Effect of Crushed Coconut Shells on CBR Values of Black cotton soil

Abstract

In order to cope with rapid increase in population and huge development in infrastructure the engineers are
forced to carry out the various construction activities even on problematic soil. The demand for land has increased
considerably for the past few decades. This has led to limited availability of land resources. In soil stabilization industry,
the use of industrially manufactured soil improving additives (cement, lime etc) have kept the cost of construction high.
In order to make problematic soils useful and meet geotechnical engineering design requirements researchers have
focused more on the use of locally available cheaper materials from industrial and/or agricultural waste. Our research is
aimed at assessing the effects of crushed coconut shell on the stabilization of Black cotton soil. Unsocked CBR test was
conducted on black cotton soil with varying percentage of Crushed Coconut Shells (2.5%, 5%, 7.5% & 10%).