International Journal of Engineering Research ISSN:2319-6890)(online),2347-5013(print) Volume No.4, Issue No.6, pp : 296-299 01 June 2015 IJER@2015 Page 296 Review on Stabilization of Soil Using Coir Fiber Stuti Maurya a , Dr.A.K.Sharma b , Dr. P.K.Jain c , Dr.Rakesh Kumar d Department of Civil Engineering, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal, India stuti0707@gmail.com a ,aksphd2000@yahoo.com b , pkjain10@rediffmail.com c , rakesh20777@gmail.com d Abstract:Soil stabilization has become a major issue in construction engineering and the researches regarding the effectiveness of using natural wastes are rapidly increasing. The use of natural fibers to reinforce soil is an old and ancient idea. Consequently, randomly distributed fiber reinforced soils have recently attracted increasing attention in geotechnical engineering. The main aim of this paper, therefore, is to review the, benefits, properties and applications of coir fiber in soil reinforcement through reference to published scientific data. Keywords: California Bearing Ratio (CBR), Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS), Optimum Moisture Content (OMC), Maximum Dry Density (MDD), Fly Ash (FA), Safe Bearing Capacity (SBC). 1. Introduction Keeping in mind the large geographical area of India (3,287,240 sq. km) and population of India (125 million approximate) the vast network of structures and roads are required. (Singh and Mittal, 2014) The land available for construction is very less because of increasing urbanization and modernizations. Everywhere land is being utilized for various structures from an ordinary house to sky scrapers, from bridges to airports and from village road to highways or expressway. Soil being the cheapest and readily available construction material, has been popular with the civil Engineers, even though it being poor properties. Owing to this, construction of structures these days is being carried on land having weak or soft soil. Now, stability of any structure depends on the properties of soil. Using land having soft soil for construction leads to various ground improvement techniques such as soil stabilization and soil reinforcement. Most of the soil available are such that they have good compressive strength adequate shear strength but weak in tension/ poor tensile strength. To overcome the same, many researchers have concentrated their studies on the development of new such materials, through the elaboration of composites. (Chapale and Dhatrak, 2013) The foundation of a building or road is an essential part for effective transmission of load to the subsoil present beneath it. The quality of soil has large impact on type of structure and its design. The expansive soils are examples of weak soils, which encountered in foundation engineering for bridges, highways, buildings, embankments etc. Expansive soil undergoes volume changes when they come in contact with water. They show alternate swelling and shrinkage properties. It expands during rainy season and shrinks during summer season. Expansive soil covers nearly 20% of the land mass in Indian. These soils possess weak properties due to presence of clay minerals known as “Montmorillonite”. Typical behavior of soil results into failure of structure in form of settlements cracks etc. Therefore it is important to remove the existing weal soil and replaced it with a non expansive soil or improves the properties of weak soil by stabilization. (Kharade et. al, 2014) Expansive soils exhibit generally undesirable engineering properties. They tend to have low shear strengths and to lose shear strength further upon wetting or other physical disturbances. They can be plastic and compressible. Cohesive soils can creep over time under constant load, especially when the shear stress is approaching its shear strength, making them prone to sliding. They develop large lateral pressures. They tend to have low resilient modulus values. (Brooks, 2009) For all the above reasons, expansive soils are generally poor materials for construction. So to improve the soil properties stabilization or reinforcement of soil is done. Soil reinforcement is defined as a technique to improve the engineering characteristics of soil. In this way, using natural fibers to reinforce soil is an old and ancient idea. Consequently, randomly distributed fiber reinforced soils have recently attracted increasing attention in geotechnical engineering. (Hejazi et al, 2012). For sustainable development use of locally available materials, waste material should be encouraged in order to save the natural resources for future generation. Natural fibres can be easily obtained in many tropical regions and available throughout the world. There are many types of natural waste material found in India like coir, bagasse, rice husk, sisal, jute, oil palm etc. Being good reinforcement materials there is a need to concentrate on improving properties of soils using cost-effective practices. (Barazesh, 2012) 2. Literature review: Coir Fibre The outer covering of fibrous material of a matured coconut, termed coconut husk, is the reject of coconut fruit. The fibers are normally 50–350 mm long and consist mainly of lignin, tannin, cellulose, pectin and other water soluble substances.(Hejazi,et. al,2012) Coconut palms are mainly cultivated in the tropical regions of the world and the product from the palm is applied in food and non-food products, which sustains the livelihood of people all over the globe. The coconut palm comprises of a white meat which has a total percent by weight of 28 surrounded by a protective shell and husk which has a total percent by weight of 12 and 35 respectively. The husk from the coconut palm comprises of 30% weight of fibre and 70% weight of pith material. The fibre are extracted from the husk by several