INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC & TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH VOLUME 9, ISSUE 01 , JANUARY 2020 ISSN 2277-8616 3670 IJSTR©2020 www.ijstr.org THE EFFECT OF OPC CEMENT ON ENGINEERING PROPERTIES OF GRANULAR SOILS Yatesh Thakur Abstract: Quality assurance is the major task during road construction work due to scarcity of good quality sub-grade materials like aggregates becoming uneconomical in many local areas. In many situations, available aggregates are not meeting desired properties and specification and if they met may because of extra expenses due to transportation charges from another location. This problem can be overcome by using locally available materials like granular soils as aggregates. Alteration of materials is one of the best practices which not only reduce construction cost but also assure the quality of construction. There are many methods have been tried to enhance engineering properties granular soils, but most of the stabilization techniques of soils often depend on additives such as cement, lime, fly ash, blast furnace slag etc. The current practice is to modify the engineering properties of granular soils using OPC cement to meets the design specifications. In the present work, various engineering tests has been performed to determine the geotechnical properties of cement stabilized granular soil i.e. strength and compaction characteristics of granular soils (Sandy/gravelly soil) with varying percentages of cement such as 2%, 4%, 6%, and 8% by dry weight of the soil. The strength behavior of cement stabilized granular soil has been analyzed after 7day curing. Cement stabilized granular soils (Sandy/gravelly soil) is used to assess its strength and make it possible as an alternative material for the construction of road sub-base and base courses. Index Terms: Geotechnical properties, Granular soils, Cement stabilization, Compaction characteristics, Soil Stabilization. —————————— ◆ —————————— 1 INTRODUCTION A.General In rural areas of India, there is a very less substantial volume of road length. Due to natural activities like heavy rain and flooding condition in various parts of the road causes severe effects on the majority of these unpaved roads. These unpaved roads required to be repaired and maintain frequently throughout the year. These destructive effects beside probably insufficient compaction considerable impart the sturdiness of that road. The end result is relatively less sub-grade strength and eventually high thickness of pavement if road to construct. Some local treatment with locally available material like cement has satisfactory results and economical benefits on the construction of a road in rural areas and on this context cement stabilized bases or sub-bases are suitable for the construction of rural roads having low volume or light traffic flow. In recent year the use of stabilized pavement materials has been placed increasing prominence. Through the utilization of stabilizing agents, low-quality materials can be economically upgraded to the extent that these may be effectively utilized in the pavement structure. Stabilized pavement materials are usually incorporated into the pavement structure as base courses and sub-bases. Granular soils such as gravelly and sandy soil are locally available materials, with a number of applications. In rural areas, many roadways are prepared with granular soils, where traffic volume is low. A majority of local soils, in their natural form lack of desired shear strength and sturdiness, so they need to be improved by stabilization process and make them suitable for road construction work. There are many stabilization techniques available, among them, cement-based stabilization is appeared one of the best and economical options compare to others which suit to the granular soils. Soils stabilized with cement are widely used as road construction material in sub-base and base course of pavement due to high strength and sturdiness [PCA, 1992; Valentine Yato Katte, 2018, Md.Mahmad, 2016] In this experimental work, various laboratory tests have been performed on granular soils and stabilized with different percentages of cement, to evaluate the minimum amount of cement which suits the targeted compressive strength. Cement binds the soil particles during the hydration process, and developed strength depends on the concentration of cement and the affinity with which the soil particles are attached with cement. However, a small quantity of cement can enhance the UCS strength also, and the final material produced term as “Cement Stabilized Soil” can be effectively used as sub-base and base course for rural roads. B. Objectives of Present Study • To evaluate the basic properties of granular soil. • To find out the effect of cement on granular soil. • To study the effect of different percentages of cement on the compaction behaviour of granular soil. • To study the effect of different percentages of cement on shear strength of granular soil by Unconfined Compression Strength. • Suitability of stabilized material in road construction. 2. MATERIAL AND METHOD A. Material Used In Present Study Granular Soils In this study granular soils (Gravel/Sand) is taken from the bank of the river Narmada, Jabalpur. The sieves for soil tests used are 12.5 mm to 75 microns. The test is performed as per IS: 2720-Part IV (2006) [2].The portion retained on 12.5 mm sieve is gravel fraction and portion retained on 4.75 mm sieve ———————————————— • Yatesh Thakur, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, St. Aloysius Institute of Technology-(SAIT) Jabalpur, Pin Code- 482020, M.P. , India, E-mail: yateshthakur47@gmail.com