Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

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Introduction Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 GENERAL

Cohesive soil covers a big part of land in our country. Due to lack of land resources
in big cities we start improving the soil properties by adding some extra materials such as
fiber and lime to change its properties according to our requirements. Because of less
availability of land resources and increasing population some time we need to construct
heavy structures on weak soils which requires the improvement of soil by stabilization
and reinforcement.

In present study for the improvement of soil properties we used Lime and
Polypropylene fiber. By this we were able to check the change in properties of soil, by
mixing of lime and polypropylene fiber in the cohesive soil. To understand the effect of
polypropylene fiber and lime, we made different samples. We compared properties of
these samples by performing different tests on soil samples.

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT

We have few metropolitan cities in Pakistan. In metropolitan cities we have basic &
advance facilities so people start migrating to these cities. The population of these cities is
increasing day by day, so construction of houses & mega structures, also increasing. On
the other side land requirement is decreasing for constructions, so engineers decided to
improve the properties of cohesive soils by mixing different materials and compounds to
improve properties of soil. We added lime and polypropylene fiber to check the effect on
cohesive soils.

1.3 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The objectives of this research work are

1. To check the properties of the soil before and after adding the Lime and
Polypropylene fiber.
2. To check the effect in strength by adding lime and polypropylene fiber in soil.
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3. To compare the results of tests of lime and polypropylene fiber of stabilized soils
at different percentages of lime & fiber.
4. To get conclusion about the change in properties related to the strength of clayey
soils for civil engineering construction projects.

1.4 TECHNICAL ASPECTS

This project is chosen by us due to the increase in demand of civil engineering

projects in big cities, but lack of land resources is the biggest problem in these cities. This
project helps us to study various properties about clayey soils. After finding the properties
of soil we will be able to check its strength and then we will add Lime and Polypropylene
fiber in it. After addition of these materials we will perform several tests on different
samples with different proportions. We will find its strength and then compare it with
other samples, by which we will able to assess the suitability of adding these materials for
improving properties of soil in civil engineering projects. We will perform different
strength tests. After proper comparison, we will find that whether it improves the soil
properties or not.

1.5 SCOPE OF RESEARCH

In this research we can perform many tests but we follow some basic tests. Sieve
analysis to find soil classification, hydro meter analysis to find difference between silt and
clay, liquid limit and plastic limit tests. We also perform standard compaction test and
unconfined compression test on untreated soil. We make different samples with different
proportions of lime and fiber and perform unconfined compression test to check the
strength of soil after adding materials. In this research we check different properties of
soil, mainly we check compaction and unconfined compression of soil. Our strength
increased with the increase of lime and decrease with the increase of fiber so we get some
optimum value results.

1.6 UTILIZATION OF RESEARCH

In this thesis we basically provide the results about the effect of Polypropylene
fiber and Lime when these are mixed in clayey soils. It gives you information that

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whether the addition of fiber and lime is helpful or not. If we add fiber and lime in clayey
soils according to our results it will give us more strength relative to the simple clayey
soils. After this research we are able to know that if we construct civil engineering
structures on clayey soils after adding these fiber and lime proportions we will get
improvement in strength of soil so we can make more research on this result that after
adding Polypropylene fiber and lime, the strength of clayey soils increases.

1.7 THESIS OVERVIEW

The following research has been done to check the effect of polypropylene
fiber and lime admixture on engineering properties of clayey soil. Thesis comprised of
these chapters that have been organized in the following manner.

Chapter 1, Introduction, includes the introduction of the research, problem statement,

research objective, scope and its significance.

Chapter 2, Literature review, Research papers, engineering properties of soil, varieties of

clay, physical characteristics of clay

Chapter 3, Materials, Methodology, sieve analysis, Atterberg limits, compaction,

unconfined compression test

Chapter 4, Testing on untreated soil, sieve analysis, liquid limit, plastic limit, standard
proctor test, unconfined compression strength, Sampling and graphical trends with
different proportion of lime and fiber,

Chapter 5, Conclusions & Recommendation

Appendices, References