Swell-Shrink Behaviour of Lime Pile and Lime Slurry-Treated Expansive Soil

Expansive soils in the field are subjected to swelling and shrinkage due to seasonal moisture variations. Most of the previous studies on swell-shrink were carried out by direct mixing of stabilizer with soil and very few studies have been carried out on swell-shrink behaviour of expansive soil stabilized through permeation. Hence, in the present study, an attempt is made to study the swell-shrink behaviour of expansive soil through laboratory tests using lime slurry (LS) and lime pile (LP) techniques and the two results are compared. In laboratory the LS were permeated through the central hole of expansive soil in the desiccated state, whereas, the LP was installed in compacted expansive soil. Undisturbed soil specimens were collected from LP and LS-treated expansive soil in the test moulds after a curing period of 30 days for evaluation of swell-shrink behaviour at a radial distance of 1.5d (where d = diameter of central hole) and at depths of 0–90 mm and 200–290 mm for LS and LP-treated soils. The study shows that in LS-treated specimens the volume change increases with an increase in number of wet-dry cycles for the specimen taken at a depth of 0–90 mm, which shows the loss of cementation bonds. Whereas, LS-treated samples taken at a depth of 200–290 mm and LP-treated samples collected at a depth of 0–90 mm and 200–290 mm did not show any improvement in controlling the swell-shrink behaviour of expansive soil.