Marginal lateritic soil/crushed slag blends as an engineering fill material

摘要

Lateritic soil (LS) with suitable mechanical properties is commonly used as the subbase and as engineering fill material in roads. However, LS is becoming increasingly scarce as a source for road projects. The usage of marginal LS as a pavement subbase and engineering fill material leads to some challenging issues that this research seeks to address. This paper evaluates the possibility of using crushed slag (CS), a waste by-product, as a replacement material to stabilize marginal LS for engineering fill applications. An investigation was undertaken on the physical and mechanical properties of the LS/CS blends at various CS replacement contents. The laboratory evaluation program included particle size distribution, specific gravity, water absorption, Los Angeles (LA) abrasion, Atterberg limit, California Bearing Ratio (CBR) and swelling tests. CS replacement was found to reduce the fine content and increase the abrasion resistance of the marginal LS, resulting in a reduction in liquid limit, plasticity index, LA abrasion and particle breakage. With increases in the CS replacement content, a marked improvement in the physical properties of the blends was found, including increased soaked CBR and reduced swelling. Normalized CBRCS/CBR0 and S-CS/S-0 and CS replacement relationships were developed in this research. CBRCS and S-CS are the CBR and swelling values at various CS replacement contents, respectively and CBR0 and S-0 are the CBR0 and swelling values at a 0% CS replacement content, respectively. The results are expected to be of interest to both geotechnical and pavement practitioners. The physical and mechanical properties of the blends with a minimum of 10% CS replacement content were found to meet the national local road authority requirements for engineering fill material. (C) 2018 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of The Japanese Geotechnical Society.