Volume :

3

Issue :

1

Abstract :

Environmental pollution is one of the major problems associated with the infrastructural developmental activities due to rapid urbanization and fast growing industries in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and adjacent districts of Karnataka State. Hence efforts are to be made for controlling pollution due to disposal of wastes generated from these industries and conversion of these unwanted wastes into utilizable material for various applications. The quarry dust, a by-product from the crushing process during quarrying activities, is one of the waste materials which constitute approximately 25% of the output of each crusher unit. This byproduct is left in the neighborhood of the quarry causing environmental pollution and serious health hazards. Hence an experimental study was undertaken to check the suitability of using quarry dust as a stabilizer to improve the geotechnical properties of lithomargic clay. Lithomargic clay is a dispersive type of soil which is highly susceptible to erosion abundantly available in the western coastal belt of Southern India. The results showed that the geotechnical parameters of the lithomargic clay are improved substantially by the addition of quarry dust. There was a good improvement in the consolidation values of the lithomargic clay blended with the quarry dust because of its good permeability and also the variation in water content does not seriously affect its desirable properties. The settlement analysis of the lithomargic clay and the lithomargic clay blended with 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50% quarry dust for a square footing is also carried out using Plaxis 3D. And it was found that there is a decrease in the settlement and increase in the load carrying capacity when blended with quarry dust. The results obtained in the present study will help to solve the problems associated with the lithomargic clay to a considerable extent and also utilization of the waste contributing towards economy in construction.