Sustainable reuse of excavation soil in cementitious composites

The possibility of reusing excavated soil as an alternative to river sand in the production of mortar was studied. The soil samples before and after wet sieving were used as fine aggregate in mortar preparation. The resulting wash water in wet sieving was analysed for the presence of soluble ions and its effect in cement hydration and mortar properties. Residual clay from the wet sieving process was also studied for its use as pozzolan in cement mortar by thermal treatment. Several tests, including flow table test, dry density, compressive strength, water absorption and drying shrinkage were performed to understand the effect of washing treatment on excavation soil based cement mortar. From the test results it was concluded that washing treatment is effective in the use of excavated soil as fine aggregate.