MBEYA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND

TECHNOLOGY

NAME:ERNEST NCHIMBI
REG No: 19100334030024.
UQF LEVEL: 8
 PROJECT TITLE

IMPROVEMENT OF NING’WA BORROW PIT MATERIAL

IN SHINYANGA
 INTRODUCTION
Soil is any uncemented and weakly cemented accumulation of mineral
particles formed by the weathering of rocks, the void space between the
particles containing water or air.
• Stabilization is the treatment of natural soil to improve its engineering
properties. As the quality of a soil layer is increased, the ability of that
layer to distribute the load over a greater area is generally increased
enough to permit a reduction in the required thickness of the soil and
surface layers.
• Stabilization is commonly used for better soil gradation, reduction of
PI or swelling potential, and increased durability and strength. Soils
stabilized by additives often provide an all-weather working platform
for construction operations.
 HISORICAL BACKGROUND
• Ning’wa borrow pit is found at Chibe village 13 km from shinyanga
town. This borrow pit has been used for long time now and due to its
properties of material found there it have been seen that materials
found required to be improved so as to reach engineering properties
required for road construction layer such as subbase layer.
A PICTURE SHOWING NING’WA
BORROW PIT
 PROBLEM STATEMENT
• In Shinyanga town there is much need of construction materials due to
growth of town, where by there is increase in road construction
projects this led to high demand of road construction materials from
borrow pits. But materials found at Ning’wa lack sufficient binders to
be used as road subbase material for different traffic load classes
those materials needs to be improved so as to solve the demand
problem of road construction materials to decrease unnecessary
construction costs of materials obtained from borrow pit which are far
away.
 OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT
MAIN OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT
• The main objective of the project is to improve Ning’wa borrow pit
materials in Shinyanga region.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT
• The following are the specific objectives of the project;

a. To characterize the borrow pit materials.

b. To determine the suitable stabilizer and their percentage proportions.
c. To determine Strength of the material stabilized with different
percentage of additives.
 SCOPE OF THE PROJECT
• The project will base on chemically stabilization of soil material from
Ning’wa borrow pit to reach the strength required for it to be used as a
source road construction material. It will involve stabilizing material
with different percentage of additive to obtain the optimum
proportions.
 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT
• By improving the material that were not reliable in the borrow pit will
ensure the use of that materials and to be trusted for use of highway
construction also gives good performance as their improved to the
required specifications.
 LITERATURE REVIEW
INTRODUCTION
• Site feasibility study for geotechnical projects is of far beneficial a
project can take off. Site survey usually takes place before design
process begins in order understand the characteristics of subsoil upon
which the decision for the project can be made.
• Some of the characteristics, which should be considered, are like;
design load, type of foundation to be used and bearing capacity of the
soil.
• During this process of site visibility, it can be found that
characteristics of soil do not meet the properties of soil required hence
alternative method for its improvement should be taken into account.
Introduction cont…
• Now day’s soils such as clay and other organic soil can be improved
to meet the engineering properties. This state of the art review focuses
on soil stabilization method. (Makusa, 2012).
• Categories of Soil Stabilization.
a) Mechanical stabilization
b) Chemical stabilization
Components of Stabilization
• Soil stabilization involves the use of stabilizing agents (binder
materials) in weak soils to improve its geotechnical properties like
compressibility, strength, permeability and durability.
 Componets of stabilization cont…
• Stabilizing Agent
These are hydraulic (primary binders) or non-hydraulic (secondary
binders) materials that when in contact with water or in the presence of
pozzolanic minerals reacts with water to form cementitious composite
materials. The commonly used binders are:
a) Cement
b) Lime
c) Fly ash
Characterization of the borrow pit materials .
• Before adding additives to soil material properties of unsterilized
material should first be known. According to the following test should
be performed for properties of the material: Atterberg limit,
compaction, sieve analysis and CBR test. (Paige green, 2004)
• The chief properties of soil which are of interest to engineers are
volume stability, strength, compressibility, permeability and durability
for a successful stabilization(Druyts,2003).
• The material tests that are normally performed on borrow soil are
water content, Atterberg limits, particle size distribution, compaction
curve, and CBR test (Kisunge,2012)
Determination of the suitable stabilizer and their percentage
proportions.
• After knowing the properties of soil material then the next step will
be determining type of additive which should be added depending on
the properties of material.
• Soil characteristics including mineralogy, gradation and physic-
chemical properties of fine-grained soils influence the soil-additive
interaction.
• All agents for stabilization have particular soil material to which
when they are applied would produce the required properties.Opines
that the selection of an appropriate stabilizing agent and construction
procedures involves a number of considerations (McNally, 1998).
Determination of suitable stabilizer cont…

Figure above. showing Selection of suitable stabilizer.

Source: MoW. (2000). Laboratory testing manual.
Determination of strength of the material stabilized with different percentage of additives.

