Effect of Fibers on Some Engineering Properties of Cement and Lime Stabilized Soils

Abstract

Recently, many attempts were made to use metal fiber reinforcements toimprove some soil properties. In this research, the effects of fibers on thecompaction and mechanical properties of cement and lime stabilized soils (siltyand clayey soils respectively) were studied. Variables such as stabilizer (cementand lime) content, amount and type of metal fibers were studied. Results indicatedthat the addition of fibers lead to increase in the maximum dry unit weight. On theother hand, a maximum values of unconfined and tensile strength were obtainedwith the addition of 0.5 % short fiber (FS) and 1.5 % long fiber (FL) respectively.During the flexural test a brittle manner failure was observed for the unreinforcedsamples and samples prepared with little amount of fibers 0.5%. Finally, theaddition of fibers increases the fracture energy of cement stabilized silty soil andlime stabilized clayey soil.