Performance evaluation of cement stabilized fly ash–GBFS mixes as a highway construction material

Fly ash and granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS) are major by-products of thermal and steel plants, respectively. These materials often cause disposal problems and environmental pollution. Detailed laboratory investigations were carried out on cement stabilized fly ash–(GBFS) mixes in order to find out its suitability for road embankments, and for base and sub-base courses of highway pavements. Proctor compaction test, unconfined compressive strength (UCS) test and California Bearing Ratio (CBR) test were conducted on cement stabilized fly ash–GBFS mixes as per the Indian Standard Code of Practice. Cement content in the mix was varied from 0% to 8% at 2% intervals, whereas the slag content was varied as 0%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40%. Test results show that an increase of either cement or GBFS content in the mixture, results in increase of maximum dry density (MDD) and decrease of optimum moisture content (OMC) of the compacted mixture. The MDD of the cement stabilized fly ash–GBFS mixture is comparably lower than that of similarly graded natural inorganic soil of sand to silt size. This is advantageous in constructing lightweight embankments over soft, compressible soils. An increase in percentage of cement in the fly ash–GBFS mix increases enormously the CBR value. Also an increase of the amount of GBFS in the fly ash sample with fixed cement content improves the CBR value of the stabilized mix. In the present study, the maximum CBR value of compacted fly ash–GBFS–cement (52:40:8) mixture obtained was 105%, indicating its suitability for use in base and sub-base courses in highway pavements with proper combinations of raw materials.