Soil Stabilization

using Gypsum

M. Usama Shahid
 What is Soil Stabilization?

• In general terms, soil stabilization

is a method of transforming a
natural soil into a purpose
engineered construction material.
• This is done by changing it
physically, chemically, biologically
or by a combination of these
methods. This technique makes
improvement in the natural soil by
increasing its load bearing
capabilities.
 Types of Stabilization

• Mechanical Stabilization
– Stabilization can be achieved through physical
processes, by altering the physical nature of native soil
particles by either induced vibration or compaction or
by incorporating barriers or nailing.
• Chemical Stabilization
– Under this category, soil stabilization depends mainly
on chemical reactions between stabilizer and soil
minerals. It can be achieved by mixing chemical
admixtures such as lime, cement, flyash, gypsum or a
combination of these.
 Why is it needed?

• Bearing capacity
• Compressive Strength
• Tensile strength
• Shear Strength
• Overall performance of problematic
soils encountered in the field.
 Common methods of Soil
Stabilization

• Compaction
• Consolidation
• Grouting
• Various Admixtures
• Thermal Stabilization
• Vertical Drains
• Vibroflotation
• and many more…
 What is Gypsum?

• Gypsum is a rock like mineral

commonly found in the earth’s
crust.
• Extracted, processed and used in
construction and decoration in the
form of plaster.
• During the time of the Pharaohs,
Gypsum was used as mortar in the
construction of the Pyramids.
• Chemical formula of Gypsum is
CaSO4.2H2O i.e. Hydrated Calcium
Sulphate.
 Why Gypsum?

• Gypsum is widely available in nature and easily

extractable.
• It is a hydrated salt that can easily be mass produced.
• Swelling clays can be effectively stabilized with lime
however, the cost of gypsum 2-3 times cheaper than
lime.
• The waste from gypsum based products in the industry
can also be used in the stabilization of clay soils hence
economizing this process further.
• It is non-toxic and more environment friendly compared
to other admixtures such as bitumen and cement.
 How does Gypsum stabilize
soils?

• Gypsum is used to stabilize swelling clay soils.

• The working principle of gypsum is very similar to
lime, main constituent in both responsible for the
stabilization being calcium.
• The basic principle of this treatment is the release of
calcium ions and the further reactions these ions
undergo.
• These Ca2+ ions undergo Cation Exchange reactions
resulting in improved workability, reduced plasticity,
and bearing strength gain.
 Case Study: Stabilizing Clay
soils using Gypsum

Purpose of the study:

• Low rise buildings are particularly vulnerable to ground
movements sourced from swelling and shrinkage of
expansive clay soils.
• The literature contains a vast number of stabilizing
techniques such as lime, cement and fly ash however,
the use of gypsum as a stabilizing agent is currently not
clear.
• This paper deals with the performance of gypsum as an
additive for the treatment of expansive clay soils by
means of swell potential and strength.
 Sample Collection and
Composition

• Bentonite samples were taken from 25Km north of

Resadiye, Turkey. The sample is dominated by
• Na-Smectite (Montmorillonite), type of clay having a
high swelling capacity.
X-Ray Diffractogram of the
clay sample
 Gypsum Composition

• Gypsum used in the experiment was obtained from

the southwest of Sivas, Turkey.
• Microscopic determinations on the gypsum revealed
that it contained very low amounts of clay, calcite
and anhydrite.
• XRD was performed and the gypsum content in the
used gypsum was found out be approximately 100%
with a negligible amount of trace minerals being
found.
X-Ray Diffractogram of the
used Gypsum
 Sample Preparation

• In order to obtain same samples for all tests, Standard

Proctor tests according to ASTM D-698 were first
conducted on the bentonite without any additives and
the optimum moisture content was found out to be
41.8%.
• Samples mixed with various quantities of gypsum (2.5%,
5%, 7.5% & 10% by mass) were compacted before tests,
at the determined OMC.
• They were then cured for 7 days. A curing period of 7
days was chosen as the most important changes were
observed during the first week during the testing to find
out the appropriate curing time.
Optimum Moisture Content
and Optimum Curing Time
 Testing Procedures- Atterberg
Limits

• The liquid limit and plastic limit values of the samples

were determined according to the procedure
outlined in British Standard (BS) 1377.
 Testing Procedures- Free Swell
tests

• Free Swell tests were carried out according to

ASTM D-4546 in order to determine the swelling
percentage of pure and treated bentonite.
 Testing Procedures- UCT test

• Unconfined Compression Strength tests were carried

out according to ASTM D-2166, on the untreated and
treated samples to study the effect of gypsum on the
compressive strength of the soil sample.
 Testing Procedures: Cation
Exchange Capacity

• The cation exchange capacity of a soil is the number

of moles of adsorbed cation charge that can be
desorbed from unit mass of soil, under given
conditions of temperature, pressure, soil solution
composition and soil-solution mass ratio.
• Swelling Properties of the soil are affected by CEC, in
other words the swelling capacity is closely related to
the CEC. The amount of swelling increases with
increasing of CEC*.
 Testing Procedures: Cation
Exchange Capacity
• In this study, NH4+ was used as an index cation.
• The soils were first saturated with sodium (Na+) ions
and these ions were then replaced by ammonium
ions by adding a solution of NH4+ at a pH of 7.
 Case Study: Stabilizing Clay soils
by using Gypsum and Calcium
Chloride

Purpose of the study:

• I am highlighting this research over here to study the
effect of calcium chloride as an additional stabilizing
agent on a soil sample with 4% gypsum as the main
stabilizer.
• Calcium Chloride acts as another source of calcium ions.
• Additionally, the salinity positively affects soil properties
by causing fine particles to bind together into aggregates.
This is known as flocculation and is beneficial in terms of
modifying the required engineering properties of the soil.
Testing Procedures:
Compaction Test
Testing Procedures: Free Swell
Test
Testing Procedures: California
Bearing Ratio Test
 Discussions and Conclusions

The following main discussions and conclusions can be

drawn from the two studies:
 The effect of gypsum on the improvement of the soil
depends on numerous factors, curing period being
particularly important.
 A valuable decrease in liquid limit and plasticity index can
be seen from which shows the effect of gypsum content
on liquid limit and plasticity index.
 It was observed that curing with gypsum improves the
unconfined compressive strength of the bentonite.
 The cation exchange capacity of the bentonite was
modified after the addition of gypsum, and the
replaceable monovalent ions of bentonite were
substituted by the calcium ions of gypsum.
 Discussions and Conclusions

 Experiments on the samples with added calcium chloride

showed further improvements on the optimum moisture
content, maximum dry density, swelling potential and
CBR value.
 However swelling clays can also be effectively stabilized
with lime, the cost of gypsum is approximately 2–3 times
cheaper than lime, and the waste from gypsum based
products in industry can also be used in stabilization of
clays.
 It can be concluded that the gypsum improves the
expansive clay soils significantly only up to an addition of
5%, above this amount improvement being much less
significant and warranted by the increased cost of the
gypsum involved.
 Discussions and Conclusions

 The results of this study have shown that swelling clays,

and therefore swelling clay soils, can be effectively
treated by gypsum. On application of these results to
practical field conditions, it has to be recognized that
thickness of the expansive clay soil can be several meters,
and that to be effective, stabilization of at least the
uppermost 1 m or so has to be implemented.
 However the results of this study showed that the
gypsum is a good additive for improvement of the
swelling clays, contamination of the groundwater by the
gypsum should also be considered, as well as the use of
sulphate resistant cement for adjacent concrete
structures.