Clayey soil as compared with sand or other coarser soil materials are found to be less reliable as

foundation for construction. Due to the plastic characteristics and low hydraulic conductivity of

clayey soils, water particles tend to linger for a longer time before completely draining out within

this material compared with sands and gravels. When a massive structure is built above clayey

soils, these types of soil will be compressed and will drain out the water that can not be of any

help in sustaining the load above these soil. Due to low hydraulic conductivity, pore pressure

slowly draining out of the clayey soil mass can cause a longer time of complete settlement.

Although settling of foundation does not occur immediately, the inevitable downward movement

of soil can go beyond its safe capacity thus compromising structure in the future. For some

places, due to rapid growth of economy and population, demand for housing and offices follows.

However to put up such structures not only concern financing and urban planning but it also

concerns the soil quality and characteristics to where structures are to be constructed. Clayey

materials may not be much of a reliable laying material for foundations but various soil

modification techniques are found to be beneficial for altering geotechnical soil properties

turning it suitable for urbanization and development.

Summary for Mechanical properties soil stabilized with nano calcium carbonate and

reinforced with carpet waste fibers by Asskar Janalizadeh Choobbasti, Mostafa Amozadeh

Samakoosh & Saman Soleimani Kutanaei.

Soil treatment or improvement techniques for attaining higher shearing capacity include

reinforcement, addition of stabilizing agents, compaction and reduction of pore water within

soils. Among these mentioned treatments, the use of stabilizing agents, specifically using lime,

gypsum and other cementitious agents, are ones that give the most beneficial effect to strengthen
soil geotechnical properties. With technological advancement, the use of nanosized stabilizing

agents allows maximizing the reaction effect between soils and stabilizing agents. Due to the

smaller sizes of stabilizing agents, the overall surface area of these additives increase thus more

area of reactivity for the binding of soils and stabilizing agents. In addition to that, even small

addition of these stabilizing agents can greatly impact the soil bearing capacity. Another soil

improvement technique that can be used is the reinforcement of soil through the use of recycled

fibers or carpet textiles. Technology has made it possible to convert these materials into reliable

and useful reinforcement materials when combined with soil. Existing studies about the use of

such techniques are showing positive results and thus becoming of great interest for studies about

soil improvement. With such a technique, waste materials are reduced even by small percent thus

slightly reducing the landfilling problems especially in the US where 5% of its annual 200

million tons of waste are textiles and carpets.

In a series of experiments conducted by Choobbasti, A.J. & Samakoosh M.A. et al., soil strength

of clayey soil mixed with varying proportions of nano calcium carbonate (at 0, 0.4, 0.8 and 1.2%

by weight of the soil) and varying proportions of reinforcement agents of carpet waste fibers (at

0, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6% by weight of the soil) was evaluated using different compression tests;

unconfined compression tests, ultrasonic pulse velocity tests and unconsolidated undrained (UU)

triaxial tests. Prior to putting the soil samples into test it was verified that the sampled soil type is

clay through Atterberg limits tests and Unified Soil Classification System (USCS). For the

sample preparation of the experiment, soils samples were oven-dried and divided into several

equal parts afterwards. Each part of the overall sample was sufficiently mixed with a

predetermined amount of nano calcium carbonate for at least 3 hours. For each soil sample with
a certain nano calcium carbonate mix, water content for optimum moisture content was then

added along with fiber and mixed to attain a homogenous mixture. The time of curing was also

considered in these experiments. The number of days before testing for each mix design of the

samples were from 7, 14, 28 and 42 days.

The results of these experiments showed that under the Atterberg Limits Test, with adding

increments of nano calcium carbonate by weight percentage of 0, 0.4, 0.8 and 1.2% to the soil

samples, the liquid limit of the soils are reduced for every incremental increase of nano calcium

carbonate thus resulting to reduction of plasticity index as well.

For UCT, the average of clay samples that contained 0% nano calcium carbonate but with

varying fiber contents (0, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6%) showed that the higher the fiber content, the higher

the maximum compression before failure occurs. That is, for fibers with 0.6% weight content of

the clay sample, highest maximum compression is attained. While using the 0.6% fiber content

for testing the unconfined compressive strength of soil at varying nano calcium carbonate

content (0, 0.4, 0.8 and 1.2%), the soil sample containing the 1.2% nano calcium carbonate is

concluded with the highest unconfined compression both for samples cured at 7 and 42 day. In

addition to that, the sample that was tested after 42 days attained the highest unconfined

compressive strength in comparison to that of only cured at 7 days. The reason why compressive

strength is greater at longer days of curing is because of the time allowance given to soils and the