• After stabilizing strength of material can change. To test strength of

material Unconfined compressive strength (UCS) test should be
performed. Unconfined compressive strength testing is always carried
out on determining the strength of soil materials after being stabilized
(Paige Green,2004).
• The materials considered for stabilization should be subjected to a
strength testing program when cemented material is blended with soils.
• it is important to observe how this material can improve the strength of a
weak soil that may be encountered in the field and this can be fulfilled
by application of UCS test (Carreon et al,2000).
 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction.
• Purpose of this project is to improve the soil from Ningw’a borrowpit
materials for road construction. Assement involve different methodology
to achieve the objectives and hence reach the expected outcome.The
Following are the methods use so as to achieve those objecives. Method
of data collection involves.
Collection of Soil Samples.
Soil Sampling.
• Is the process of taking a sample soil, which is then sent to a laboratory
to determine the properties of such kind of soil. The sample used for
laboratory test was taken from Ning’wa borrow pit.
Performing Laboratory Tests
• The aim of this test is to classify the soil, knowing the strength of the
soil the method of classification is AASHTOO soil classification.
To characterize the borrow pit materials.
• Guidance from different reviews, the properties of unstabilized
material were found by different laboratory test which are; atterberg
limit, sieve analysis, CBR test and compaction test.
Particle size distribution
• The method to determine particle sizes distribution is defined in
Central Materials Laboratory(CML) test number 1.7 BS 1377: Part 2:
1990.
Cumulative percentage retained on each sieve:
% retained=
Atteberg Limit
• Atterberg limit will be conducted in accordance to Central Materials
Laboratory (CML) tests number 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4 BS1377: Part 2:1990
• The behavior of soil in term of plasticity index (PI) is determined by
using this formula: PI = LL – PL
Linear shrinkage
• The linear shrinkage value is the way of quantifying the amount of
shrinkage likely to be experienced by clayey material.
Linear shrinkage (L.S) %=×100%
Performing Compaction test
• The objective of this test is to obtain relationships between compacted dry
density and soil moisture content, using two magnitudes of manual
compactive effort.
Calculation of CBR value:
• Penetration of 2.5mm and 5mm may be used for calculating the CBR value
however the CBR at 2.5mm penetration is generally used for assessing the
quality of material.
• CBR value (%) =P× for
P is the plunger force (in KN) at 2.5mm penetration and
CBR value (%) =P× for
P is the plunger force (KN) at 5mm penetration.
To determine the suitable stabilizer and their percentage proportions.
• After knowing the properties of soil material then the next step were
determining type of additive which should be added depending on the
properties of material. This will involve the use and checking of data found
from the above laboratory tests conducted on unstabilized material.
To determine Strength of the material stabilized with different
percentage of additives.
• The unconfined compressive strength test will be determined on the
cement- stabilization soil samples using CML test method 1.21 in this
study. The prepared samples were thoroughly mixed with cement.
Compacted and cured.
• The USC was determined by subjecting the stabilized samples to
constant increasing axial load until failure.
 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Sieve analysis and atterberg test results obtained
Gravel 58.4%

Sand 33.1%

Fine 8.5%

Table: Particle Size Distribution Test Results

Results Linear Shrinkage

Liquid limit 28% Initial Length 140 mm

Plastic Limit 15% Dry Length 134 mm

Plasticity Index 13% Linear shrinkage 4%

Table : Atterberg Limit and Linear Shrinkage Results

A picture above showing performing atterberg test.

 Results and discussion cont….

Graph above showing atterberg test results. Graph above showing Sieve analysis curve

• According to the results obtained above from AASHTO Classification table system
the Borrow pits material classified as A-2-6 (0) and generally classified as granural
materials
PGI = 0.01(F200 - 15)(PI - 10)
F200 = 6.5, LL =28 and PI = 13, there for PGI=0
Results and discussion cont.…
Compaction test results
Moisture Content 4.0 5.7 7.9 9.9
(%)
Dry 1792 1827 1872 1821
Density(kg/m3)

Maximum Dry Density 1872Kg/m3

Optimum Moisture Content 7.9%

Natural Moisture Content 2.1%

 Results and discussion cont….
California Bearing Ratio (CBR)
Penetration (mm) CBR (%)

Heavy Intermediate Light

2.5 mm 42.1 25.1 13

5.0 mm 59 30 15
Table above showing CBR test results

% of MDD (1842 102%, 1898.6kg/m3 95%, 1786kg/m3 91%, 1671kg/m3 Graph showing relationship between CBR and compaction.
kg/m3)

CBR 42 25 13

Table above showing CBR Results by The Percentage Of MDD

Figure above shows reading the CBR test values.

