Shear strength studies on soil-quarry dust mixtures

Abstract

Due to the high demand for rubble and aggregates for construction purposes, rubble quarries and aggregate crushers are very common. Out of the different quarry wastes, quarry dust is one, which is produced in abundance. About 20-25% of the total production in each crusher unit is left out as the waste material-quarry dust. Bulk utilization of this waste material is possible through geotechnical applications like embankments, back-fill material, sub-base material and the like. It becomes a useful additive to the natural soil to improve its strength characteristics. For the above applications one of the important engineering properties is the shear strength. The purpose of the present investigation is to understand the shear strength behavior of quarry dust and soil-quarry dust mixes.