Research Article Effect of Used Motor Oil and Bitumen as Additive on the Permeability and Mechanical Properties of Low Plastic Soil Kamran Iqbal , 1 Chengshun Xu, 1 Hassan Nasir , 2 Muhammad Alam , 3 Asim Farooq , 2 and Edward J. Williams 4 1 Department of Civil Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China 2 Department of Civil Engineering, CECOS University of IT and Emerging Sciences, Peshawar, Pakistan 3 Department of Civil Engineering, Abasyn University, Peshawar, Pakistan 4 Department of Civil Engineering, University of Michigan-Dearborn, Dearborn, Michigan, USA Correspondence should be addressed to Kamran Iqbal; kamran@emails.bjut.edu.cn Received 16 April 2020; Accepted 8 July 2020; Published 30 July 2020 Guest Editor: Zhen Leng Copyright © 2020 Kamran Iqbal et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Stability of permeable soils near large-scale water reservoirs for paved and unpaved road pavements is all too frequently compromised due to excessive seepage and the climatic conditions of that area. In this research, a multilevel research approach was adopted by conducting a comparative study of the microspectroscopy through Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra to investigate the maximum absorbance correlation along with mechanical investigations (such as the compressive strength, modified proctor test, California bearing ratio test, and swell percentage test). e native low plastic soil sample (CL) was blended with varying percentages of petroleum additives (bitumen and used motor oil) independently at 0%, 4%, 8%, 12%, 16%, and 20%. A comparison of results in the case of bitumen and used motor oil revealed that a decrease in Atterberg’s limits occurred accompanied by an increase of bitumen blending percentage, while used motor oil (UMO) increased the plastic limit. Maximum dry density (MDD) increases while optimum moisture content (OMC) decreases with the increase in bitumen. Used motor oil (UMO) initially (up to 4%) increased the MDD and subsequently decreased it. Investigative reports show that bitumen causes a decrease in swell percentage and increases California bearing ratio (CBR), whereas UMO causes a continuous increase in percentage swell and decrease in CBR. e addition of bitumen in soil resulted in a decrease in the coefficient of permeability (k), while UMO has a significant result of up to 4%. Regarding the control sample, spectrum analysis through FTIR effectively supports the laboratory results as the intensity of peaks increases with the oil, and bitumen con- centration reveals that oil and bitumen impart cementitious property to the soil. Moreover, this research work by experiment supported and strengthened the idea of soil pavement stabilization through bitumen, which gives antiwater stability, and facilitates low-cost construction by obtaining raw material on the spot. UMO adversely affects soil properties beyond 4% addition by weight. 1. Introduction Considering the material quality, plus transport, economic, and political issues, engineers sometimes must use low- quality soil during road construction. ese low-quality soil materials are prone to show unattractive engineering be- havior, such as low bearing capacity, susceptibility to dif- ferential settlement, high percentage swell, high moisture susceptibility, and poor permeability or seepage behavior. is type of unwanted soil behavior is generally attributed to the nature of the soil and the fine-grained components present in the soil material. us, fine-grained soils such as silts and clays proved to be the most problematic materials [1]. Stabilizing such type of local material has millions of years of history [2]. is research attempted to improve certain desired geotechnical properties such as shear strength parameters (c-ϕ), permeability, CBR, and the compaction behavior of locally available soil of Peshawar, Pakistan, through used motor oil (UMO) and bitumen. UMO, also known as waste crankcase oil or waste engine oil, is a lubricating oil used in the crankcase of an internal combustion engine [3]. is UMO is a mixture of 90% Hindawi Advances in Materials Science and Engineering Volume 2020, Article ID 1360197, 10 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/1360197