50th

IGC

50th INDIAN GEOTECHNICAL CONFERENCE

17th 19th DECEMBER 2015, Pune, Maharashtra, India
Venue: College of Engineering (Estd. 1854), Pune, India

INFLUENCE OF GRAIN SIZE OF QUARRY DUST ON COMPACTION

CHARACTERISTICS OF CLAY-QUARRY DUST MIX
B. Manash Protim1 and C. Malaya2
ABSTRACT
Addition of graded aggregate materials followed by compaction is a common practice to improve the
engineering properties of soil. This practice not only improves the support quality of soil but also
provides material economy. Quarry dust is a solid waste product produced during crushing operations of
stones and rocks to obtain aggregates. Bulk utilization of this waste has become necessary due to its large
scale production and geo environmental problems related to its disposal. The mineral composition and
inertness of the coarse grained structure of quarry dust have made it possible to use them as the graded
aggregate material in certain geotechnical applications. The objective of this paper is to investigate the
effect of quarry dust content of different gradations on the compaction behaviour of clay-quarry dust
mixtures and to ensure the mass utilization of quarry dust in geotechnical compaction operations. For the
study, six different grain sizes of quarry dust were prepared from two poorly graded locally available
quarry dust samples (D1and D2) obtained from same quarry site. The sample D1 contains both sand-sized
fraction (4.75mm to 2mm) and fine fraction (< 75 ). Sample D2 contains different proportions of sand
fractions with no fines. Four more samples D3, D4, D5 and D6 of different grain sizes were prepared. D3
and D5 were the medium sand fraction (2.00 mm to 425 ) of the samples D1 and D2 respectively and
fine sand fraction (425 to 75 ) of samples D1 and D2 forms the samples D4 and D6 respectively. A
series of Proctors compaction tests were carried out with different quarry dust content with a locally
available clayey soil (C) of liquid limit of 42 % and of plastic limit of 20 %. The Fig. 1 shows the
variation of the maximum dry density (MDD) and optimum moisture content (OMC) with quarry dust
content for all the clay-quarry dust mixes. The figure indicates that the maximum dry density (MDD) of
the clay-quarry dust mixes normally increases and the optimum moisture content (OMC) decreases with
the increase in the dust content in the mixes up to 30 % for all the mixes. But at a quarry dust content of
40 %, a decrease in the MDD value and increase in the OMC value is found for C-D1 mix having fine
fraction of quarry dust and for mixes C-D4 and C-D6, having quarry dust in the fine sand range. For the
mix C-D2, a slight increase in the OMC value is observed at 40 % quarry dust content. For mixes C-D3
and C-D5 increase in MDD value and decrease in OMC value is observed at 40 % dust content.

Manash
Protim_B.,
Civil
Engineering
Department,
Assam
Engineering
College,
Guwahati,
baruahmanash01@gmail.com
2
Malaya_C., Civil Engineering Department, Assam Engineering College, Guwahati, India,, mchetia.ce@aec.ac.in

India,

B. Manash Protim & C. Malaya

Clay-quarry dust mixes
C-D1
C-D2

C-D3

C-D4

2.08

15

2.04

14

C-D5

C-D6

13

2.00

12
1.96

OMC (gm/cm )

MDD (gm/cm )

11
1.92

1.88

10
9

1.84
8
1.80

1.76

1.72

5
0

10

20

30

40

50

10

20

30

40

50

Quarry dust content (%)

Fig. 1 Variation of MDD and OMC with quarry dust contents for different clay-quarry dust mixes

It was found that the mix C-D1 having quarry dust with sufficient amount of fines is showing inferior
compaction characteristics to the C-D2 mix having quarry dust with no fine fraction for particular quarry
dust content. The mixes having quarry dust in the medium and fine sand range i.e. C-D3 and C-D5 are
showing better results regarding the MDD values in comparison to that of C-D1 and C-D2 mixes.
Significant variation in the OMC values can be observed only after a quarry dust content of 20 % and 30
% for the clay-medium sand range quarry dust mixes in comparison to those of mixes C-D1, C-D2 and
clay-fine sand range quarry dust mixes i.e. C-D4 and C-D6 mixes. The mix C-D3 is showing more
promising results for quarry dust content of 40 % with an OMC of 7.14 % and the MDD of 2.04 g/cm3.
So a quarry dust sample having grains in the medium sand fraction can be profusely used for improving
compaction properties of clay.

