Technical study on volcanic soil Material

In this study about volcanic soil materials was undertaken to better understand the application of volcanic soil in road construction industry. Volcanic soil were collected from RUVUMBA Quarry, MUSANZE District, Rwanda. The selected area contains soil volcanic with undiscovered material properties. With the aim of understanding the material properties of the collected soil samples, a wide range of tests including soil tests (Sieve analysis, Atterberg limit, Proctor test, and California bearing ratio), losangeles test and sieve analysis of volcanic aggregates were carried out. The study also revealed that the CBR (California Bearing Ratio) in Sample III could be improved with the addition of only 1% of cement which can be used as a stabilizer. The experimental results showed that both dry density and strength of Sample III was significantly increased by the addition of 1% of cement at 95% of CBR. These findings demonstrated that volcanic soils with category quartzite can be good materials to serve as local materials in Rwanda for the implementation of road construction in some road layers especially in sub-base course and for base course while its was stabilized with cement.