HBRC Journal (2018) 14, 294–299

Housing and Building National Research Center

HBRC Journal

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Stabilization of peat soil using locally admixture

Ashraf E. Abdel-Salam

Housing & Building National Research Center, Cairo, Egypt

Received 18 August 2016; accepted 18 November 2016

KEYWORDS Abstract Peat has considerable negative geotechnical properties such as high water content, low
Peat; shear strength, high organic matter, and low bearing capacity and consequently a significant sever-
Organic soils; ing high compressibility takes place that makes it as one of the most difficult soils for constructing
Properties; structures over its natural state. Because of these geotechnical problems of peat soil, improvement
Improvement methods mechanism is so essential when the peat soil exists to deal with it as a soil foundation. In this paper,
the physical and mechanical properties of the peat are discussed. Also, the two creative mixtures
were prepared to study their effect on the properties of peat and to what extent can these new mix-
tures improve both the physical and mechanical properties of peat layers to bear stresses as the soil
foundation, the first one consisted of clayey diatomite which is widespread in Egypt, calcium car-
bonate, lime and water. On the other hand, the prepared second mixture has the same ingredients of
the first one except to replace the clayey diatomite by the cement. For both mixtures two systems of
cubes were prepared, and peat was added to the two prepared mixtures. Then the all cubes were
submerged in clean water, and also in sewage water for forty-five days for the sake of studying their
durability against submergence and environmental changes, and the cubes’ resistances were mea-
sured. The obtained results in this study were compared by other currently used mixtures for sta-
bilizing peat soils to date for focusing clearly on the performance magnitude of this study.
Ó 2016 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Housing and Building National Research
Center. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
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Introduction Manzala. Sometimes, it appears at ten to twelve meters depth

Peat soils cover about 4.5% from the world area [1]. In Egypt,
it is located at the north and center of the Nile Delta, at depth
three to five meters and with thickness from two to four meters
at the south of Delta, the south of lakes Borols, Edku and
E-mail address: ashrafaann@gmail.com
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Research Center.
Production and hosting by Elsevier
with about two-meter thickness at the north of Delta. Peat is
easily distinguished by their dark brown to black color, high
organic content, high moisture content and considerably light-
weight nature. Peat and organic soil are classified according to
the degree of humification or decomposition [2], which divided
the degree of humification into 10 degrees, and Table 1 shows
the degree of decomposition, while Table 2 [3] illustrates the
classification of peat and organic soils. So the peat is a mixture
fragmented organic materials formed in wetlands under appro-
priate climatic and topographic conditions and it is derived
from vegetation that has been chemically changed and fos-
silized [4], and in natural state peat consists of water and

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.hbrcj.2016.11.004
1687-4048 Ó 2016 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Housing and Building National Research Center.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Stabilization of peat soil using locally admixture 295

