SOIL STABILIZATION USING

LIME

Presented by: Harshit Agarwal

Rahul Sharma
Ashish Chakroborthy
VARIATION IN SPECIFIC GRAVITY
USING LIME
MIX PROPORTIONS WATER CONTENT (%) DRY DENSITY (g/cc)

Soil + 1% lime 10 1.61

Soil + 2% lime 10 1.57
Soil + 3% lime 10 1.51
SOIL STABILIZATION

Soil Stabilization is the process of blending and mixing materials

with a soil to improve certain properties of the soil. The process may
include the blending of soils to achieve a desired gradation or the
mixing of commercially available additives that may alter the
gradation, texture or plasticity, or act as a binder for cementation of
the soil.

Soil Stabilization can be utilized on roadways, parking areas, site

development projects, airports and many other situations where
sub-soils are not suitable for construction
OBJECTIVES OF SOIL STABILIZATION

increase in strength and durability

soil erosion control
better soil gradation
reduction of plasticity index or swelling potential
reducing permeability
permits reduction in design thickness
TYPES OF SOIL STABILIZATION

Surface stabilization
The improvement process under the situation when the influence zone is
limited to less than 1m (roads etc.) is called surface stabilization.

Sub-surface stabilization or ground

improvement
Geo-Technical process of improving the engineering properties of the soil
(density, shear strength, C& factors are improved while compressibility,
settlement and permeability reduced) and making it more stable and durable
is called Sub-surface stabilization or Ground improvement.
SURFACE STABILIZATION

Mechanical Stabilization in this technique mechanical energy is

used (rollers, plate compactors, tampers etc. by choice or nature of soil)
to improve the soil properties by compaction.

Chemical Stabilization Soils are stabilized by adding different

chemicals. Its main advantage is that the setting and curing time can be
controlled.

Physical Stabilization In this technique more than two or more soils

are blended to improve the properties of weak soil.
MECHANICAL STABILIZATION

in this technique mechanical energy is used (rollers, plate compactors,

tampers etc. by choice or nature of soil) to improve the soil properties
by compaction.

preferably for construction of embankment for roads, railways etc.

simplest method of soil stabilization

to improve the sub-grades of low bearing capacity

extensively used for construction of bases, sub-bases and surfacing of

roads.
CHEMICAL STABILIZATION

Soils are stabilized by adding different chemicals. Its main advantage is

that the setting and curing time can be controlled.
The following chemicals have been successfully used:
Sodium Chloride
calcium Chloride
Sodium Silicate
Polymers
Chrome Lignin
Other chemicals
For most soils, quantity required is about % of the weight of the soil.
PHYSICAL STABILIZATION

In this technique more than two or more soils are blended to improve the
properties of weak soil.
Quite often some additives may also be added for this purpose.
It includes

Cement Stabilization

Lime Stabilization

Bitumen Stabilization

Resin Stabilization

Nanomaterial Stabilization
LIME STABILIZATION

Lime quickly improves the soil condition during construction and can add long term
improvements to key soil properties.
Adding lime can cause three major soil improvements:
Soil Drying Reducing the soil moisture content
Soil Modification Reducing soil plasticity, aiding compaction and increasing early strength
Lime Stabilization Increasing long term strength and reducing swell potential
Lime can be used to stabilize pavement subgrade soil containing clay. Lime stabilization
generates a long term pozzolanic strength-gaining reaction between lime and the silica and
alumina minerals solubilized at high pH from the clay, forming calcium silicates and calcium
aluminates. If the subgrade soil or aggregate base lacks suitable reactive clay, it is advantageous
to add a coal fly ash pozzolanic material along with the lime.

In general, all lime treated fine-grained soils exhibit decreased plasticity, improved workability
and reduced volume change characteristics,
 The properties of soil-lime mixtures are dependent on many variables like,
Soil type
lime type
lime percentage, and
curing conditions (time, temperature, moisture)
 An unstabilized clay soil has particles that are aligned in a parallel structure
with face-to-face and edge-to-edge interfaces. When the clay particles
begin to move due to lime addition, the alignment is disrupted, and there are
more edge-to-face interfaces resulting in an agglomeration of clay particles
into larger particles
 Because of the mineralogy of clay, it reacts with the addition of lime, which
results in both short-term reactions through soil modification and long-term
reactions through soil stabilization.

Soil(or lime) modification is the more immediate effect of the addition of

lime to clayey soils. This initial addition of lime results in cation exchange.

The secondary reaction is the flocculation and agglomeration of clay

particles with lime, which results in larger particles and some initial added
strength. This occurs with the change in clay particle alignments.

Throughout these chemical reactions, the original physical characteristics

of the clay are altered.
 Some of the immediate effects are a decrease in plasticity index, increase in
plastic limit, increase or decrease in liquid limit depending on the cation
present, increase in grain-size, decreases in maximum dry density, increase in
optimum moisture content, decrease in volume change, decrease in swell
potential, increase in soil suction, decrease in permeability, increase in pH,
and a slight increase in compressive strength
 Lime stabilization is a more long-term effect, which results in more
significant strength gain due to pozzolanic reaction.
As reactions continue to occur in a soil-lime mixture, silica and alumina
found in soils reacts on the surfaces of the clay particles to produce
calcium silicates and calcium aluminates.
Initial dissociation of hydrated lime:
Ca[OH]2 Ca++ + 2[OH-]
Reaction products of soil-lime interaction:
Ca++ + 2[OH-] + SiO2 (clay silica) CSH (calcium silicate
hydrates)
Ca++ + 2[OH-] + Al2O3 (clay alumina) CAH (calcium aluminate
hydrates)

These clay silicates and clay aluminates bond or gel to the clay particles
together to further strengthen the soil.
TYPES OF LIME

In general, there are primarily three different types of lime that can be added to
soil to achieve stabilization

Quicklime (CaO) is produced by burning limestone (CaCO3). Once the calcium

carbonate in limestone is burnt, carbon dioxide is released leaving quicklime.

Hydrated lime, which can also be called slaked lime, is produced by the
exothermic reaction of adding water to quicklime to produce Ca(OH)2

The last type of lime that can be used for lime stabilization is dolomitic lime.
Dolimitic lime is a combination of calcium carbonate (Ca(CO3)) and magnesium
carbonate (Mg(CO3)). It is not particularly reactive and the least commonly used
type for lime stabilization.
 The quick lime is more effective than the hydrated lime, but the latter is more
safe and convenient to handle. Generally, hydrated-lime is used. It is also
known as slaked lime.

The amount of lime required varies between 2 to 10% of the soil.

Lime stabilization is not effective for sandy soil