Experimental Study on the Influence of Particle Size and Dosage of Calcium Carbonate on the Physical and Mechanical Properties of Red Clay

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-932-2_5How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Particle Calcium carbonate; Red clay; Shear strength; Optimal water content; Maximum dry density; Liquid and plastic limits

Abstract

Red clay's high compressibility and shrinkage-swelling risks frequently cause geohazards in infrastructure projects, yet conventional cementitious stabilizers raise sustainability concerns. This study proposes calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) as an eco-modifier and systematically compares nano- (light) versus micro-scale (heavy) CaCO₃ in enhancing red clay's geotechnical performance. Key findings indicate: (1) Cohesion decreases by 12–18% with light/heavy CaCO₃ additives, while internal friction angle gains ≤ 5%, confirming limited shear reinforcement. (2) Shrinkage behavior shows threshold effects: heavy CaCO₃ reduces linear shrinkage initially (0–4% content), but exceeds undisturbed soil's shrinkage at > 8%. Light CaCO₃ optimally suppresses shrinkage at 4–6% dosage. (3) Compressibility diverges critically: heavy CaCO₃ increases compression coefficient (CC) to 0.48 MPa⁻1 at 10%, reclassifying soil as high-compressibility (CC ≥ 0.5), while light CaCO₃ maintains medium-compressibility (CC = 0.2–0.3) despite 15% additive content. Particle size governs modification mechanisms—nanoscale light CaCO₃ fills voids, whereas microscale heavy CaCO₃ disrupts clay matrices. These quantified thresholds (4%, 8%, 10%) and phase-specific responses provide actionable criteria for selecting CaCO₃ types in slope stabilization and foundation engineering.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Chaoxiong Yi
AU  - Di Wu
AU  - Dan Li
AU  - Yuntao Wu
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/22
TI  - Experimental Study on the Influence of Particle Size and Dosage of Calcium Carbonate on the Physical and Mechanical Properties of Red Clay
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 2nd International Conference on Civil Engineering Structures and Concrete Materials (CESCM 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 30
EP  - 40
SN  - 2352-5401
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-932-2_5
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-932-2_5
ID  - Yi2025
ER  -