A STUDY ON STRENGTH CHARACTERISTICS OF SOIL REPLACED WITH PONDASH AND REINFORCED WITH COIR FIBRE

Over the last few years, the construction of highways and roads has taken a boost. This requires a huge amount of natural soil to excavated or to be deposited which is an environmental issue and economical too. These issues motivates in development of alternative methods and thus leads to the reuse of suitable industrial by products. Pond ash is one such by product. Expansive nature of black cotton soil generates lot many problems in pavement construction. Thus for good performance and long life of road it is important to improve the properties of black cotton soil. This study deals with improving the properties of black cotton soil through addition of Pond ash and naturally available coir fibre which is an environmental friendly option. During this work, a series of tests such as CBR test, compaction test and Unconfined compression test were carried out . Percentage of pondash varied from 20, 40, 60 and 80 % whereas percentage of fibre varied from 0.50, 0.75, 1 and 1.5%. Results of laboratory investigation revealed that 60% pondash, and 1% of fibre were optimum for the improvement of strength characteristics of soil stabilization. Flexible Pavement design are also done for both stabilized and non stabilized soil subgrade and the results were compared.