INVESTIGATION OF ENGINEERING PROPERTIES OF A MIXTURE OF CLAY SOIL FROM

MUTYAMBUA LOCATION AND RIVER SAND SOIL FROM KYUMBUNI LOCATION

BOTH IN MAKUENI COUNTY.

NORAH NTHENYA MUTUA.

EICI/01586/2017.

SUPERVISOR: ENGINEER GORDON AURA

 INTRODUCTION

 Soil, in the engineering sense, comprises all materials found in the surface layer of the earth’s crust
that are loose enough to be moved by spade or shovel.
 The particles that make up soil are categorized into three groups by size; sand, silt, and clay (Velde,
2010).

 Sand particles are the largest and clay particles the smallest. Most soils are a combination of the
three. The relative percentages of sand, silt, and clay are what give soil its texture. A clay loam
texture soil, for example, has nearly equal parts of sand, slit, and clay.
 PROBLEM STATEMENT

 Most people in Mutyambua location use clay soil in constructing houses which
results in a lot of cracks in the houses due to its high plasticity index. Using sand
from Kyumbuni location will reduce the plasticity index thus reducing cracks in
the buildings.
 The cost of common stabilizers such as cement and lime is high and most
people
in Mutyambua location find it difficult to afford. Using locally available resources
such as sand from Kyumbuni location will reduce cost and make it cheaper for the
people of Mutyambua to construct houses that do not have a lot of cracks.
 OBJECTIVES

Main objective

 To investigate engineering properties of a mixture of clay soil from Mutyambua location and river
sand from Kyumbuni location both in Makueni county.

Specific objectives

 To determine the Atterberg limits for the clay soil when 0%, 5%, 10% and 15% of sand is added 
by weight.
 To determine the Optimum Moisture Content (OMC) for the clay soil when mixed with 0%, 5%,
10% and 15% addition of sand by weight.

 To determine the Maximum Dry Density (MDD) for the clay soil when mixed with 0%, 5%, 10%
and 15% addition of sand by weight. 
 JUSTIFICATION

 The study is significant since it seeks to evaluate on the use of sand from Kyumbuni location
as an additive to clay soil in Mutyambua location so as to reduce the plasticity of the clay.
 The study is propelled by the fact that there are many cracks in the buildings made of clay in
Mutyambua location.
 LITERATURE REVIEW

 The properties of soils which are not of primary interest to the geotechnical engineer but are
indicative of the engineering properties are called index properties (Sen and Pal, 2014).

 Clay soil comprises very fine mineral particles which are; kaolinite, illite and montmorillonites
(Fernandez et al., 2011). Clay soil is quite sticky since there is not much space between the
mineral particles and does not drain well.

 Clay particles are formed through diagenesis which is the process that occurs when minerals
that are stable in one environment destabilize because of compaction (Velde, 2009).

 Iron can substitute for aluminium and magnesium to variable degrees and significant amounts of
potassium, salt and calcium are frequently present as well (Murray,2007)
 LITERATURE REVIEW CONT

 The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and
conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-
tropical coastal settings is silica (silicon dioxide, or SiO2), usually in the form of quartz
(White and Watts, 1994).
 The engineering behaviour of soil is largely influenced by the presence of water and its
quantity present in the voids of the soil which makes this an important test in soils. The
moisture content test is performed in accordance to BS EN ISO 17892-1: 2014.
 Atterberg limits is a basic measure of the critical water content of fine-grained soils.
These tests based on BS 1377 include shrinkage limit, plastic limit and liquid limit When
clay minerals are present in fine-grained soil, the soil can be remolded in the presence of
some moisture without crumbling.
 Liquid Limit (L.L), also known as the upper plastic limit, is the water content at which the
soil changes from the liquid state to plastic state. It is the minimum moisture content at
which a soil flows upon application of very small shear force. L.L can be determined
using the Casagrande cup method or a cone penetrometer. BS 1377-2:1990 recommends
the cone penetrometer method in favour of the Casagrande cup method, therefore, in this
study the
cone penetrometer method is adopted.
 METHODOLOGY

 The laboratory tests was carried out in the soils laboratory in The Technical University of Kenya.

 The materials used include river sand, clay soil and water.

