Influence of Salt Permeants on The Swelling and Strength Behavior of Fibre Treated Black Cotton Soil

Due to the limited availability of the bentonite in India, this investigation was initiated to check the suitability of using black cotton (BC) soil for liner application. Since, the waste tires, which are a major environmental concern, is mixed with the balck cotton soil as reinforcement material to reduce the desiccation cracks caused by shrinkage of the soil. As the salts present in leachate alter the liner material's geotechnical properties, the tire fibre mixed black cotton soil were tested for swelling and strength in the presence of various concentration of NaCl and CaCl2 salts. For this investigation, three different percentages of tire fibres (5, 10, and 15%) and two concentrations of salt permeants (i.e., 0.1 and 1N) were selected. The result indicated a reduction in the swelling and strength of BC soil with the addition of tire fibres. This reduction becomes pronounced with the higher concentration of various permeant salts. The swelling time of fibre-treated soils is reduced with the rise in concentrations from the time-swell relationship. According to unconfined compressive strength (UCS) test data, the ductile behaviour of soil sample increased with addition of fibre content. Finally, results suggested that the acceptance of tire fibre content for liner application is up to 10%, including different salt effects.