Effect Of Maize Cob Ash And Waste Ceramic Powder On Geotechnical Properties Of Expansive Soil: In The Case Of Dukem Town

Abstract

Expansive Soil Is A Term Generally Applied To Any Clay Soil Material That Has A Potential For Shrinking Or Swelling Under Changing Moisture Conditions. Expansive Soil Poses Damages To Buildings, Roads, And Railway Which Are Constructed On It. To Come Across The Risk Of These Problematic Soils, Possible Geotechnical Solutions For The Improvement Of Their Properties Should Be Conducted To Maintain The Safety And Stability Of Any Project Built Over Them. Due To The Daily Increasing Costs Of Cement And Lime That Were Used As Improvement Techniques, Several Researchers Focused More On The Use Of Potentially Cost-Effective And Locally Available Waste Materials From Industrial And Agricultural, To Enhance The Properties Of These Deficient Soils. To Improve The Properties Of Expansive Soil No Research Was Done Using Maize Cob Ash And Waste Ceramic Powder Together. Therefore, This Research Work Was Aimed To Investigate The Effects Of Maize Cob Ash And Waste Ceramic Powder On The Geotechnical Properties Of Expansive Soil. The Preliminary Investigation Of The Soil To Be Stabilized Indicates That It Belongs To A-7-5 Class In The Aashto And Ch As Uscs Soil Classification System. Soils Under This Class Are Generally Of Poor Engineering Use, And Truly Require To Be Strengthened. Expansive Soil Was Treated Using A Similar Percentage Of 5%, 10%, 15%, And 20% Of Maize Cob Ash, And Waste Ceramic Powder Separately By Dry Weight Of The Soil. The Laboratory Tests Carried Out On The Natural And Stabilized Soils Include Atterberg Limits, Free Swelling, Compaction, Unconfined Compressive Strength, And California Bearing Ratio (Cbr) Tests. From The Analysis Of The Test Result, The Plasticity Index, And Free Swell Of The Soil Were Decreased While Mdd, Unconfined Compressive Strength, And Cbr Of Stabilized Soil Show Increment Upon Addition Of Each Stabilizer By The Same Amount From 0% To 20%. The Optimum Percentage Of Maize Cob Ash Was Found To Be 15% Mca+85% And The Maximum Percentage Of Waste Ceramic Powder Used Was Found To Be 20%Wcp+80%Es Based On The Strength Properties When Using The Materials Separately. In Addition To The Above, Based On The Investigated The Combined Effect Of Maize Cob Ash And Waste Ceramic Powder, The Optimum Amount Of Mixes Was 15%Mca+20%Wcp And It Is Concluded That It Is Effective To Use The Materials Separately Rather Than In Combination Since It Was Given Less Strength. Mca Is More Effective In Reducing Plasticity And Swelling Properties Of Soils, And Wcp Is More Effective To Enhance The Strength Properties Of The Expansive Soil. Generally, This Study Shows That The Stabilized Materials Were Suitable For The Improvement Of Weak Soil.