of Soft Clay Treated with Coarse and Fine Sizes of Ceramic Tiles

Abstract

Recycled blended ceramic tiles (RBT) is a waste material produced from ceramic tile factories and construction activities. RBT is found to be cost effective, sustainable, environmental-friendly and has the potential to be used as an additive in soft soil stabilization. Recent reports show that massive amounts of RBT are dumped into legal or illegal landfills every year consuming very large spaces and creating major environmental problems. On the other hand, dredged marine clay obtained from Nusajaya, Johor, Malaysia has weak physical and engineering characteristics to be considered as unsuitable soft soil that is usually excavated, dumped into landfills and replaced by stiff soil. Hence, this study investigates the suitability of possible uses of RBT to treat marine clay. Laboratory tests included Standard proctor tests and Atterberg limits tests. The plasticity of marine clay was evaluated by adding 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% of 0.3 mm RBT. In addition, the compaction behaviour of treated marine clay was compared by adding two different sizes (0.3 mm and 1.18 mm diameter) of RBT. For both coarse and fine sizes of RBT, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% of the dry weight of the soft clay were added. The mixture of each combination was examined in order to evaluate the Maximum Dry Density (MDD) and the optimum moisture content (OMC) for the treated soft clay. MDD and OMC for soft untreated samples were 1.59 Mg/m3 and 22%, respectively. Treated samples with 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% of 0.30 mm size RBT resulted in a significant reduction of OMC ranged from 19 to 15% while MDD resulted in increment ranged from 1.69 to 1.77 Mg/m3. In addition, samples treated with 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% of 1.18 mm size RBT resulted in major reduction of OMC ranged from 15 to 13.5% while MDD increased effectively from 1.75 to 1.82 Mg/m3. For all mix designs of soft clay-RBT, MDD was gradually increasing and OMC was sharply reducing with further increments of both sizes of RBT.

Evaluating Engineering Properties of Marine Clay Soil at Malacca and Proposed Methods of Quality Enhancement

“…This paper serves as a comparison between studied marine clay and several types of marine clay samples taken from various South East Asian locations [1]- [10], [12], [13], [16], [17], [20], [21], [24]- [35], [37]- [39], [42]. Significant variations of the geotechnical parameters have been found for the same region, even if not of the same borehole.…”

“…Some results have displayed odd values compared to the general tendencies seen for Arkine of Japan [2]- [4], Ashikari (Japan) [35], Oita Prefecture (Malaysia) [2], and Klang (Malaysia) [24]. Nevertheless, the value of liquid limit w LL is found to be not less than 60% [3], [30], [35]; whereas the plastic limit w PL is below 30% [9], [10], [17], [20], [21], [32], [34], [37]. Similarly, the natural water content wn is within the range of liquid limit if not higher [4], [5], [7], [10], [12], [16], [17], [20], [30], [32], [39].…”

“…Nevertheless, the value of liquid limit w LL is found to be not less than 60% [3], [30], [35]; whereas the plastic limit w PL is below 30% [9], [10], [17], [20], [21], [32], [34], [37]. Similarly, the natural water content wn is within the range of liquid limit if not higher [4], [5], [7], [10], [12], [16], [17], [20], [30], [32], [39].…”

“…Vacuum preloading [16] -Takes long time to get the targeted strength; one year to rise strength from 4 kPa to 50 kPa -Improves bearing capacity about 10 times -Reduces water content 3 times Chemical RBT (recycled blended tiles) [20] -Very hard to apply in large scale because of mixing process limitation -For required strength a required RBT sizes are needed that could make uncertainties in shear strength due to mistakes in preparation of the mixture -Decreases liquid limit, plastic limit and plasticity index -Significantly increase in maximum dry density and decrease in OMC Based on the obtained results and comparison made with marine clay from previous research, Malacca marine clay was found to be following the same tendencies and behavior of other marine clays, which indicates the applicability of some of the proposed methods of treatment. However, each treatment method possessed their own respective limitation that may match the case study based on the size of the project, required scale of application, cost, time, and environmental restrictions.…”

“…Various methods were proposed to treat marine clay soils to enhance its characteristics. The void ratio was reduced by water content reduction [7], [16]- [19], while others add materials to increase soil shear strength [6], [8], [18], [20], [21].…”