A study on the use of sea water in lime and cement stabilization

There may be occasions when potable water may not be easily available for construction and subsoil saline water or sea water may be economical to use. This paper presents results of investigation on the use of sea water in lime antj cement stabilization of a clay soil. Compressive strength and durability characteristics have been studied in order to compare the effect of using sea water in soil stabilization. The results indicate that sea water may be used successfully as mixing water for soil lime stabilization. The compressive strength increases upon curing and is higher than that obtained by using distilled water. With cement, strength increase is also observed with sea water upon curing but compressive strength values are lower as compared to distilled water. Similarly, the sea water lime treated soil is found to be more durable as compared to distilled water lime treated soil. In the case of cement stabilization, the distilled water shows higher durability.