ADMIXTURE OF PERIWINKLE (Littorina littorea) SHELL ASH AND CEMENT FOR STABILIZATION OF SOME LATERITIC SOILS FROM WESTERN NIGER DELTA, NIGERIA

Abstract

The frequent failure of road pavement is the major problem in the Niger Delta, and this may be due to the soils having poor engineering strength. This failure can be minimized by stabilization of the soils. Conventional soil-improving additive cement is the most widely used in stabilization. However, due to the ever-rising cost of cement, alternative materials that are less costly and available locally have been considered to argument or reduce the cement percentage for the stabilization of the lateritic soil. Preliminary tests and engineering properties were carried out on six and four respectively on natural lateritic soil samples. Soil-cement stabilization was taken at 0, 5, 7, and 9%. Periwinkle Shell Ash (PSA) at various percentage proportions of 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10% was thoroughly mixed with 5 and 7% soil-cement. The result of the classification tests shows that the soils are A-2-6 and A-7-6 which are the dominant lateritic soil types in Western Niger Delta and are poor for road construction. The unconfined compressive
Strength (UCS) test results revealed that its values increase as the additive content of PSA increases for all the samples. However, the PSA used as a stabilizer has helped to reduce the quantity of cement in modifying the soil from 7 to 5 % in the stabilization of
some of the soils of the Western Niger Delta when PSA is incorporated alongside with the cement to obtain the recommended standard of 1500 KPa for use as road construction materials