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Designing thickness of subgrade for flexible pavements incorporating waste foundry sand, molasses, and lime

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Abstract

This paper presents the efficacy of industrial wastes such as molasses (5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%) and waste foundry sand (10%, 20%, 30%, and 40%) stabilized clayey soil blended with lime (3%, 6%, 9%, and 12%). The objective of the current research was to develop a composite soil subgrade material for designing the thickness for flexible pavements. Various laboratory tests such as differential free swell, consistency limits, compaction characteristics, and California bearing ratio (CBR) tests were conducted on soil incorporating waste foundry sand and molasses (with/without lime) to find their efficacy to be used as a subgrade material. The laboratory tests revealed that the differential free swell and consistency limits of clayey soil decreased and CBR values increased on adding optimum amount of molasses (10%), waste foundry sand (20%), and lime (9%) alone and in combination with each other. Based on CBR values, the thickness of flexible pavement was designed using IITPAVE software and was also assessed to meet the required criteria based on the IRC: 37-2018 recommendations. The results of the software analysis showed a reduction in the pavement thickness for various values of commercial vehicles per day (1000, 2000, and 5000) for all combinations. The maximum reduction in layer thickness and construction costs is noticed when clayey soil is blended with molasses (10%), waste foundry sand (20%), and lime (3%) in combination with each other. This novel technique of strengthening geotechnical characteristics of subgrade soil is not only helpful for reducing the pavement thickness but is a very cost-effective and also solves the disposal problem of waste foundry sand and molasses.

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  1. Civil Engineering Department, National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur, HP, India

    Avinash Bhardwaj & R. K. Sharma

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  1. Avinash Bhardwaj
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Correspondence to Avinash Bhardwaj.

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Bhardwaj, A., Sharma, R.K. Designing thickness of subgrade for flexible pavements incorporating waste foundry sand, molasses, and lime. Innov. Infrastruct. Solut. 7, 132 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41062-021-00723-6

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