The Effect of Alphasoil on the Engineering Properties of Soil at Khulna Region of Bangladesh
Date
2022-04
Authors
Datta, Pingki
Alamgir, Muhammed
Bernhard, Werner
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Abstract
Soil stabilization is the process of improving the engineering properties of soil and thereby making it more stable. It is essential if the soil available for construction is not appropriate for the intended purpose. Most road embankments in areas susceptible to flooding suffer soil erosion, making roads unusable in Bangladesh. Landslides have been identified as a rising danger at the national level, owing to the effects of increased frequency of extreme precipitation events, population pressure in flat places, high rates of urbanization, hill cutting and deforestation, and a lack of cultural understanding. Landslide disasters have claimed many lives and damaged key infrastructure, ecosystems, livelihoods, and the local economy in Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Districts (CHD) in recent years. One of the biggest causes of the worst-case scenario of landslide catastrophes is the unsafe construction of earthen structures such as dams. The successful application of soil stabilization can be a key factor to prevent these damages. As a result, new Nanotechnology such as alphasoil is introduced as one form of chemical soil stabilizer which is acting as a catalyst in such clayey soil to boost soft soil properties. But the research question is whether it is possible to improve the soil properties by alphasoil in Bangladesh and if it is then how much improvement is possible. That’s why this study focuses primarily on various types of laboratory experiments to determine the improvement of soil properties after treating with alphasoil. There were mainly five types of soils (S1, S2, S3, S4, S5) collected from selected locations at KUET Campus, Bangladesh. The properties of soil samples and performance evaluation experiments included: moisture content, liquid limit and plastic limit, specific gravity, grain size distribution, standard proctor test, unconfined compressive strength test, and water storage test. The concentrated alphasoil used in this study was mixed with water in 1:4 ratios. It was found that the strength increases almost about 36.3, 21.5, 20, 17.2 & 26.67% for S1, S2, S3, S4, and S5 respectively. It was observed that the plasticity index decreases about 16.6, 55.6, 12.5, 25, and 60% by using a very small amount of alphasoil following each sample such as S1, S2, S3, S4, and S5 respectively. From the microscopic test, the treated soil structure was appeared more compacted than the untreated soil sample. Furthermore, the findings of this research affirm the potential for using alphasoil to stabilize tropical residual soils, in particular the construction of landslides, earthen dams and pavement base or subbase layers in Bangladesh, or other construction projects in tropical regions with extensive earthworks requiring a large volume of clay soils. The results obtained clearly show that the introduction of alphasoil promotes the properties of soft soil. With the pilot-scale application of alphasoil, people’s life can be saved and economic loss due to landslides can be stopped. Currently, alpahsoil has been started to implement for the development of infrastructures such as road and settlement areas, within the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar.
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Keywords
soil stabilization, alphasoil, natural disasters, moisture content
Citation
Datta, P., Alamgir, M., & Bernhard, W. (2022). The effect of Alphasoil on the engineering properties of soil at the Khulna Region of Bangladesh. Poster presented at the International Research Conference for Graduate Students, San Marcos, Texas.