Enhancing mechanical behavior of micaceous soil with jute fibers and lime additives

Micaceous soils are common in many tropical countries and regions, and in some locations with moderate climate. The soils are spongy and unstable when loaded and are not considered suitable as construction material in earth structures. To resolve the issue, this work examined performance of micaceous soil reinforced with a combination of jute fibers, hydrated lime or slag-lime. A total of 28 sample sets were prepared at various dosages. Unconfined compression tests were conducted on the samples cured for 7 d and 28 d, respectively. The test results suggested that the unconfined compressive strength(UCS) and material stiffness were increased with the inclusion of up to 1% fiber and decreased if additional fibers were used. The ductility was improved consistently with up to 1.5% fiber content. The inclusions of fibers combined with hydrated lime or slag-lime further enhanced strength and stiffness of micaceous soil, and the improvement depended on the dosages used. For the dosages examined, jute fibers outweighed lime and slag in gaining ductility, and the optimal fiber content was 1% where strength and ductility were considered.