nano calcium carbonate to fully complete the reaction of binding. In addition to that, while

reaction occurs between soil and stabilizing agents, voids spaces are being filled in at the same

time thus compacting more the soil samples and adding further strength to the sample.
For the Unconsolidated Undrained (UU) Triaxial Tests, the result of controlled samples [of (1)

clay, (2) clay+fiber, (3) clay+ncc & (4) clay+fiber+ncc] cured at 28 days revealed that clay added

with only nano calcium carbonate attained higher shearing strength in comparison to clay added

with only fiber. But the sample that contained both fiber and nano calcium carbonate resulted in

the highest strength. It was also observed that clay samples [(1) clay vs. clay+fiber & (2)

clay+ncc vs clay+ncc+fiber] that contained fiber had insignificant contribution to soil shearing

capacity during initial load application and only showed significant increase in terms of adding

soil shearing capacity at higher load application. It was explained that during initial compression

load increase, the interaction in terms of contact between soil and fibers are still negligible and

only at higher compressive load that fiber facilitates significant contribution with soil shearing

capacity since clay sample is more compressed and contact with fiber. The failure envelope from

this study showed that although addition of fiber contributed to the shearing capacity, addition of

fiber reduced the cohesion strength of soil sample.

Soil improvement can add safety to the structure, especially if it will be a massive one. With

identification and recognition of mix design for soil improvement that can result in optimal

strength, there is a tendency to reduce deep excavation for foundation as well as possibility of

reducing cost of the project. That is deep and wide knowledge of soil treatment can cut costs for

the project and increase safety of the project.

Personal reaction to the study

It feels like a tedious task at first but once I have got through understanding the gist of this

specific study, it makes more sense of what was discussed in class, especially the concepts and

the different testing methods used for studying soil property and characteristics. Lectures feed us

with concepts and introduction to different testing equipment and methods but reading studies

about this soil improvement makes it more sensible why such methods of testing are being used.

Poor geotechnical property of soil is manageable to some extent for as long as there is a

treatment and additives that can compensate for the weaknesses of soil. For example, I realized

that if a given area is found to be potentially economically viable for commercialization but

happens to be unsuitable for urbanization and development due to poor soil quality, it can not

just take away that potential. There can still be a remedy to improving soil quality and property.

This is one of the realizations I kind of get in this paper writing.

However going back to the study, the part where the researcher concluded that adding of nano

calcium carbonate reduces liquid limit and narrows the plasticity index. I think this seems to

contradict the general result of the study since lowering of liquid limits can make the soil

susceptible to poor compressibility. With liquid limits found at lower values, it could mean that

soil can exhibit liquid property at lower moisture content and it can lead to low bearing capacity

of soil. Nonetheless, I find this study beneficial in terms of deepening and widening my

understanding of geotechnical engineering and its application towards building structures and

ensuring safer soil beneath.

Summary for Strength development in fine-grained paddy field soil by lime addition by

Shriful Islam, N.M. Robiul Hoque, M. Aminul Haque, Partha N. Mishra, M.M.H. Mamun &

Susmita Dey.

Significant portion of Bangladesh is under a clayey soil material and due to the increase of

human density and demand for housing and infrastructures, the people and government are left

with the choice of putting up such structures at agricultural fields. This activity may pose a threat

during heavy flooding and extreme earthquakes due to poor permeability, low bearing capacity

and weak shearing capacity of clay materials. The focus of this study is the evaluation of

soil-lime mixture treatment for soil improvement. Lime is a calcium containing mineral

predominated by carbonates, oxides and hydroxides and is a common binding material in

construction.

In this study, clay samples taken 3 meters deep from the ground surface of a paddy field near a

university in Sylhet, Bangladesh was the subject of soil strength evaluation under varying

soil-lime mixture (at 0, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 & 12% mass to mass ratio). Geotechnical properties such

as moisture content, grain-size distribution, specific gravity and Atterberg limits at different

mixtures were also identified. For each mixture, the optimum moisture content (OMC) and

maximum dry density (MDD) were as well identified using the Standard Proctor Test. After

identifying geotechnical properties, clay samples of varying lime content underwent oedometer

testing and kept at working condition of 22-23॰ Celsius and cured for 1, 3, 7, 28 and 90 days. For

the identification of hydraulic conductivity, the falling head test was utilized. Unconfined

compressive strength was used to obtain the effect and changes of soil strength for the varying

soil-lime mixture.
Results from soil testing showed that the untreated clay (0% lime added) have OMC of 19.5%

and MDD of 1.62g/cm3 and is the highest among the treated clay (3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 & 12% mass

lime added). In addition to that, with every increment of lime agent, OMC for each soil-lime

mixture is consistent with the increases as the moisture content increases. It can be explained that

the reason for such a relation is that with higher percentage of lime in the soil samples, there are

also higher percentages of finer particles that can react and accommodate water to facilitate the

hydration reaction. For the MDD however, increase of lime content showed decrease in MDD of

soil samples.