 The clay soil used was obtained from Katani in Mutyambua location in Makueni county. The clay
soil conformed to BS 1377-2:2022

 Tap water at the soils laboratory wasused to prepare all samples. The water conformed to BS EN
1008:2002.
 METHODOLOGY CONT

Laboratory Tests.

 Moisture content was done in accordance to BS EN ISO 17892-1: 2014.

 Atterberg limits tests was done in accordance to BS EN ISO 17892-12:2018.

 Sieve Analysis of sand was done in accordance to BS EN 933-2:2020.

 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Moisture content test results
% sand in clay soil Average moisture content (%)

0 15.12

5 14.27

10 13.07

15 12.11

 Moisture content decreases with increase in sand percentage.

 This is due to reduction of spongy nature of clay with increased sand percentage.
 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION CONT
Atterberg limits results
1. Liquid limit
0% sand in clay 5% sand in clay 10% sand in clay 15% sand in clay
soil soil soil soil
Pen. MC Pen. MC Pen. MC Pen. MC
(mm) (%) (mm) (%) (mm) (%) (mm) (%)

18 62.70 16 73.21 18 57.59 18 50.08

19 72.51 18 72.64 20 58.84 19 75.12
20 69.30 21 80.56 22 48.77 20 12.92
21 67.07 22 71.00 24 66.67 23 88.83
 From graphs of cone penetration against moisture content 0%, 5%, 10% and
15% sand soil samples had liquid limit of 79.1%, 72.84%, 65% and 59%
respectively.

 Liquid limit decreases with increase in percentage of sand due to increase

pores.
 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION CONT

2. Plastic limit

 Plastic limit of clay soil containing 0% sand was calculated and found to be 40.45%.

 Addition of sand in the rest of clay soil samples made them too rigid to be rolled.

 The samples crumbled before they could attain 3mm thickness.

 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION CONT

3. Linear shrinkage limit

% sand in clay soil Wet sample Dry sample Linear Shrinkage limit
length length shrinkage (%)
(cm) (cm) (cm)
0 11.60 9.40 2.20 18.97

5 11.60 9.60 2.0 17.24

10 11.60 10.40 1.20 10.34

15 11.60 10.60 1.00 8.62

 Linear shrinkage and shrinkage limit decreased with the increase in sand percentage in
clay soil.

 This was because the sand occupied more space in the soil causing the soil sample not
to shrink very much when dried.
 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION CONT

Maximum dry density results

% sand in clay soil sample
0 5 10 15
Water Dry Water Dry Water Dry Water Dry
amount density amount density amount density amount density
(mm) (g/cm3) (mm) (g/cm3) (mm) (g/cm3) (mm) (g/cm3)
100 11.05 100 11.01 100 12.35 100 13.91
200 10.27 200 10.73 200 11.06 200 10.87
300 10.01 300 6.92 300 10.09 300 8.38
400 8.92 400 7.83 400 10.26 400 7.29
500 11.05 500 7.87 500 8.19 500 9.19

 The maximum peak point of the soil compaction curve obtained was the MDD value.

 The water content corresponding to that point was the OMC.

 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Conclusion

 As the percentage of river sand increased the liquid limit of clay soil decreased
therefore increasing the soils’ shear strength.

 An increase in percentage of river sand resulted in an increase in maximum dry

density for clay soil therefore making river sand a suitable addition to improve clay
soils’ compaction.

 An increase in percentage of river sand resulted in a decrease in moisture content of

clay soil which meant a high density for clay soil therefore making it unsuitable for
construction.
 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Recommendations

 Further research on a mixture of clay soil and sand soil should be carried out to
investigate other engineering properties such as compressive strength.

 Further research on a mixture of clay soil and CEM IV B/P 32.5R should be carried
out
to investigate their engineering properties.
 REFERENCES

 Fernandez, R., Martirena, F. and Scrivener, K.L., 2011. The origin of the pozzolanic activity of calcined
clay minerals: A comparison between kaolinite, illite and montmorillonite. Cement and concrete
research, 41(1), pp.113-122.

 Murray, H., 2007. Applied clay mineralogy. Occurrences, Processing and Applications of Kaolins,
Bentonites, Palygorskite -Sepiolite and common clays: Amsterdam. Elsevier, pp.77-74.

 BS EN ISO 17892-1: 2014: Determination of water content.

 BS EN 12948:2010: Determination of size distribution by dry and wet sieving.