Regional Development Fund (2004), Fig. 1 shows the relation

Table 1 Determination of Degree of Humification or
between the settlement with time of two meter floating road on
Decomposition.
peat at field under consolidation for thirty years, Peat in natu-
Degree of Nature of material Nature of plant structure ral state is a highly permeable material and the magnitude of
humification extruded on squeezing in residue the initial primary consolidation settlement under load is nor-
H1 Clear, colorless water; Unaltered, fibrous, mally fairly large and the period of settlement is short usually
no organic solids undecomposed days, and from the result of the study the settlement in 25 day
squeezed out is 55 cm (primary consolidation), around 50 percent of the
H2 Yellowish water; no Almost unaltered, fibrous total settlement over the time and the other 50 percent takes
organic solids squeezed about 10,000 days (secondary compression) [5].
out
So the compression behavior of peat varies completely than
H3 Brown, turbid water; Easily identifiable
no organic solids
the compression behavior of other types of soils in two ways.
squeezed out First, the compression of peat is much larger than that of other
H4 Dark brown, turbid Visibly altered but soils. Secondly, the creep portion of settlement plays a more
water; no organic identifiable significant role in determining the total settlement of peat than
solids squeezed out that of the other cohesive soil types. The primary consolida-
H5 Turbid water and some Recognizable but vague, tion of fibrous peat takes place very rapidly. A large secondary
organic solids squeezed difficult to identify compression, even tertiary compression is also observed to
out take place [6].
H6 Turbid water; 1/3 of Indistinct, pasty The peat sample used in this study was taken from north of
sample squeezed out
Egypt (Kafer Saad) at three meter depth, and its physical and
H7 Very turbid water; 1/2 Faintly recognizable; few
of sample squeezed out remains identifiable,
chemical properties are described as follows:
mostly amorphous Moisture content: 395% Organic content: 66% Ash con-
H8 Thick and pasty; 2/3 of Very indistinct tent: -- Fiber content: 72% ɤ (peat) = 0.11 gm/cm3 Specific
sample squeezed out gravity: 1.33 LL: 165% Degree of decomposition: H4
H9 No free water; nearly No identifiable remains PH: 4.42.
all of sample squeezed
out Soil stabilization
H10 No free water; all of Completely amorphous
sample squeezed out
Soil stabilization was using binder materials in weak soil to
improve its geotechnical properties such as compressibility,
strength and permeability, and it depends on the soil property
decomposed plant fragment with virtually no measurable
and the component of stabilization binders, such as cement,
strength.
lime, flay ash, blast furnace slag, calcium sulfate, and gypsum,
Peat is often referred to as one of the most problematic soils
and Fig. 2 shows the obtained performance after 28 days of
due to its low shear strength, high water content, and low
some weak soils by using some different binder materials after
specific gravity and it is severely harmfully compressible. Peat
[7]. In this paper we used two mixtures. The first, clayey diato-
exhibits unique geotechnical properties in comparison with
mite as cemented materiel, calcium carbonate (spedaj) and
those of inorganic soil such as sand, silt and clay. As the peat
lime. The second mixture has the same ingredients as first
soil is highly compressible, so it undergoes excessive settlement
one except for replacing of cement instead of clayey diatomite.
when buildings are constructed above it, and it causes conse-
Peat soils are rich with water content and high porosity and in
quently instability problems such as slip failure, local sinking
most cases its deposit is shallow from two to four meter under
and considerable primary and long-term settlement; even if
the surface ground as (Kafer Saad at north of Nile delta) or at
moderate load is subjected on it.
deep depth of about 12 meter as (Menia Sandob, Mansoura at
According to the field study of the National Research
middle north of the delta). Cement and lime are widely used as
Council of Canada of two meter floating road on peat (1969)
a base of stabilizing material and binding agent, where the
and also the project of dealing with bearing capacity problems
cement is the oldest binding agent for soil stabilization technol-
on low volume roads constructed on peat under European
ogy since 1960. It may be considered as primary stabilizing

Table 2 Classification of peat and organic soils (After landva and Pheeney, 1980).
Soil type Peats Peaty organic soils Organic soils Soil with organic content
Group symbol Pt PtO O MO or CO
Ash content% <20 20–40 40–95 95–99
Organic content >80 60–80 5–60 1–5
Particle density <1.7 1.6–1.9 >1.7 >2.4
Moisture content 200–3000 150–800 100–500 <100
Liquid limit Difficult Test to perform >50 <50
Fiber content >50 <50 Insignificant –
Degree of decomposition H1-H8 H8- H10 H 10 –
296 A.E. Abdel-Salam

Figure 1 Time versus Settlement curve of an embankment on peat After [5].

Figure 2 Shear strength gain (28 day) of various types of soil (After [7]).

