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1. Abstract
Improvement of soil in foundation is a major challenge in civil engineering. Structures
built on black cotton soil may be damaged due to high swelling and shrinkage
characteristics of this soil with variation of water content. Black cotton soil is an expansive
soil which loses its strength in presence of water. On the other hand, it has behavior of
shrinkage when loss of moisture is there. About 20 % of land area in India is covered by
black cotton soil. Because of its swelling & shrinkage properties, it is also called
expansive soil. The present paper is an attempt to study the effectiveness of coconut
fiber (coir) to control swelling properties of black cotton soil along with an impact on its
strength characteristics and dry density. The test results show that in presence of 2% coir
fibre, the shrinkage limit is increases by 7.52% to 12.62%. Increase in compressive
strength was observed from1.09 to1.32 kg per sq-cm. Keywords: black cotton soil; coir
fibres: swelling behavior: Shrinkage I. Introduction Fast growth of Urbanization in India
has led to increased construction activates in infrastructure sector. Construction of
embankment for roads and highways passing through areas having black cotton soil
need special attention to provide stable foundation below embankment. Black cotton soil
is clay of high plasticity. It has low bearing capacity and highly compressible nature. The
expansive soil exerts upward swelling pressure in the structure. The pressure depends
upon the degree of expansion and results in to uplift and cracking of structure. The
present paper investigates the possibility of using coconut fibre for reinforcing black
cotton soil to control expansion properties. Because of its high lignin content, it has infield
service life of 4 to 10 year and good tensile strength in wet condition. Coir retains much
of its tensile strength when wet. The degradation of coir depends on the medium of
embedment, the climatic conditions and is found to retain 80% of its tensile strength after
6 months. Our paper is oriented to study comparative changes in properties of black
cotton soil (considered as test soil) with an addition of coconut fiber so as to use this fiber

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as soil reinforcement, especially for black cotton soil. Following studies are proposed to
be carried out. 1. Change in swelling and shrinkage characteristics of black Cotton soil
with an addition of coir (coconut fiber). 2. Change in compressive strength of black cotton
soil due to addition of coir. 3. Change in OMC and MDD of black cotton soil due to
addition of coir. The studies are important from view point of using this natural fiber for
improvement in properties of black cotton soil which shrinks with decrease in moisture
content .During shrinkage, fiber will impart more inter surface resistance in between
reinforcing fiber and soil, resulting in higher bearing capacity. On the other hand, addition
of fiber will control swelling characteristics of soil during increase in moisture content. II.
Materials 2.1. Materials: Black cotton soil was collected from outer skirts of Gwalior city
on Bhind road. Samples were collected from layer below 2.00m depth by excavating pits
of 1.50 m x 1.50 m size. The collected soil was passed through 600 micron sieve after
drying and pulverization, in the laboratory. Coconut covers were collected from major
temples of Gwalior city and used to get coir fibre of length varying from 50 to 180 mm.
These fibres were cut randomly by scissor, in pieces of 50 to 70mm lengths. III.
Experimental Programme Samples of black cotton soil were prepared with and without
coir fibre. Quantity of coir was 2% by weight of soil sample. Following tests were
conducted for assessment of properties of plane soil and soil blended with coir fibre.
RESEARCH ARTICLE OPEN ACCESS
2. 2. Priyank Goyal et al. Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applications
www.ijera.com ISSN : 2248-9622, Vol. 5, Issue 3, ( Part -5) March 2015, pp.36-37
www.ijera.com 37 | P a g e S No. Name of Laboratory test carried out 1. Specific
gravity 2. Liquid limit 3. Plastic limit 4. Optimum moisture content 5. Maximum dry
density 6. Unconfined compressive strength test at OMC. 7. Test for swelling of soil.
Above tests were carried out as per procedures described in various IS Codes.
Specific gravity of soil was determined by density bottle method. Tests for atterberg
limits were carried out .Liquid limit plastic limit shrinkage limits were determined for
samples of plane soil. Soil mixed with2% coir fibre was tested for shrinkage limit.
Water content of soil sample was determined by oven drying method. Unconfined
compression test was conducted both on plane soil sample and sample blended with
2% coir fibre. Comparative results of plane soil & soil sample blended with coir fibre
reinforcement are as per following. S.N. Laboratory test Value for plane soil sample
value for soil blended with coir 1. Specific gravity 2.63% 2.58 2. Water content 8.50%
13.00% 3. Liquid Limit 54.20% - 4. Plastic Limit 29.10% - 5. Shrinkage limit 8.20%
12.20% 6. Optimum moisture content 20.10 27.20% 7. Maximum dry density 1.56
g/cc 1.51g/cc 8. Free swelling index 47% 32% 9. Unconfined compressive strength
test, at OMC. 1.09 Kg/cm2 1.32 kg/cm2 IV. Conclusion Tests conducted on black
cotton soil blended with 2% coir fibre sample, lead to following conclusion 1. Blending
of coir fibre results in to increase in shrinkage limit from 8.20% to 12.20%. It controls
the swelling behavior of black cotton soil. 2. Increase in optimum moisture content
was observed from 20.20% to 27.20% due to blending of coir. 3. Appreciable
increase in unconfined compressive strength was observed. It increased from 1.09
kg/cm2 to 1.32 Kg/cm2. Above results indicate that the properties of black cotton soil
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are improved by blending of coir fibre with soil mass. Its swelling behavior is
decreased and the un- confined compressive strength increases
IBC Requirements for Designing of Foundations on Black Cotton Soil
Foundations for buildings and structures founded on black Cotton Soils shall be
designed in accordance with Section1.2 or 1.3.
a) Removal of Black Cotton Soils: Where black Cotton Soil is removed- the soil
shall be removed to a depth sufficient to ensure a constant moisture content in the
remaining soil. Fill material shall not contain black Cotton Soils.
Exception:

