CHAPTER ONE
Introduction
In Geotechnics, soil improvement could either be by modification or stabilization, or both. In stabilization, the soils are treated to enable their strength and durability to be improved such that they become totally or at least nearly suitable for construction beyond their original classification. A lot of laterites gravels and pisoliths, which are good for gravel roads, occur in tropical countries of the world, including Nigeria ( Abubakar, 2004). There are instances where a laterites may contain a substantial amount of clay minerals that its strength and stability cannot be guaranteed under load especially in the presence of moisture. These types of laterites are also common in many tropical regions including Nigeria where in most cases sourcing for alternative soil may prove economically unwise but rather to improve the available soil to meet the desired objective (Akanbi, 2005). Over the times, Gum Arabic has been used for stabilizing soils. The over dependent on the utilization of industrially manufactured soil improving additives (Gum Arabic etc.), have kept the cost of construction of stabilized road financially high. This hitherto have continued to deter the underdeveloped and poor nations of the world from providing accessible roads to their rural dwellers who constitute the higher percentage of their population and are mostly, agriculturally dependent. Thus the use of agricultural waste (such as Rice Husk Ash - RHA) will considerably reduce the cost of construction and as well reducing the environmental hazards they causes. It has also been shown by Arora (2005) that Gum Arabic, by the nature of its chemistry, produces large quantities of CO2 for every ton of its final product. Therefore, replacing proportions of the Gum Arabic in soil stabilization will reduce the overall environmental impact of the stabilization process. Soil in Civil Engineering can be said to be a material that is of great importance, especially if one is talking of construction, since foundation is the bed rock of any structure and sub-base is a very important part of a road. Soil and rocks materials are used mostly in the construction of Civil Engineering structures. The soil used in construction of road or building must be checked to see whether it is suitable or not otherwise, an unsuitable soil can lead to failure of structure because of its geotechnical formation and type. In most cases, if a soil is not suitable or it is unfit for its intended purpose to avoid any problem, the Engineer may choose to use a more suitable soil by hauling it to the site and replacing it with the suitable ones, but if it is not possible to do that, the next thing that comes to the mind of the Engineer is to stabilize it so as to make it fit for it intended purpose. This is exactly what this research work intends to do. In this era of technological advancement, it is better to improve on a material (like soil), than throwing it away. Thus, Engineers should focus on modifying or stabilizing of soil, in a road construction project, rather than having the wrong impression that the soil is useless and cannot be used.
Therefore, the communities living in North Eastern part of Nigeria, where this black cotton soil in common, should think of how the soil can be modified for any engineering use, rather than seeing it as useless. This research work will specifically focus on the possibility of adding Gum Arabic to improve upon the geotechnical properties of black cotton soil. The soil (black cotton soil) was obtained from savannah sugar company limited numan, adamawa state.
STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS
The major problems that black cotton soil have are swelling, high plasticity, instability, low shear strength. Also, slow draining which lead to water logging, impermeability and excessive volume change due to moisture absorption. With these kinds of properties, there is need to stabilize this type soil, so as to make it fit for use in construction of Civil Engineering structures such as roads, especially where suitable soils are scarce.
AIM AND OBJECTIVES
The research work is aimed at improving the geotechnical properties of black cotton soil and checking the effect of Gum Arabic in stabilizing it.
OBJECTIVES
1. To assess the effect of the admixtures on the index and engineering properties of stabilized black cotton soil.
2. To find out the effect of the additives on the properties of black cotton soil.
3. To see to it the strength value obtained at the optimum percentage of additives.
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Item Type: Project Material | Size: 53 pages | Chapters: 1-5
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