agent or hydraulic binder because it can be used alone to bring
about the stabilizing action required (Sherwood, 1993), while
lime provides an economical way of soil stabilization and lime
modification describes an increase in strength resulting by
cation exchange capacity rather than cementing effect resulting
by pozzolanic reaction [8]. When cement reacts with water in
peat, it forms calcium silicate hydrate or tobermorite gels 2
(3CaO.2SiO .3H O), which act as glue that bind and hold
the soil particles together [9]. As shown in Fig. 2, cement
and/or lime as the binder material among peat particles could
not achieve satisfied performance in spite of tedious effort and
high cost required where the maximum obtained performance
is 30 kPa (0.30 kg/cm2) after 28 days by using cement.
Clayey diatomite as stabilizing material
The samples of clayey diatomite of Upper Miocene age origi-
nated from Kom Osheam at south of Giza and north of
Fayom. The world product about 1.930 thousand metric tons,
commercial diatomite products provide fine-sized, irregular-
shaped porous non-caking particles that have a large surface
area and high liquid absorption capacity.
Diatomite is a silica mineral composed of the fossilized
skeletal remains of microscopic single celled aquatic plants
(algae) called diatoms. Over 10,000 species of microscopic
algaes have been recognized, each one has its own distinct
shape and ranging in size from below 5 lm to above 100 lm.
Stabilization of peat soil using locally admixture
The XRD of the sample clearly explain the highly crystalline
peaks of calcite, clay, quartz, beside the amorphous peak of
diatomite phase. The two types of carbonates, calcite and
dolomite, were quit detected (Fig. 3) and the mineralogy com-
ponent were explain before. Table 3 illustrates the chemical
analysis of the sample, which confirms the predicted XRD
phase analysis of the ore.
Stabilizing of peat soil
In this study, stabilizing the peat soil or improving its property
to sustain safely any relatively high compressive strength by
decreasing the void ratio by filling the space among peat par-
ticles by grouting with the two creative prepared mixtures,
both of them has spedaj (calcium carbonate), lime, water, plus
clayey dolomite for the first tested mixture or plus cement for
the second one.
The Experimental program
At first, preliminary trial and error tests were carried out to
obtain the ideal or critical percentages of each component of
the both mixtures. The components for the first one are clayey
dolomite, spedaj, lime, and water and cement, spedaj, lime,
and water for the second one. The ideal or critical percentages
were obtained when the mixtures could able to keep their dry
shapes exactly unchanged for long time after submergence. It
has been obtained that, mixture (1) consists of 20% clayey dia-
tomite, 27% calcium carbonate, 12% lime and 41% water, and
on the other hand, mixture (2) consists of 25% cement, 33%
calcium carbonate, 14% lime and 28% water. Hence main
Figure 3 X-ray diffraction and mineral compositions.
297
tests were performed by preparing three groups of cubes for
every mixture. The test method consists of applying a compres-
sive axial load to molded cubes at a rate which is within a pre-
scribed range until failure occurs. The compressive strength of
the specimen is calculated by dividing the maximum load
attained during the test by the cross-sectional area of the spec-
imen. After one day, the unit weight and relatively dry com-
pressive strength of the first group were measured. Then the
second group of cubes was submerged in clean water and the
other used cubes of third group were submerged in sewage
water for 45 day; thereafter, the unit weight and compressive
strength for both second and third groups were measured.
For main tests, cubes 5 * 5 * 5 cm3 were used for mixtures’
ingredients without peat and cubes 10 * 10 * 10 cm3 were used
when adding peat to the mixtures with unit weight 0.11 gm/
cm3 as mentioned before. The gained original consistency of
the tested grout mixes into cubes was so close to the consis-
tency of very soft clay as shown in Fig. 4 for the sake of signif-
icantly improving the pump ability to distribute
homogeneously the grout mix through injection action among
peat particles.
Clayey diatomite and cement have considerable ability to
absorb water while calcium carbonate (spedaj) and lime have
also relative ability to absorb water and they are also working
as filler material among peat particles (see Tables 4 and 5).
Results and discussion
– Peat in normal case does not have any strength with very
high water content and therefore it is necessary for a filler
material among its particles able to improve its physical
298 A.E. Abdel-Salam

Table 3 Chemical analysis of the tested clayey diatomite.

% % % % %
LoI 23.61 Sio2 38.61 FeO3 4.01 MgO 1.71 K2O 0.64
P2O5 0.3 Al2O3 7.16 CaO 19.7 SO3 1.78 MnO 0.13
TiO2 0.55 Na2O 0.96 Cl 0.63 Total 99.8

(a) Prepared cubes 5*5*5 cm3 (b) Prepared cubes 10*10*10 cm3

Figure 4 Prepared cubes for main tests.

