Stabilization of black cotton soil using lime

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Date
2006
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Dar es Salaam
Abstract
Road construction over black cotton soils generally poses a major problem due to the high-volume changes, severe cracking when dry, low bearing values when wet, lack of drainage and scarcity of good construction materials in the vicinity. With this problem at hand, Lime stabilization can be employed in order to improve some of the properties of the soil so that the available local materials can be utilised for the construction of roads. Clay soil can be stabilized by the addition of small percentages, by weight, of lime, thereby enhancing many of the engineering properties of the soil and producing an improved construction material. This project was carried out with the aim to find out if lime stabilization does indeed improve the properties of the black cotton soil from Rufiji such as workability, compaction strength, consistency limits and swelling. From the results obtained from various tests, it was observed that the engineering properties of the black cotton soil were indeed improved by the addition of lime. The addition of lime to the soil increased the optimum moisture content by 9% and decreased the maximum dry density by 5%. The addition of lime to the soil increased the (CBR) strength of the soil by 20%. The addition of lime also improved the workability of the soil. It was also observed that, the addition of lime led to an increase in plastic limit by 64% and reduction in liquid limit by 17%. Properties such as shrinkage and swell were reduced by 52% and 97% respectively. Indeed, from the results obtained, it can be seen that the addition of lime to the black cotton soil has improved the engineering properties of the soil significantly.
Description
Available in printed form, East Africana Collection, Dr. Wilbert Chagula Library, Class mark (THS EAF TE210.5.L5M87)
Keywords
Cotton, Agriculture, Soils, Black cotton soil
Citation
Mutanyatta, R. (2006) Stabilization of black cotton soil using lime. Master dissertation, University of Dar es Salaam. Dar es Salaam.