Almuaythir Sultan, Zaini Muhammad Syamsul Imran, Hasan Muzamir
Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering in Al-Kharj, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, 11942, Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia.
Faculty of Civil Engineering Technology, Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah, Lebuh Persiaran Tun Khalil Yaakob, 26300, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia.
Sci Rep. 2025 Jul 18;15(1):26185. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-10642-6.
Expansive clay soils cause structural failures in construction due to volume changes with moisture, but hydrated lime effectively stabilizes them by improving shear strength and reducing plasticity. To address environmental concerns with traditional stabilizers like cement, silica fume, a byproduct of the silicon industry, is now being used as a supplementary additive to enhance stabilization. In this study, the combined effects of hydrated lime and silica fume addition on the shear strength and consolidation behaviour of expansive clay soils are presented. An experimental programme was performed in the laboratory using different ratios of lime and silica fume to determine changes in soil properties. Experimental results indicate that the inclusion of silica fume and lime leads to a 35% increase in shear strength and a 28% reduction in compressibility compared to untreated soil. Moreover, the peak deviatoric stress increased from 540.55 kPa in untreated soil to 624.95 kPa in soil stabilized with 9% lime and 9% silica fume. The results clearly demonstrated that the union of these two additives improves shear strength and consolidation characteristics to stabilize expansive clays which is eco-friendlier and more promising solution. The insights obtained from this research will help us to develop soil stabilization techniques for better in-situ soil performances and hence, sustainable construction.
膨胀性黏土会因含水量变化导致体积改变，从而引发建筑结构破坏，但熟石灰通过提高抗剪强度和降低可塑性，能有效对其进行稳定处理。为解决水泥等传统稳定剂带来的环境问题，硅工业副产品硅灰现正被用作增强稳定效果的辅助添加剂。本研究阐述了添加熟石灰和硅灰对膨胀性黏土抗剪强度和固结特性的综合影响。在实验室开展了一项试验计划，使用不同比例的石灰和硅灰来测定土壤性质的变化。试验结果表明，与未处理的土壤相比，添加硅灰和石灰可使抗剪强度提高35%，压缩性降低28%。此外，峰值偏应力从未处理土壤中的540.55kPa增加到用9%石灰和9%硅灰稳定处理的土壤中的624.95kPa。结果清楚地表明，这两种添加剂结合使用可提高抗剪强度和固结特性，从而稳定膨胀性黏土，这是一种更环保且更具前景的解决方案。从这项研究中获得的见解将有助于我们开发土壤稳定技术，以实现更好的原位土壤性能，进而实现可持续建设。