Table 4 Mixtures 1 and 2 without peat (cubes 5 * 5 * 5 cm3).

Condition No submergence Submerged by clean water Submerged by sewage water
Time Starting After 45 days After 45 days
Mixture (1) (2) (1) (2) (1) (2)
Unit weight (gm./cm3) 1.1 1.80 1.03 1.72 1.0 1.75
Resistance (kPa) 1800 2400 480 4800 390 4000

Table 5 Mixtures 1 and 2 with peat (cubes 10 * 10 * 10 cm3).

Condition No submergence Submerged by clean water Submerged by sewage water
Time Starting After 28 days After 28 days
The mixture (1) (2) (1) (2) (1) (2)
Unit weight (gm./cm3) 0.95 1.58 0.93 1.56 0.93 1.55
Resistance (kPa) 390 2600 180 4200 160 3800

and mechanical properties to bear safely any stresses from
the structures constructed over it. The two grout mixes that
were processed in this paper were achieved by considerable
performance of the peat properties compared to other cur-
rently used materials.
– The approach of this philosophy was based on the superior
ability of the ingredients mixed together and each of the two
creative injected mixes in this study was allowed to absorb
water to change the primary consistency of the two pre-
pared grout mixes from very soft to very stiff consistency
(closely less or more) by time among the peat particles.
– The first mixture ’clayey diatomite, spedaj (calcium carbon-
ate), lime and water’ is worked as stabilizing material and
improves the peat strength from zero to 180 kPa when sub-
merged in clean water and to 160 kPa when submerged in
sewage water for 45 days. On the other hand, the second
mixture ’cement, spedaj, lime and water’ improves cumula-
tively the peat strength from zero to 4200 kPa when sub-
merged in clean water and to 3800 kPa when submerged
in sewage water for the same period.
– The maximum obtained improvement or performance
through the currently used injected mixtures to date on

the peat strength is 30 kPa [Ahnberg et al., 1995] which con-
sidered clearly unsatisfied improvement comparing to both
required tedious effort and tremendous cost through the
injection procedure. The first mixture in this study increases
that strength of injected peat (30 kPa) by 6 times when sub-
merged in clean water and by 5 times when submerged in
sewage water. The second mixture increases cumulatively
that strength of injected peat by 140 times when submerged
Stabilization of peat soil using locally admixture
in clean water and by 126 times when submerged in sewage
water. By compare the result with different other stabilizing
system can find the result after 28 days at the same Wc. at
medium position.
– The cost of the clay diatomite is so cheap than cement but
the cement in the grout mix introduces cumulative strength
values than clayey diatomite in the grout mix although the
clayey diatomite gives the considerable positive improve-
ment comparing to the current ancient used injected mate-
rials to date. The project needs through its technical and
economic aspects set significantly an informed decision to
select one of the two new injected mixtures which were cre-
ated by this study.
Conclusions remarks
 Geologist sector must be done before any construction site
to determine and defined the peat area, level and thickness if
there are any problems caused by the soil to the buildings.
 The critically obtained percentages of ingredients of mix-
ture (1) consist of 20% clayey diatomite, 27% calcium car-
bonate, 12% lime and 41% water; on the other hand,
mixture (2) consists of 25% cement, 33% calcium carbon-
ate, 14% lime and 28% water to get their consistencies as
very soft clay consistency.
 The two mixtures for this study work as filler stabilizing
material among peat particles. The first mixture improves
strength of the injected peat from zero to 170 kPa in aver-
age due to the type of submerged water, while second mix-
ture performed the injected peat strength from zero to
4000 kPa in average after 45 day.
299
 The cost of the clay diatomite mixture is cheaper than the
cement mixture while the performance of cement mixture
is cumulatively bigger than the first one. The project needs
which through its technical and financial aspects make the
geotechnical engineer to select the suitable used mixture.
 The prepared two injected grout mixes achieve considerable
performance for the injected peat layer which has a great
gap between them and all other old current used injected
materials to date.
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