30-10-2014, 12:35 PM
Abstracts: Black cotton soil is one of the major regional soil deposits in India, covering an area of about 3.0 lakh sq.km. Infrastructure projects such as highways, railways, water detention structures, foundation of structure , etc. requires earth material in very large quantity. Black cotton soils or the expansive soils in India are highly problematic, as they swell on absorption of water and shrink on evaporation and also low soil bearing capacity thereof. Because of this alternate swell and shrinkage, distress is caused to the foundations of structures laid on such soils. Expansive soils are problematic soils because of their inherent potential to undergo volume changes corresponding to changes in the moisture regime. Because of this alternate swelling and shrinkage, structures founded on them are severally damaged. Utilization of industrial wastes like fly ash, quarry dust, silica fume, copper slag, tannery sludge, etc. in the geotechnical engineering field will solve the problem of disposal of these wastes. For every tonne of metal production, about 2.2 ton of slag is generated. Dumping and disposal of such huge quantities of slag cause environmental and space problems. Thus, we use the industrial waste Copper Slag to reduce the swelling of expansive soils. The present paper elucidates about the studies been carried out using copper slag as a cushioning material. The results of the study show a new solution to the problem of expansive soil. It also solves the problem of copper slag utilization and disposal to some extent.