Laboratory analysis of loose sand mixed with construction waste material in deep soil mixing

Abstract

Deep soil mixing, DSM technique has been widely used to improve the engineering properties of problematic soils. Due to growing urbanization and the industrial developments, disposal of brick dust poses a big problem and causes environmental problems. This study aims to use brick dust in DSM application in order to minimize the waste in brick industry and to evaluate its effect on the improvement of the geotechnical properties. Three different percentages of cement content: (10, 15 and 20%) were used in the formation of soil-cement mixture. Unlike the other studies in the literature, various percentages of waste brick dust: (10, 20 and 30%) were used as partial replacement of cement in soil-cement mixture. The results indicated that addition of waste brick dust into soil-cement mixture had positive effect on the inherent strength and stiffness of loose sand. Cement replaced by 20% of brick dust gave the best results and reduced the final setting time of cement and resulted in an increase in unconfined compressive strength, modulus of elasticity and resilient modulus of sand mixed with cement and brick dust. The findings were also supported by the microscopic images of the specimens with different percentages of waste brick dust and it was observed that waste brick dust caused an increase in the interlocking between the particles and resulted in an increase in soil strength. Using waste brick dust as a replacement material seems to be promising for improving the geotechnical properties of loose sand.