Keywords: Quarry dust-clay mixtures, compaction characteristics, quarry dust content and size, influence.

50th
IGC

50th INDIAN GEOTECHNICAL CONFERENCE

17th 19th DECEMBER 2015, Pune, Maharashtra, India
Venue: College of Engineering (Estd. 1854), Pune, India

INFLUENCE OF GRAIN SIZE OF QUARRY DUST ON COMPACTION

CHARACTERISTICS OF CLAY-QUARRY DUST MIXES
B. Manash Protim, Post Graduate Student, Assam Engineering College, baruahmanash01@gmail.com
C. Malaya, Assistant Professor, Assam Engineering College, mchetia.ce@aec.ac.in
ABSTRACT: Addition of graded aggregate materials followed by compaction is a common practice to improve
the engineering properties of soil. This practice not only improves the support quality of soil but also provides
material economy. Quarry dust is a solid waste product produced during crushing operations of stones and rocks to
obtain aggregates. Bulk utilization of this waste has become necessary due to its large scale production and geo
environmental problems related to its disposal. The mineral composition and inertness of the coarse grained
structure of quarry dust have made it possible to use them as the graded aggregate material in certain geotechnical
applications. The objective of this paper is to investigate the effect of quarry dust content of different gradations on
the compaction behaviour of clay-quarry dust mixtures and to ensure the mass utilization of quarry dust in
geotechnical compaction operations.

INTRODUCTION
Addition of graded aggregate materials to soil
followed by compaction has always been one of
the usual methods of mechanical stabilization of
weak soil deposits. This common practice lends
desirable attributes to the soil, such as increased
strength, decreased plasticity and also provides
material economy and improves support capability
of soil. This purpose is well served by naturally
available sand for decades. But since the use of
sand is not only limited to geotechnical
applications but also in construction industry, so
efforts have been made to find suitable substitute
for it. Researchers have come out with the idea of
utilization of quarry dust, for partial or full
replacement of sand in soil stabilization and other
applications. Quarry dust is the waste product
obtained during crushing operations of stones to
obtain aggregates and its disposal causes many geo
environmental problems. The annual production of
this waste is roughly estimated to be around 200
million tonnes [1]. Due to comparable mineral
composition to that of sand and inertness of coarse
grained structure many researches have been
carried out on bulk and effective utilization of this
waste alone or with some admixtures with a motive
to stabilize soil. Compaction of soil is carried out
to improve soil densification. Compaction reduces

volume of air voids in the soil that leads to an

increase in the shear strength and a decrease in the
consolidation and the permeability characteristics
of soils [2]. The compaction parameters, maximum
dry density (MDD) and optimum moisture content
(OMC) are important in most of the practical
situations needing densification of soil, such as
embankments, highway and railway sub grades and
foundation soils. Most of the earlier studies were
concentrated on the effect of dust content on
moisture content and dry density of soils. Soosan et
al. (2005) [3] have studied the effect of different
percentages of quarry dust on compaction
characteristics of three different soils and observed
an increase in MDD values and decrease in OMC
values with increase in dust content in the soil-dust
mixes. The optimum range of quarry dust content
in soil was found to be 40-60 %. Sridharan et al.
(2006) [4] found similar results of increase in
MDD and decrease in OMC with increase in
quarry dust content in his study on variation of
shear strength characteristics of soil on addition of
quarry dust. Sarvade and Nayak (2014) [5] in their
investigation on behavior of lithomargic clay
stabilized with quarry dust and cement obtained
similar results. A significant volume of research
work has been done by various researchers on the
various aspects of the compaction properties of

