Bearing capacity improvement of sandy soils at Oleri community using cement stabilization

Abstract

The constructional activities in the coastal areas often demand deep foundations because of the poor engineering properties and the related problems arising from weak soil at shallow depths. The very low bearing capacity of the foundation bed causes shear failure and excessive settlements. Furthermore, the high water table and limited depth of the top sandy layers in these area restrict the depth of foundation thereby further reducing the safe bearing capacity. This paper discusses the bearing capacity improvement of the sandy soil at Oleri community of Delta State, Nigeria; using cement stabilization as the possible solution to foundation problems in the community. The collected soil samples were stabilized by adding ordinary portland cement at different percentages (0%, 3%, 5%, 8% and 10%).The bearing capacity of the natural soil was calculated at varying depths and compared with the ones stabilized with cement. The result showed that the bearing capacity improved from 12.44kN/m2 at 0% cement content to 120.55kN/m² at 10% cement content on surface level; and 21.89kN/m2 at 0% cement content to 194.97kN/m² at 5% cement content for a depth of 1.5m.

Keywords: Bearing Capacity, Sandy Soil, shear failure, foundations, settlement, cement stabilization