an assessment of physical and mechanical properties of dispersive clay soil treated by pozzolan and lime

dispersive soils are prevailent in many parts of the world, including in iran. construction of hydraulic structures on dispersive soils has created various serious problems. since it is neither economical nor justified to replace a dispersive soil with a non-dispersive one, there fore stabilization of a dispersive soil in one way or another is indispensable and unavoidable. throughout this research work stabilization of a dispersive soil through addition of lime and pozzolan, either alone or in mixing, has been put to investigation. the variables taken into account are the curing time and the mixing percentages. results indicate that with an addition of either lime or pozzolan alone, along with application of curing treatment, a dispersive soil would tend to become diminished in its dispersivity potential. on the other hand, the soil in which stabilization is carried out through application of a mixture of lime and pozzolan, the soil becomes also resistant to being washed away. the soil treated in this manner would gain extra compressive strength and be reduced in its plastic index. reduction of sodium ions in soil solution and increase in electrical conductivity of the treated soil are two other aspects of this last type of dispersive soil stabilization.