B. Manash Protim & C. Malaya

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS
A locally available clayey soil (denoted by C) and
two quarry dust samples (denoted byD1 and D2),
from same quarry site were collected initially. The
samples have been characterized for their grain
size distribution by following the guidelines
provided by the respective Indian standard (IS)
code [6]. Grain size distribution curves of the clay
and quarry dust samples are shown in Fig.1. Liquid
limit and plastic limit were obtained for clay
sample using IS guidelines [7]. The liquid and
plastic limit of the clay was found to be 40 % and
20 % respectively. According to IS soil
classification system [8], the quarry dust sample
was poorly graded (SP) and clay sample was
inorganic clay of medium compressibility (CI). It
can be seen that sample D1 was having appreciable
amount of fines (< 75 ), whereas sample D2 was
having negligible amount of fines. Shape and
mineralogical characterization of the quarry dust
samples were carried out from the petro graphical
images which indicate that the main mineral
present in the quarry dust samples was quartz, with
mainly angular to subangular shape. In order to
achieve the objective of present study soil mixes
were prepared by mixing clay with six different
quarry dust samples obtained from the original
quarry dust samples itself, so as to ensure that the
influence is only due to the change in grain sizes
and their proportions in the mixes. The quarry dust
samples, denoted by D4 and D6, consist only the
fine sand fraction (grain size from 425 to 75 ) of
original quarry dust sample, D1 and D2. Quarry
dust samples D3 and D5 comprise of only the

medium sand fraction (grain size from 2mm to 75

) of the sample, D1 and D2 respectively. Light
compaction tests [9] were carried out on clay and
six different clay-quarry dust mixes of C-D1, CD3, C-D4, C-D2, C-D5 and C-D6, each mix having
different percentages of respective quarry dust (10
%, 20 %, 30 % and 40 %) of dry weight of the soil
mix. Sample prepared by mixing nine parts of
clayey soil, C (90 %) with one part of quarry dust,
D1 (10 %) by weight is designated as C-D1
(90:10). In similar manner other desired mixes
were prepared. The maximum quarry dust content
for each sample of clay quarry dust mixes is taken
as 40%.
100
90
80
70
60

% finer

clay-quarry
dust
mixtures.
However
comprehensive studies on the effect of gradation
on laboratory maximum density and optimum
moisture content of clay-quarry dust appeared to be
very limited. It seems important, for practical
purposes, to know the effects of grain size of
quarry dust on compaction properties of such
mixes for a minimum compacting effort. The
objective of this paper is to investigate the
influence of quarry dust gradation and content on
the compaction parameters of clay-quarry dust
mixtures. Present study indicates a significant
effect of grain size and content on the OMC and
MDD of clay-quarry dust mixtures.

C
D1
D2
D3
D4
D5
D6

50
40
30
20
10
0
1E-3

0.01

0.1

10

Grain size (mm)

Fig. 1 Grain size distribution curves of samples

used in this study
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Figures 2-7 show the moisture content versus dry
density plots for C, C-D1, C-D4, C-D3, C-D2, CD6 and C-D5 mixes. Figure 2 shows that the
increase in quarry dust content in the C-D1 mix
increases the maximum dry density and reduces the
optimum moisture content upto a dust content of
30%. In case of the mix C-D1 (60:40), an increase
in OMC was found with relatively constant MDD
value than the mix C-D1 (70:30). Figure 4 shows
that with an increase in the percentage of D2 in the
C-D2 mix, the MDD is increasing for all cases and
the OMC is decreasing up to a dust content of 30
%, and then increasing for mix C-D2 (60:40),
which may be due to increase in frictional
resistance of the particles requiring more water to
overcome it. For C-D4 and C-D6 mixes as shown

