Potential and future: utilization of waste material on strength characteristics of marine clay

Abstract

The utilization of waste materials has been a sustainable approach to soil improvement that took an interest in a number of researchers. Statistics show that out of the 76 percent of solid waste that is collected in Malaysia, only 5% is recycled while 95% of waste were dumped at landfills. This shows that there is a need to reutilize waste materials. This paper aims to discuss the different types of waste materials which are demolished tile material (DTM), demolished concrete material (DCM) and coal ash waste to improve the properties of marine clay. Experimental studies have been conducted by varying percentages of waste materials ranging from 5 – 15% with curing periods of 0, 7 and 28 days. Unconfined compressive strength test (UCS) was performed in order to determine the strength of these mixtures. The results obtained were that for both DCM and coal ash waste when mixed with marine clay would increase the strength of soil with increasing curing period. While for DTM, the strength of soil decreases with the immediate addition of additive but will later increase its strength gradually. Hence, the outcome obtained from this study is that both DCM and coal ash is suitable for the stabilization of marine clay soil while DTM is suitable for long term stabilization on marine clay.