Foundation Failure:Supported on Black Cotton Soil in United States

Black Cotton Soils need not be removed to the depth of constant moisture, provided
the confining pressure in the black Cotton Soils created by the fill and supported
structure exceeds the swell pressure.
b) Stabilization approved building official:
Where the active zone of black Cotton Soils is stabilized-the soil shall be stabilized by
chemical, dewatering, presaturation or equivalent techniques.

Post Tensioned Slabs are the Best Solution for Slab-On-Ground Foundations on Black
Cotton Soil
1.2 Foundations:
Foundations placed on or within the active zone of black Cotton Soils shall be
designed to resist differential volume changes and to prevent structural damage to

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the supported structure. Deflection and racking of the supported structure shall be
limited to that which will not interfere with the usability and serviceability of the
structure. Foundations placed below where volume change occurs or below black
Cotton Soils shall comply with the following provisions:
1. Foundations extending into or penetrating black Cotton Soils shall be designed to
prevent uplift of the supported structure.

Failure of foundation wall due to "clay bowl effect"

of backfill black cotton soil
2. Foundations penetrating black Cotton Soils shall be designed to resist forces
exerted on the foundation due to soil volume changes or shall be isolated from the
black Cotton Soils.

Distribution of black cotton soil around North America

1.3 Slab-on-ground foundations: Moments, shears and deflections for use in
designing slab-on-ground, mat or raft foundations on black Cotton Soils shall be
determined in accordance with WRI/CRSI Design of Slab-on-Ground Foundations or
PTI Standard Requirements for Analysis of Shallow Concrete Foundations on black
Cotton Soils. Using the moments, shears and deflections determined above,
nonprestressed slabs-on-ground, mat or raft foundations on black Cotton Soils shall
be designed in accordance with WRI/CRSI Design of Slab-on-Ground Foundations
and post-tensioned slab-on-ground, mat or raft foundations on black Cotton Soils
shall be designed in accordance with PTI Standard Requirements for Design of
Shallow Post-Tensioned Concrete Foundations on black Cotton Soils. It shall be
permitted to analyze and design such slabs by other methods that account for soilstructure interaction, the deformed shape of the soil support, the plate or stiffened
plate action of the slab as well as both center lift and edge lift conditions. Such
alternative methods shall be rational and the basis for all aspects and parameters of
the method shall be available for peer review.

