Stabilization of a Clayey Soil with Ladle Metallurgy Furnace Slag Fines

Abstract

The research study described in this paper investigated the potential to use steel furnace slag (SFS) as a stabilizing additive for clayey soils. Even though SFS has limited applications in civil engineering infrastructure due to the formation of deleterious expansion in the presence of water, the free CaO and free MgO contents allow for the SFS to be a potentially suitable candidate for clayey soil stabilization and improvement. In this investigation, a kaolinite clay was stabilized with 10% and 15% ladle metallurgy furnace (LMF) slag fines by weight. This experimental study also included testing of the SFS mixtures with the activator calcium chloride (CaCl2), which was hypothesized to accelerate the hydration of the dicalcium silicate phase in the SFS, but the results show that the addition of CaCl2 was not found to be effective. Relative to the unmodified clay, the unconfined compressive strength increased by 67% and 91% when 10% and 15% LMF slag were utilized, respectively. Likewise, the dynamic modulus increased by 212% and 221% by adding 10% and 15% LMF slag, respectively. Specifically, the LMF slag fines are posited to primarily contribute to a mechanical rather than chemical stabilization mechanism. Overall, these findings suggest the effective utilization of SFS as a soil stabilization admixture to overcome problems associated with dispersive soils, but further research is required.

Silty Clay Stabilization Using Metakaolin-Based Geopolymer Binder

“…The total content of SiO 2 and Al 2 O 3 is greater than 95%. Many studies illustrated that the combination of NaOH and Na 2 SiO 3 solutions could be the best choice for the polymerization of aluminosilicate sources [11,17,22] because NaOH could dissolve aluminosilicate sources and Na 2 SiO 3 continuously, providing more Na + and Si 4+ for polymerization. However, great difficulties in the transit and storage of NaOH and Na 2 SiO 3 solutions and ecological environment protection are always likely to be encountered in engineering practices.…”

“…Various studies have employed GB to enhance the properties of problematic soils. Brand et al [17] found that the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and dynamic modulus of clayey soil, relative to the untreated case, could be increased by 91 and 221% when 15% of ladle metallurgy furnace (LMF) slag was used. Jiang et al [18] studied the effects of rice husk ash (RHA) on silty clay (SC) stabilization and reported that the optimum dosage of RHA was 2, 4, and 6% when the content of CaO was 3, 5, and 7%, respectively.…”

Modeling the application of steel slag in stabilizing expansive soil

“…Steel slag is the most cost-effective material for improving weak subgrade soil (Akinwumi 2014;Patel and Patel 2016). The study by (Brand et al 2020) investigates the potential use of steel slag for stabilizing clay soil. As a result, when 15% steel slag is mixed with soil, the unconfined compressive strength increases by 91%, implying that steel slag can be used effectively as a soil stabilization mixture.…”

Soil Injection Technology Using an Expandable Polyurethane Resin: A Review

“…As a result, it leads to the appearance of the foundation's imperfections threatening the whole overlaying constructions status, varying from minor defects to the collapse of the construction due to the foundation's failure. According to the following authors [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]28,39,[47][48][49][50][51], these factors could be sorted as Collapsible/Metastable soil, Liquefiable Soil, Expansive soil, Slope instability, seismic impact, seasonal variation of ground water level, and other natural geological and environmental reasons [52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60] • Industrial (technical) reasons: summarized as complex factors caused by engineering errors, such as inadequate preliminary design, insufficient or incorrect geotechnical investigations, poor quality of construction work, violation of building codes, and poor soil compaction during the construction process. In addition, there are aspects related to changes in the capacity concerning a particular project, the poor quality of the construction materials, reconstruction processes, cities planning and developments, the insufficient distance between the adjacent foundations, vibration effect of the neighborhood construction equipment, the changes in the groundwater level due to inappropriate seepage network, and other factors.…”