Search

Soft soils usually have shear strength values less than 200 kpa such as clay, silty clay, clayey sand, and soft organic clay. The presence of soft soils in engineering sites requires immediate remediation, which is either altering the site, or removing and replacing the existing soil. These solutions are not always applicable. Hence, other methods are needed which soil stabilization one of them. Soil stabilization is the modification of the physical and geotechnical properties of the weak, and soft soil either mechanically by compaction or chemically using chemical stabilizers. This paper presents a comprehensive review on the stabilization of soft soils by utilizing sustainable stabilizers which are waste and by-product materials such as ground granulated blast slag (GGBS), activated GGBS and cement kiln dust (CKD). These stabilizers are utilized as replacement to the traditional binders (cement and lime). The results indicate that GGBS alone gives only a slight enhancement because of the glassy phase of this material. Nevertheless, activation of GGBS by other materials improves the physical and geotechnical characteristics of soft soils substantially while the use of CKD gave remarkable enhancement to the soft soil characteristics. The physical properties are evaluated by Atterberg limits and compaction parameters, and the geotechnical characteristics are evaluated by the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]