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. 2024 Feb 10;10(4):e26004.
doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e26004. eCollection 2024 Feb 29.

An experimental investigation on utilization of ladle refined furnace (LRF) slag in stabilizing clayey soil

Shriful Islam  1 , Sabrin Ara  1 , Junaidul Islam  1
Affiliations

An experimental investigation on utilization of ladle refined furnace (LRF) slag in stabilizing clayey soil

Shriful Islam et al. Heliyon. .

Abstract

The contemporaneous world of development and urbanization generates extreme stresses on building infrastructures, and the use of soil as a load-bearing material is a prerequisite for such activity. However, if the foundation soil lacks enough bearing capacity and shear strength and shows excessive settlements, unescapable failures will occur in constructed infrastructures. As such, improvement or stabilization of soft clay soil is crucial before initiating any construction project to limit the potentiality of post-construction faults and damages. In this research, the efficiency of ladle refined furnace (LRF) slag has been investigated to stabilize the geotechnical properties of poor conditioned-soft clayey soil, which will also lessen the environmental degradation due to the unplanned dumping of LRF slag. Various experimental programs such as the Atterberg limit, consolidation, compaction, unconfined compressive strength, and California Bearing Ratio tests were carried out in this study. Experimental results revealed that adding LRF slag in different percentages augmented the strength and dry density of the original soil to a considerable extent, and the optimum percentage of LRF slag was 20%. 20% LRF content in the soil increased the UCS value of the soil by 219%, CBR value by 47%, and reduced consolidation settlement by 30%. Additionally, the test results were further evaluated by the SEM-EDS test.

Keywords: California bearing ratio; Compaction; Consolidation; LRF slag; Unconfined compressive strength; soil stabilization.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Shriful Islam reports financial support was provided by Shahjalal University of Science and Technology. Sabrin Ara reports financial support was provided by Shahjalal University of Science and Technology. Shriful Islam reports a relationship with Shahjalal University of Science and Technology that includes: employment. Sabrin Ara reports a relationship with Shahjalal University of Science and Technology that includes: employment.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Oven dried-pulverized samples: a) soil sample, b) LRF slag.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Atterberg limits presented in Casagrande Plasticity Chart for all the samples tested.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Dry density vs. water content for the soil samples.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Unconfined compressive strength (UCS) comparison for all the samples.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Load vs. penetration of the different samples in CBR tests.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Void ratio vs. Stress for all the tests carried out on samples.
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images: a) the original soil, b) LRF slag, c) Soil with 20% LRF slag.
Fig. 8
Fig. 8
EDS images: a) original soil sample, b) LRF, c) Soil+20% LRF.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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