Soil improvement by marble stone slurry wastes

Abstract EN

A comprehensive series of laboratory tests were conducted on an expansive clay soil mixed with marble powder in order to study the effect of addition of marble powder on soil properties and behavior.

The results of this study may allow the mix of marble powder with clay in order to reduce the swelling potential of an expansive clayey soil.

The tests were performed at different percentages of marble powder ranging from zero to 50 % at room temperature of 20° C.

Plasticity index, swelling, shear strength, pH, and marble consumption were used to monitor the progression of the marble–clay mixture.

X-ray diffraction tests were carried out in an attempt to identify the mineralogical composition of both soil and marble powder.

The results of this work showed that the addition of specified amount of marble powder reduces both the plasticity index and liquid limit.

The addition of 20 % of marble powder was sufficient to reduce the swelling potential from 11 % to 3 % at optimum moisture content.

Also the soaked CBR value was increased from 6 % to 20 %.

However, the shear strength was not improved by this addition.

This quantity corresponds to the amount needed for optimum change in soil properties after treatment for this particular clay used in this study.

Finally, this study shows clearly that marble powder treatment can be used even for extremely expansive soil.

Usage of marble powder will eliminate the adverse environmental effects of this powder.