This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of steel slag (SS) as a by-product as an additive on the geotechnical properties of expansive soil. A series of laboratory tests were conducted on natural and stabilized soils. Steel slag (SS) was added at a rate of 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25% to the soil. The conducted tests are consistency limits, specific gravity, grain size analysis, modified Proctor compaction, free swell, unconfined compression strength, and California Bearing Ratio. The Atterberg limit test result shows that the liquid limit decreases from 90.8 to 65.2%, the plastic limit decreases from 60.3 to 42.5%, and the plasticity index decreases from 30.5 to 22.7% as the steel slag of 25% was added to expansive soil. With 25% steel slag content, specific gravity increases from 2.67 to 3.05. The free swell value decreased from 104.6 to 58.2%. From the Standard Proctor compaction test, maximum dry density increases from 1.504 to 1.69 g/cm3 and optimum moisture content decreases from 19.77 to 12.01 %. Unconfined compressive strength tests reveal that the addition of steel slag of 25% to expansive soil increases the unconfined compressive strength of the soil from 94.3 to 260.6 kPa. The California Bearing Ratio test also shows that the addition of steel slag by 25% increases the California Bearing ratio value from 3.64 to 6.82%. Hence, steel slag was found to be successfully improving the geotechnical properties of expansive soil.

It is well known that if plastic wastes are not well managed, it has a negative impact on the environment as well as on human health. In this study, recycling plastic waste in form of strips for stabilizing weak subgrade soil is proposed. For this purpose, a weak clay soil sample was mixed with 0.2%, 0.3%, and 0.4% of plastic strips by weight of soil, and the experimental results were compared to the control soil sample with 0% plastic. Laboratory tests on the Standard compaction test, Unconfined compression test (UCS), and California bearing ratio (CBR) were conducted according to the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). The results of the study reveal that there are significant improvements in the strength of weak soil stabilized with plastic waste strips. Accordingly, the Standard Proctor test shows that there is a small increment in the maximum dry density of the soil when it is mixed with plastic strips. The result from the CBR test shows that there is a significant increment of CBR value with the plastic strip content. The unconfined compressive strength test also shows that increasing the percentage of plastic strips from 0 to 0.4% resulted in increased strength of soil by 138% with 2 cm length plastic strips. Therefore, this study recommends the application of plastic strips for improvement of the strength of soft clay for subgrade construction in civil engineering practice as an alternative weak soil stabilization method.

Several field and model tests have been conducted to investigate the impact of pile installation on bearing capacity. However, little is known about how piles behave during installation, how they interact with the surrounding soil, and how this affects sandy soil properties. This review paper investigates the effect of pile driving on surrounding sandy soil as it compacts sandy soil near to the pile. For this purpose, various related literature was studied based on the observation of the pile installation effect on earth pressure or lateral stress, relative density, and pore water pressure in the sandy soil. A change in the deformation and stress state of surrounding sandy soil due to pile driving was presented. The installation of fully displacement piles can lead to significant stresses and deformations in the surrounding sandy soil. This is one of the main causes of uncertainty in the design and analysis of pile foundations. According to this study, the sandy soil around the pile is compacted during pile driving, resulting in lateral and upward displacement. This leads to the densification effect of pile driving on loose sandy soil. Sandy soil improvement with driven piles depends on pile shape, installation method, and pile driving sequences. This study concludes that in addition to its advantages of transferring superstructure load to deep strata, the increased relative density of loose sand, the change in the horizontal stress, and the influence of compaction on the sandy soil parameters during pile driving should be considered during pile design and analysis.