50th
IGC

50th INDIAN GEOTECHNICAL CONFERENCE

17th 19th DECEMBER 2015, Pune, Maharashtra, India
Venue: College of Engineering (Estd. 1854), Pune, India

in the Figs. 2 and 3 respectively, increase in MDD

value and decrease in OMC value can be observed
up to the mixes C-D4 (70:30) and C-D6 (70:30).
For increase in D4 and D6 content to 40 % in the
respective mixes a decrease in MDD value and
increase in OMC value is observed. The results
show that for quarry dusts samples having grain
sizes in the fine sand range the best results
regarding MDD and OMC are obtained for an
optimum content of 30 %. Compaction curves for
C-D3 and C-D5 (Figs. 4 and 7) clearly indicate the
increase in MDD values and decrease in OMC
values with increase in D3 and D5 content in their
respective mixes.

Fig. 4 Compaction curves for C and C-D3 mixes

Fig. 2 Compaction curves for C and C-D1 mixes

Fig. 5 Compaction curves for C and C-D2 mixes

Fig. 3 Compaction curves for C and C-D4 mixes

The increase in MDD values in all the mixes with

increase in respective dust content is primarily due
to grain size distribution which is becoming more
well graded with addition of quarry dust yielding
higher densities. From the results it is observed that
the increase in quarry dust content which is having
only particles of medium sand range, in the mixes

B. Manash Protim & C. Malaya

results in better compaction properties than all

other mixes.

Fig. 6 Compaction curves for C and C-D6 mixes

Fig. 7 Compaction curves for C and C-D5 mixes

The maximum dry density and optimum moisture

content of different samples obtained from
compaction tests are shown in the Table 1.
Table 1 Maximum dry density and optimum
moisture content values obtained from light
compaction tests

OMC MDD
(%) (g/cm)
C
18.20
1.72
C-D1 (90:10) 13.85
1.77
C-D1 (80:20) 13.00
1.78
C-D1 (70:30) 11.05
1.89
C-D1 (60:40) 12.50
1.89
C-D2 (90:10) 12.90
1.82
C-D2 (80:20) 11.70
1.91
C-D2 (70:30) 10.70
1.93
C-D2 (60:40) 11.95
1.95
C-D3 (90:10) 13.70
1.86
C-D3 (80:20)
13.1
1.86
C-D3 (70:30)
9.65
2.01
C-D3 (60:40)
7.14
2.04
C-D4 (90:10) 13.99
1.88
C-D4 (80:20) 12.57
1.90
C-D4 (70:30) 11.56
1.96
C-D4 (60:40) 11.92
1.94
C-D5 (90:10) 14.19
1.84
C-D5 (80:20) 12.31
1.93
C-D5 (70:30) 11.38
1.94
C-D5 (60:40)
8.57
2.01
C-D6 (90:10) 14.24
1.85
C-D6 (80:20) 11.30
1.87
C-D6 (70:30) 10.71
1.94
C-D6 (60:40) 12.21
1.92

Soil mix

Variation of Maximum Dry Density with

Quarry Dust (D1, D4, D3, D2, D6 and D5)
Content
Figure 7 shows that with increase in percentage of
quarry dust in the mixes, the MDD is increasing for
all clay-quarry dust mixes. For same percentage of
quarry dust in the respective clay-quarry dust mix,
the C-D1 mix is showing lowest MDD value,
which may be due to presence of appreciable non
plastic fines (< 75 ) in the sample D1 thus
increasing the silt fraction of the overall mix.
Quarry dust samples having grain size in the range
of fine sand fraction are showing appreciable
increase in MDD values up to a dust content of 30
%. However, the MDD values of C-D4 mixes are
on higher side than those of C-D6 mixes for same
percentage of respective quarry dust. The reason
may be due to presence of more amounts of larger
size particles of the fine sand range in sample D4

50th
IGC

50th INDIAN GEOTECHNICAL CONFERENCE

17th 19th DECEMBER 2015, Pune, Maharashtra, India
Venue: College of Engineering (Estd. 1854), Pune, India
15
14
13
12

OMC (gm/cm3)

than in sample D6. The mixes C-D2, C-D3 and CD3 show increase in MDD with dust content. For
C-D2 and C-D5 mixes appreciable change in MDD
values are seen from beginning. But for mix C-D3
appreciable change can only be observed after a
dust content of 20 %. The maximum MDD value
of 2.04 g/cm is given by mix C-D3 (60:40)
followed by a value of 2.01 g/cm mix C-D5
(60:40).

