Improvement of Geotechnical Properties of Expansive Soil by Lime and Polypropylene Fiber Material

Improvement of the Geotechnical properties
of expansive soils by mixing Lime and
Polypropylene Fibers is the main
concentration of this research. For this
research purpose, expansive soil samples were
collected from the North-East part of Dhaka.
The soil has been proved to be expansive
(Plasticity Index, Plastic Limit, Liquid Limit,
Swelling Pressure, Swell Index, and Swelling
Potential). In this study, polypropylene fibers
and lime were used with soil to observe its
effect on the strength and swelling properties
of expansive soil. The soil sample was
formulated with 2.5% to 10% lime by the
weight of soil and 2% polypropylene fiber
was mixed with soil. Compared with the raw
sample with swelling properties of the
stabilized samples decreases in the beginning
when lime content up to 7.5%, then it
increased. Polypropylene fiber was used to
reduce the axial and lateral expansion of this
soil. The results show that the untrained
shear strength and unconfined compressive
strength of improved samples with the
addition of lime and fiber concentration is
substantially higher than the unimproved
samples. Whereas, axial compression
decreases finally, it may be said that the
stabilization of expansive soils with lime and
polypropylene fiber could be a practicable
method.