In terms of hydraulic conductivity for the varying soil-lime mixture, results from falling head test

showed that curing a sample with a longer number of days, the lower the hydraulic conductivity

for all ranges of lime added with up to 7%. In addition to that, the addition of lime content to soil

samples at 3%, 5%, 6% & 7% has significant observable differences in hydraulic conductivity,

again, in relation to the number of days cured. However, passing or adding lime content beyond

7%, all tested samples under varying curing days went flat to a very low hydraulic conductivity.

That is, beyond the 7% addition of lime to soil, the hydraulic conductivity became similar at a

very low value. The same reason from the previous study can be the explanation to such

behavior of the soil. As there are more percent of lime or cementing agent in the soil sample, the

more it can facilitate hydration reaction thus filling and compacting more the void spaces with

the soil samples. Also, as the number of curing days increases, hydraulic conductivity lowers.

This again could be due to the time allowance given between soil and lime to undergo complete

hydration and cementation. This in turn increases the unconfined compressive strength of the soil

samples. In connection with the previous study, it can be assumed that the higher the lime
content added to soil, the higher the compressive strength will become. But in this study where

soil samples are tested up to 12% lime added, and the greatest unconfined compressive strength

was taken from soil samples of only 7% lime added. It was followed by soil samples with lime

added of 6%, 5%, 8%, 3%, 10%, 12% and 0%, respectively. The same trend was observed on

samples cured at 28 and 90 days. These findings lead to the conclusion that this specific type of

soil near a university in Sylhet, Bangladesh has an optimum strength at lime addition of 7% by

mass.

The last findings that can be taken from this study is that soil samples at under controlled

temperature showed that unconfined compressive strength is higher at higher curing temperature.

Higher temperatures are also observed in other existing studies to efficiently accelerate curing of

the soil and lime. Lastly, this specific soil sample has maximum compressive strength at water

with pH level of 11.

Personal reaction to the study

This specific study deals with identifying the best lime addition to the existing soil near a

university in Bangladesh. With all the findings that were taken from the study, it was interesting

to find out that it is not always the case that when cementing agents increase, it will always result

in a stronger soil mixture. I think the optimal amount of stabilizing or cementing agents will

greatly depend on the soil properties and types. This study revealed that it was only at 7% lime

added when soil can be optimal in terms of strength. Also, with a little background checking I

did on the internet, it was interesting to get a haunch that high rise buildings in Bangladesh could

unlikely go very high. For comparison purposes, Philippines' tallest building is 318 meters high

(Tallest Building in the Philippines: History, Architecture, and Background, n.d.) while

Bangladesh's tallest building stands at 171 meters high only (Islam, 2023) and considering that

both countries are under the category of developing country, it can be assumed that with the type

of soils Bangladesh has, it can affect the level of structures that can be erected in that country or

at least on paddy areas.

Now on the paper itself, with the result of the study, it was not clearly explained why increase of

lime resulted in reduction of maximum dry density when lime or cementing materials are usually

denser compared with clay. The study is also saying that at longer days of curing and higher

cementing agent content, there is a pattern of better compacting the soil during hydration

reaction but it did not quite make sense to me why since adding lime actually resulted in

reduction of MDD.

Nonetheless this study is a good source of information about soil testing, especially the results

actually reflected soil situation located in Bangladesh.

 References

Choobbasti, A. J., Samakoosh, M. A., & Kutanaei, S. S. (2019). Mechanical properties of soil
stabilized with nano calcium carbonate and reinforced with carpet waste fibers.
Construction and Building Materials, 211, 1094–1104.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2019.03.306

Islam, S., Hoque, N. M. R., Haque, M. A., Mishra, P. N., Mamun, M. M. H., & Dey, S. (2019).
Strength development in fine-grained paddy field soil by lime addition. Journal of
Building Engineering, 26, 100857. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2019.100857

Tallest Building In The Philippines: History, Architecture, And Background. (n.d.).

Corner4men.com.
https://corner4men.com/lifestyle/tallest-building-in-the-philippines-history-architecture-a
nd-background-ar208

Islam, R. (2023, January 2). Top 10 Tallest Buildings in Bangladesh (2023 Edition).
https://prothomblog.com/tallest-buildings-in-bangladesh/