Abstract:
To enhance the strength characteristics and engineering properties of expansive soils while utilizing multiple typical industrial solid wastes, this study explores an improvement technique for expansive soils based on the resource utilization of industrial solid wastes. The research employed five types of industrial solid wastes—blast furnace slag powder, phosphogypsum, fly ash, silica fume, and steel slag micro-powder—as soil amendments. Four dosage levels of 0%, 5%, 10%, and 15% were selected for each amendment. The physical property indicators, strength characteristics, and engineering property indicators of the improved expansive soils were measured. The influence of the type and dosage of industrial solid waste amendments on the performance of expansive soils was analyzed. The results show that the addition of all five industrial solid waste amendments reduced the plasticity range of the expansive soil, with blast furnace slag powder demonstrating the most significant improvement, achieving a 71.53% reduction in the plasticity index. When the amendment dosage reached 10%, all improved expansive soils essentially met the criteria for non-expansive soils. The incorporation of industrial solid wastes effectively reduced the free swell rate and volumetric shrinkage rate of the expansive soil. The free swell rate and the volumetric shrinkage rate decreased by 49.37% and 83.82% for blast furnace slag powder, respectively. The free swell rate and the volumetric shrinkage rate decreased by 61.58% and 80.33% for silica fume, respectively. A significant linear relationship was observed between the amendment dosage and the swell-shrink characteristics of the expansive soil. As the amendment dosage increased, the maximum dry density gradually rose, and both the maximum dry density and optimum moisture content exhibited a significant linear correlation with the amendment dosage, providing a quadratic polynomial quantitative model for expansive soil improvement technology. The industrial solid waste amendments significantly enhanced the strength of the expansive soil, with blast furnace slag powder showing the greatest improvement in compressive strength, followed by silica fume and steel slag micro-powder, while phosphogypsum and fly ash performed relatively poorly. The bearing capacity of all solid waste-improved expansive soils was higher than that of the untreated soil, with the California Bearing Ratio (CBR) values of blast furnace slag powder- and silica fume-improved soils increasing remarkably, demonstrating excellent load-bearing capacity. The research findings are expected to provide theoretical support for the innovative development of expansive soil improvement technology, promote the refinement and sustainability of such techniques, and further advance the application of industrial solid waste resource utilization in civil engineering.