Heave reduction through chemical stabilisation

Expansive soils are highly problematic soils as they swell or increase in their volume when they absorb water and shrink when water evaporates from them. Hence, lightly loaded civil engineering structures founded in these soils develop unsightly cracks, causing severe financial loss. For mitigating this problem many innovative foundation techniques have been devised. Some of them are physical and chemical alteration, drilled and belled piers, under-reamed piles and granular pile-anchors. In chemical alteration, chemical additives like lime, cement, calcium chloride and fly ash are used for ameliorating the properties of expansive soils. This book presents useful experimental data on primary and secondary heave of expansive soil specimens stabilised with lime, calcium chloride and fly ash of varying content.