EFFECT OF BIO-ENZYME STABILIZATION ON UNCONFINED COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH OF EXPANSIVE SOIL

Puneet Agarwal, Suneet Kaur

Abstract: Engineers often face the problem of constructing facilities on or with soils, which do not posses sufficient strength to support the loads imposed upon them either during construction or during the service life of the structure. Vast areas of India consist of Black Cotton Soil which has high clay content, low strength and minimal bearing capacity. The poor engineering performance of such soils has forced Engineers device cost effective and ecofriendly methods for improving the engineering properties of poor soils. As the conventional soil stabilizers like gravel, sand, etc. are depleting and becoming expensive day by day at a very rapid pace, it becomes necessary to look towards for alternative ecofriendly stabilizers as their substitute. Recently many Bio-enzymes have emerged as cost effective stabilizers for soil stabilization. One such bio-enzyme, Terrazyme, has been used in the present work to study its effect on the Unconfined Compressive strength of the Black Cotton soil. It has been found that Terrazyme treated Black Cotton soil shows significant increase in Unconfined Compressive strength with longer curing period.

Keywords: Bio-enzyme, Terrazyme, Soil Stabilization and Black Cotton Soil.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15623/ijret.2014.0305007