Investigating the use of steel slag to improve Bituminous road sub-bases in Uganda.

Abstract

Large quantities of waste materials like steel slag are being generated and wasted every year in the Ugandan manufacturing industries like Roofings limited, Steel and Tube industries, yet the readily available materials are becoming more expensive day by day. The increasing cost of road construction calls for cheaper and alternative materials like Steel Slag to be used as a sub-base road construction. In this study, the report investigates the use of Steel Slag to improve bituminous road sub-base soils in Ugandan. To investigate the effect of addition of Steel Slag on sub-base soil improvement, different experiments were conducted in the laboratory to determine the strength improvement through carrying out California Bearing Ratio Test (CBR), Compaction test (MDD and OMC) and Atterberg Limit Test. The results showed that, there was increase in the California Bearing Ratio values from 31% to 73% with 0 to 6% addition of steel slag mixes implying improvement in the strength of the soil. Maximum Dry Density (MDD) and Optimum Moisture Content (OMC) increased and reduced respectively with increase in Steel Slag contents. Plasticity of the soil reduced from 43.8 to 26.1% with increase in Steel Slag content implying improving in the engineering properties of the soil. There still remains a need to carry out more research on investigating the possibility of the use of Steel Slag on improving the engineering properties of road base materials