Use of RBI Grade 81 and Coir Fiber for Stabilization of Expansive Soil

Subgrade soil collapse due to inadequate strength, low bearing capacity, cracking and large deformation of problematic soils are commonly seen on the pavement, and this causes huge maintenance costs and repair of highway projects every year. It is essential to decrease these engineering problems and economic losses through economical and eco-friendly methods. Past studies have shown that randomly spread fibers can considerably improve various soil properties. However, there is a lack of complete study on the engineering properties of fiber reinforced high plastic clay. Also, limited mechanical models have been proposed for predicting the shear strength behavior of fiber reinforced clay. In order to investigate these problems, a series of laboratory investigations including compaction, bearing capacity, one-dimensional consolidation, linear shrinkage, desiccation cracking, direct tensile strength, and compression tests should be conducted on unreinforced and Coir fiber reinforced Clay. For this study, the soil samples were prepared with different proportions of RBI grade 81 i.e. (2, 4, 6 and 8% of soil) respectively. After that the coir fibers in different ratios i.e. 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2% respectively will be added to the sample containing suitable content of RBI grade 81. Then OMC, MDD and CBR values were evaluated for these samples.