The influence of soil composition on the strength of stabilized soil.

The issue of influence of soil composition on the strength of stabilised soil blocks has been of interest to researchers for the past several decades. Very often, researchers are obsessed with the role of clay content in controlling the wet compressive strength of stabilised soil. In this paper, an attempt has been made to explore the relative effects of sand, silt, and clay on the wet compressive strength. At the outset it is also obvious that the stabiliser content is also a major factor. A study of different soils has brought out the importance of two parameters namely sand/fines ratio and silt/clay ratio. It is found that a sand/fines ratio of 1.5 to 2.5 and a silt/clay ratio between 1.5 and 2.5 are essential to achieve maximum wet compressive strength of kaolinitic soils. It is also interesting to note that the result holds good even for strength of stabilised adobe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]