Effect of Marble Dust and Glass Fiber on Expansive Soil

Abstract

India shares a significant production of glass fiber and marble wastes in the world, which poses a big disposal problem. This study assesses the suitability of glass fiber and marble dust to enhance the behaviour of expansive soil. The Atterberg’s limits and plasticity index improves by mixing marble dust into the soil. Whereas, the effect of glass fiber on the Atterberg’s limit is not very encouraging. The shear strength increases with the addition of marble dust as well as glass fibers. The effect of glass fiber on strains corresponding to peak stress is significantly higher than the marble dust. The strength of fiber-reinforced soil initially increases with the addition of marble dust, to a certain extent, beyond which it decreases. The effect of marble dust on variation in peak stress and corresponding strains is that fiber-reinforced soil is almost the opposite. The optimum quantity of marble dust and glass fiber is found to be 10%-15% and 3%, respectively.