11
10
9
8
Clay-quarry dust mixes
C-D1
C-D2
C-D4
C-D5

2.08
Clay-quarry dust mixes
C-D1
C-D2
C-D4
C-D5

2.04

C-D3
C-D6

2.00

10

20

30

40

50

Quarry dust content (%)

1.96

MDD (gm/cm3)

C-D3
C-D6

Fig. 9 Variation of optimum moisture content with

quarry dust contents for different clay-quarry dust
mixes

1.92
1.88
1.84
1.80
1.76
1.72
0

10

20

30

40

50

Quarry dust content (%)

The correlations between MDD and OMC for

different clay-quarry dust mixes are shown in the
Fig. 10. The correlations with correlation
coefficient (R2) have been presented in the Table 2.
Different correlations have been obtained for the
clay-quarry dust mixes.

Fig. 8 Variation of maximum dry density with

quarry dust contents for different clay-quarry dust
mixes

2.05
2.00

MDD (gm/cm 3)

Variation of Optimum Moisture Content with

Quarry Dust (D1, D4, D3, D2, D6 and D5)
Content
From the Fig. 9 it is observed that for same
percentage of sand in the clay-quarry dust mixes
the OMC value of all mixes are decreasing to
respective dust content of 30 %. However increase
in OMC values for C-D1, C-D2, C-D4 and C-D6
mixes are evident after dust content of 30 %. But
the OMC values of C-D1 mixes are always more
than that of C-D2 mixes for same percentage of
respective dust content, which may be due to
presence of appreciable amount of fines in quarry
dust sample D1 requiring more water to overcome
the frictional resistance. The minimum OMC value
of 7.14 % is found for mix C-D3 (60:40) followed
by 8.57 % for mix C-D5 (60:40).

2.10

1.95
1.90
1.85
1.80
Clay-quarry dust mix
C-D1
C-D2
C-D4
C-D5

1.75

C-D3
C-D6

1.70
5

10

11

12

13

14

15

OMC (%)

Fig. 10 Variation of maximum dry density with

optimum moisture content for clay-quarry dust
mixes

16

B. Manash Protim & C. Malaya

Correlations with good R2 values have been

obtained for those clay-quarry dust mixes where
the MDD values were found to increase and the
OMC were decreasing with the increase in the
quarry dust content in the mix. The differences in
the correlations can be attributed due to the
difference in the grain sizes of quarry dust samples.
Table 2 Correlations between MDD and OMC for
different clay-dust mixes
MDD-OMC relationship
R2
Sample
C-D1
MDD = -0.046 OMC + 2.42 0.69
C-D2
MDD = -0.046 OMC + 2.45 0.54
C-D3
MDD = -0.030 OMC + 2.19 0.95
C-D4
MDD = -0.032 OMC + 2.32 0.88
C-D5
MDD = -0.029 OMC + 2.27 0.95
C-D6
MDD = -0.019 OMC + 2.13 0.49
From above observations a clear influence of
gradational properties and content of quarry dust in
the clay-quarry dust mixes can be seen. So for
compaction operations quarry dust samples having
less or negligible amount of fines show better
results than those samples having appreciable
amount of fines. Samples having grain size in
medium sand range are most preferable and even
quarry dust samples having grain size in fine sand
range can also be effectively used in such
operations up to the optimum value of 30 % as
found in the present study.
CONCLUSIONS
The study investigates the influence of quarry dust
content of different grain sizes on the compaction
characteristics of clay-quarry dust mixes. A locally
available clay and six different quarry dust samples
of different grain size distributions upto a
maximum of 40 % of total weight of the soil mixes
has been used. The following conclusions can be
drawn from this study:
1. The maximum dry density (MDD) of clayquarry dust mixes increases with the increase in
quarry dust content in their respective mixes.
The highest MDD value of 2.04 g/cm3 was
observed for C-D3 (60:40) mix having the
medium sand fraction of the quarry dust sample,
D1 which is having higher amount of larger
grain size particles of medium sand range.

