Stabilization of Weak Soil by Using Coal Mine Overburden Waste

Abstract

The stabilisation of weak foundation soil is one of the most important stages in the construction of any high-rise building. The purpose of this study is to improve soil shear strength by using mine overburden waste. In this study, different amounts of mine overburden (2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, 10%, 12.5% and 15% respectively) were mixed with soil to observe the effect on its shear strength, which was calculated using the Mohr Coulomb’s failure criteria. The cohesion, angle of internal fraction, optimum moisture content, were estimated for different proportions of the stabilised soil and were compared for the analysis. Based on the experiments, a comparison of improvement in shear strength is done. The study's findings indicate that the addition of 10% coal overburden waste can boost the soil's shear strength by up to 168%, which will assist varied types of soil stabilization such as the foundation soil of building, sub grade soil in pavement, filling the earth and several other instances in which sub-soils are unsuitable for construction.