Akshay K

Drishya K

Swathi Krishna

Jishnu Rajeev

Cost effective roads are very vital for economic growth in any country. There is an urgent need to identify new materials to improve the road structure and to expand the road network. Hence, the search for new materials and improved techniques to process the local materials has received an increased impetus. When poor quality soil is available at the construction site, the best option is to modify the properties of the soil so that it meets the pavement design requirements. This has led to the development of soil stabilization techniques. In this study we use bio-enzymes and copper slag as a soil stabilizing agent. Recently Bio-Enzymes have emerged as a new chemical for soil stabilization. Bio-Enzyme is a natural, non-toxic, non-flammable, non-corrosive liquid enzyme formulation fermented from vegetable extracts that improves the engineering properties of soil, facilitates higher soil compaction and increases strength. Copper slag is one of the waste materials that are being used extensively in the civil engineering construction industry. Copper slag, which is produced during production of copper from copper ore, contains minerals like iron, alumina, calcium oxide, silica, etc. Three different percentages of 10%, 20%, 30% of the copper slag is added to the soil. And tests like Atterberg’s limits, Proctor, Unconfined compression test, Variable head permeability test and CBR tests have been done to determine the Liquid and Plastic limits, Maximum Dry Density (MDD), Optimum Moisture Content (OMC), Compressive strength, Coefficient of permeability and California Bearing Ratio (CBR). The result shows that copper slag and bio-enzyme can be very effectively used for sub-grade strength improvements.
Keywords: Soil stabilization, Bioenzyme, Copper slag, TerraZyme