2. The C-D4 and C-D3 mixes are showing better

results regarding MDD values in comparison to
that of the C-D1 mixes. Significant variation in
OMC values can be observed only after a dust
content of 30 % for C-D3 mixes in comparison
to those of C-D1 and C-D4 mixes.
3. The comparison between C-D2 mixes, C-D6
and C-D5 mixes shows that, C-D6 mixes are
showing quiet similar and comparable
compaction characteristics to that of C-D2
mixes. The OMC values of C-D5 mixes are on
higher side up to a dust content of 20 % with
comparable MDD values to those of C-D2
mixes up to dust content of 30 %. But at a dust
content of 40 % the mix is showing a
significant decrease in OMC value and increase
in MDD value in comparison to the others.
4. The comparison between C-D1 and C-D2
mixes show that C-D2 mixes having negligible
amount of non plastic fines are giving better
results than C-D1 mixes. It can be concluded
that the quarry dust samples with no fines are
more suitable for compaction operations.
5. The C-D4 mixes in comparison to the C-D6
mixes yield superior properties regarding OMC
and MDD of the mixes which is due to
presence of more amounts of larger grain size
particles of fine sand range.
6. The clay-quarry dust mix, C-D3 (60:40) with
an OMC of 7.14 % and MDD of 2.04 g/cm3 is
showing more promising results in terms of
OMC of the mix. So a quarry dust sample
having grains in the medium sand fraction can
be profusely used for increasing the MDD and
decreasing the OMC of the clay used in this
study.
REFERENCES
1. Soosan, T.G., Jose, B.T. and Abraham, B.M.
(2001), Strength behaviour of lateritic soilquarry dust mixes, Jl. of New Bldg. Mat. and
Const. World, 7, 46-52.

50th
IGC

50th INDIAN GEOTECHNICAL CONFERENCE

17th 19th DECEMBER 2015, Pune, Maharashtra, India
Venue: College of Engineering (Estd. 1854), Pune, India

2. Holtz, R.D. and Kovacs, W.D. (1981), An

Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering,
Prentice Hall, Inc., New Jersey.
3. Soosan, T.G., Sridharan, A., Jose, B.T. and
Abraham, B.M. (2005), Utilization of quarry
dust to improve the geotechnical properties of
soils in highway construction, Geotech. Test Jl.,
ASTM, 28(4), Page count: 10.
4. Sridharan, A., Soosan, T.G., Jose, B.T. and
Abraham, B.M. (2006), Shear strength studies
on soil-quarry dust mixtures, Geotech. and
Geol. Engineering, 24(4), 1163-1179.
5. Sarvade, P.G. and Nayak, S. (2014), Studies on
utilization of quarry dust to improve the
geotechnical properties of lithomargic clay, Intl.
Jl. of Advanced Structures and Geotech.
Engineering, 3, 2319-5347.
6. IS: 2720-IV (1975), Indian Standard Methods of
Test for Soils, Part IV, Grain-Size Analysis.
7. IS: 2720-V (1985), Indian Standard Methods of
Test for Soils, Part V, Determination of Liquid
Limit and Plastic Limit.
8. IS: 1498 (1970), Indian Standard Classification
and Identification of Soils for General
Engineering Purposes.
9. IS: 2720-VII (1974), Indian Standard Methods
of Test for Soils, Part VII, Determination of
Water Content-Dry Density Relation using
Light Compaction.