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Physical properties of black and associated soilsparticle-size distribution, namely

sand, silt, clay, bulk density (BD), coefficient of linear extensibility (COLE), saturated hydraulic
conductivity (HC) and water dispersible clay (WDC)were determined. The chemical properties of black
soils include pH, electrical conductivity (EC), organic carbon, calcium carbonate, clay carbonate, cation
exchange capacity (CEC), extractable bases and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP). The basic
property of Vertisols is that they have high water-holding capacity. This is controlled primarily by the
relative proportion of different soil-size fractions. Vertisols are usually dominated by clay, which commonly
ranges from 40 to 60%, but may be as high as 80% (Dudal 1965; DeVos and Virgo 1969; Bhattacharyya et
al. 2003). In general, surface soils show low amount of clay that increases with depth. Clay content of black
soils is uniformly high to a depth of 50 cm (Raychaudhuri et al. 1963; Dudal 1965, Yule and Ritchie 1980).
Although typical Vertisols show high clay content in the subsurface, there are reports of Vertisols with
sandy-textured subsurface (Cocheme and Franquin 1967; De Vos and Virgo 1969; Ray and Reddy 1997). In
contrast, the red soils (Alfisols) show an increasing trend of clay down the depth, followed by a decrease in
clay content. The dominant clay mineral in Vertisols is smectite (Pal and Deshpande 1987b). It has been
stated recently that Vertisols showing typical vertic properties can only be because of smectite content
(Bhattacharyya et al. 1997) to the tune of at least 20% (Shirsath et al. 2000). The presence of dominating
amounts of clay fractions offer more surface charge density (SCD), which is an important prerequisite of
increasing SOC (Poonia and Niederbudde 1990; Bhattacharyya et al. 2000). Another important physical
property which largely determines the stock of both organic and inorganic form of carbon is bulk density
(BD). The BD of Vertisols varies greatly because of their swelling and shrinking nature, which changes
with moisture content. The soils have high BD when they are dry, and have low BD when they are in a
swollen state. Bulk density has been reported to vary from 1.0 to 2.0 g/cm3 , depending on the moisture
content. Bulk density usually tends to increase with depth, due to compression caused by overburden
weight. It has been observed that a volume change of nearly 60% occurs when a dry Vertisol is saturated

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with water (Rao et al. 1978). Various other physical properties of soils have been detailed by other authors
(Ghosh and Raychaudhuri 1974). Due to relatively lower values of clay and/or extractable bases and ESP,
the hydraulic conductivity (HC) of Vertisols show initial higher values in the surface horizons, followed by
drastic reduction in the subsurface horizons. It was reported that HC values decreased from 7.6 to 3.4 cm/hr
for the first one hour, to 0.4 cm/hr over one to two hours, and further to 0.02 cm/hr after 144 hours when
soils were saturated (Krantz et al. 1978). It has been reported that hydraulic conductivity gets impaired in
Vertisols with increasing content of CaCO3 and exchangeable sodium percentage (Pal et al. 2000;
Srivastava et al. 2002; Pal et al. 2003). It therefore appears that soils sequestering more inorganic carbon
will have highly impaired hydraulic conductivity value. This value could be as low as 0.1 to 0.2 cm/hr.
Recently, hydraulic conductivity has been reported as a single-index parameter to judge the quality of
Vertisols with respect to yields of crops in the semi-arid tropics of India (Kadu et al. 2003). 2 In view of the
importance of soil characteristics, nearly 52 pedons were selected from Indian SAT to study the physical
and chemical properties of Vertisols and associated soils in order to identify the systems for carbon
sequestration and increased productivity in semi-arid tropical environments.

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