A Study on Behaviour of Clayey and Silty Soils with Granite Dust

Abstract A massive amount of granite dust is produced as a byproduct of processing granite rock. Disposing of granite dust is a fatal to human health and is a environmental toxic for land disposal. An attempt was made to use such a material in construction, decrease the disposing problems. Soil, an important material bearing the load of the resisting structure can be available in various layers beneath the earth. Clayey soil and mixture of silt in soil layers exhibits inadequate load bearing ability and shows significant changes in volume with respect to changes in moisture levels. Stabilization of soil is the process that improves the behavior of soil properties. The study investigates the percentage of granite dust that can be a best stabilizer to silty and clayey soil. A series of laboratory tests were conducted to investigate the effects of granite dust. Artificial soil sample were prepared with 0%, 12%, 16%, 20%and 24% with additive as granite dust on silty and clayey soils. Chemical composition of the granite dust was studied for the application of granite dust as a stabilizer. Comprehensive soil tests like liquid limit, plastic limit, Maximum dry density, swell index, shear strength, CBR were performed. A significant decrease was observed in liquid and plastic limit varying with granite dust for both the soils. The dry density increases with an increase in % of granite dust. Swell index shows a decrease rate with increase in granite dust. The shear strength and CBR values gave appropriate increase conclude that granite dust can acts good soil stabilizer for clayey and silty soils.