Results and discussion cont.…
• The CBR value is normally taken from 95% which is 25, it is suitable for subbase only
but if it has to be used into other layers depending on Load traffic classes, the material
strength has to be improved by stabilization process to be used as cemented
materials(C1).
The % passing the 75µm sieve was 4.1% which is less than 25% and
Plasticity Index (PI) was 13% which is more than 10%, the suitable
stabilizer were cement or lime.
Source: Pavement and Materials Design Manual, 1999 table 7.8
• The suitable stabilizer depending on the data or results obtained above
were cement or lime i opted cement since is good interms of binding
property and strength too.
Results and discussion cont….
Compaction after stabilization
% of additives NMC (%) OMC (%) MDD (kg/m3)

1% 3.4 8.8 1776

2% 4.8 10.1 1744

3% 6.2 11.1 1716

4% 7.9 11.9 1682

Table 6. Summary of The Compaction Test Results

Unconfined Compressive strength (UCS)

Table 7. Summary Unconfined Compressive strength (UCS)

A graph showing Unconfined Compressive strength (UCS) A Picture showing reading of ucs values
Results and discussion cont.…
• The results it indicates that, material of this borrow pit can be
used as CM, and C1 by adding 1% 2% , 3% and 4% to be
constructed as base course for road with Traffic load class <02
and can be constructed as base course for road with Traffic load
class <05 and 1.
•As the results indicating it can also be used as C1 by adding
2.1% of Cement to be constructed as subbase course for Traffic
load class 3-H.
 CONLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Conclusion cont.....
• Cement as a soil stabilizer for improving the engineering properties of soils
for construction of road layers such as basecourse, subbase and subgrade for
different traffic load has been investigated and confirmed. Therefore, to
optimally increase the bearing capacity of this borrow pit material to be used
as cemented material class 1, 2.1% cement content is optimal.
• In addition, the result obtained in UCS after addition of 2.1% of cement the
material attains minimum 1Mpa. From pavement design manual for C1 layer
the UCS value should be greater or equal to 1Mpa this value meet the
strength required for C1 layer. For after addition of cement the value for
unconfined compressive strength for 2.1% and 3% of cement was 1 and 1.40
respectively. Means the soil now is adequate to be used as cemented layer C1.
Conclusion cont.....
• For site condition with predominance in gravel sand soil cement is
effective as a stabilizer with the cement content greater or equal to
2.1% for C1 layer in order to achieve 1Mpa compressive strength.
• It can also be conluded that 1% , 2%, 3%, 4% cement content will be
effective to treat A-2-6 group soil depending on the disired
unconfined compressive strength.Also the UCS values are affected by
the number of curing periods.
Recommendation cont….
In accordance with the above conclusion the following recommendation
are made;
• The CBR value of the materials at 95% was 25% which is G25 before
stabilization, this strength is suitable for subgrade layer, but on other
extent it won’t be suitable for construction of other layers with high
traffic loading, therefore cement stabilization was necessary so as to
improve material properties to be used for all pavement layers
depending on it’s traffic load class. Then cement stabilization should be
used to improve the strength of the soil road construction.
• Cement has been found effective as stabilizer for all site conditions
investigated in the reviewed experimental research done by others
researchers.
Recommendation cont….
• However, further research has to be carried out as the percentage of
cement content varies from region to region and from soil
characteristics to another .This is necessary so as to determine the
optimal percentage of cement content that would yield the desired UCS
values.
• Further research should be done on stabilizing the same borrow pit
material by the use of other type of additive such as lime is advisable so
as to know also the requirement of a given soil material if another type
of additive is used.
 References
• Al-Muktar, M.,Khattab, S.Alcover, J. (2012). Microstructure and Geotechnical
Properties of Lime Treated Expansive Soil. Eng.Geol. 139-140,17-27.
• ASTM. (2000). Standard Test Methods for Liquid Limit, Plasticity index of soils.
Annual Book of ASTM standards, ASTM D4318-00.
• Bhuvaneshwari, s. et al. (2005). Stabilization of expansive soil using fly ash.
New Delhi.
• Dash, S.K. & Hussain, M. (2011). Lime stabilization of soils: Journal of
Materials in Civil Engineering, 24, 707-714.
• Green, P., &Netterberg, F. (2004). Cement stabilization of road pavement
materials.
• Harichane, K. et al. (2011). Use of Natural Pozzolana and Lime for Stabilization
of Cohesive
 References
• Kisunge, J. (2012). Road construction materials.

• Makusa, G. P. (2012). Soil stabilization method and materials, University of Sweden.

• MoW. (2000). Laboratory Testing Manual 1st Edition. The United Republic of Tanzania.

• Muhamed, A. (2003). Soil stabilization and strength. Iosr-jmce.volume 6.

• Obeta, I. N. et al. (2019). Stability and Durability of Saw Dust Ash-Lime Stabilized
Black Cotton Soil. Nigerian Journal of Technology (NIJOTECH). Vol 38, No. 1, pp 75-
80.
• Reddy, P. P. (2021). Soil Stabilization of Base Layer by using Cement and Additive,
http://www.ijert.org/
• Shawl, Z. Z., Parkash, V.& Kumar, V. (2017). Use of Lime and Saw Dust Ash in Soil
Stabilization.
THANK YOU FOR
YOUR ATTENTION