Influence of Omani Sarooj on plasticity and california bearing ratio of expansive soil
Abideen GANIYU, Al-Muhanna AL-KHAROUSI, Ahmed AL-SAIDI, Hilal AL-ALAWI
Abstract. Expansive soils have extreme swelling and shrinking responses to changes in moisture content, hence, there is need for their stabilisation prior to construction usage. Sarooj is a traditional pozzolan produced locally in Oman which has been used as a cementing material for centuries. Sarooj is a sustainable material, sourced locally with lower production energy requirement, lower CO2 emission, and proven durability. This research investigates the impacts of Sarooj on the plasticity and California Bearing Ratio (CBR) of expansive soil obtained from Al Murtafa’a area, Muscat, Oman. The expansive soil was mixed with 3, 6, 9, 12, & 15 Sarooj, after which Atterberg limits and CBR tests were carried out on the soil mixes. The expansive soil was classified as well-graded sand (SW), and A-3 (0) based on USCS and AASHTO classifications, respectively. The optimal value of plastic limit is 6% Sarooj addition, and the AASHTO classification changes to A-2-4 (0) at the same mix. The CBR values increased with the increasing percentages of Sarooj due to structural changes and the pozzolanic reactivity within the mix. With reduced plasticity, increased strength and stability, Sarooj is a viable and sustainable alternative for the stabilisation of expansive soil.
Keywords
Sarooj, Expansive Soil, Pozzolan, Sustainability, Oman
Published online 2/25/2025, 8 pages
Copyright © 2025 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: Abideen GANIYU, Al-Muhanna AL-KHAROUSI, Ahmed AL-SAIDI, Hilal AL-ALAWI, Influence of Omani Sarooj on plasticity and california bearing ratio of expansive soil, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 48, pp 456-463, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644903414-50
The article was published as article 50 of the book Civil and Environmental Engineering for Resilient, Smart and Sustainable Solutions
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
References
[1] H. S. Al-Alawi, A. A. Ganiyu, M. Chowdhury, and A. Badr, “Enhancement of Muscat’s Expansive Soil Using Waste Gypsum,” Key Engineering Materials, vol. 942, pp. 201-211, 2023.
[2] A. J. Puppala, R. S. Madhyannapu, and S. Nazarian, “Full-Scale Field Studies to Evaluate Deep Soil Mixing in Stabilizing Expansive Soils,” Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, vol. 148, no. 1, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)gt.1943-5606.0002647.
[3] W. Wang, J. Luo, N. Li, B. Li, J. Li, and S. Pu, “Mechanical Properties and Microscopic Mechanism of Cement-Stabilized Calcareous Sand Improved with a Nano-MgO Additive,” International Journal of Geomechanics, vol. 23, no. 2, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)gm.1943-5622.0002644
[4] M. J. Roshan and A. S. A. Rashid, “Geotechnical characteristics of cement stabilized soils from various aspects: A comprehensive review,” Arabian Journal of Geosciences, vol. 17, no. 1, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-023-11796-1
[5] W. Hamid and A. Alnuaim, “Sustainable geopolymerization approach to stabilize sabkha soil,” Journal of Materials Research and Technology, vol. 24, pp. 9030-9044, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2023.05.149
[6] H. S. Al-Alawi, A. A. Ganiyu, and A. Badr, “Stabilisation of Sohar’s Sabkha soil using waste gypsum plasterboard,” 2020.
[7] L. J. Jin et al., “Predicting the Effective Depth of Soil Stabilization for Marine Clay Treated by Biomass Silica,” KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12205-018-1294-x
[8] H. E. Ali, N. K. Asmel, A. A. Ganiyu, and H. Tijani, “Effect of sodium compounds additives on the strength of cement-stabilized soils,” Engineering and Applied Science Research, vol. 47, no. 3, pp. 287-296, 2020.
[9] S. I. Adedokun, A. A. Ganiyu, and M. A. Adedokun, “Effect of marble dust and steel slag on consistency limits and compaction characteristics of lateritic soil,” in IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 2019, vol. 527, no. 1: IOP Publishing, p. 012026.
[10] N. K. Asmeel, H. E. Ali, A. A. Ganiyu, and M. O. Abdulkareem, “Durability of clayey soil stabilized with Potassium additive,” in IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 2021, vol. 1144, no. 1: IOP Publishing, p. 012092.
[11] N. A. Mustapa et al., “Gypsum Stabilization of Organic Soil: Strength And Compressibility,” Suranaree Journal of Science & Technology, vol. 28, no. 4, 2021.
[12] S. Y. Amakye and S. J. Abbey, “Understanding the performance of expansive subgrade materials treated with non-traditional stabilisers: A review,” Cleaner Engineering and Technology, vol. 4, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clet.2021.100159
[13] S. Wilkie and T. Dyer, “Mortar and Concrete: Precursors to Modern Materials,” International Journal of Architectural Heritage, vol. 18, no. 9, pp. 1440-1463, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1080/15583058.2023.2235319
[14] A. A. Ganiyu, M. O. Abdulkareem, and W. O. Ajagbe, “Insights on Sarooj: Oman’s Traditional Pozzolan,” presented at the International Conference on Advances in Cement and Concrete Research, 2023, Ogbomoso, Nigeria, 2024.
[15] A. A. Al-Rawas, A. W. Hago, D. Al-Lawati, and A. Al-Battashi, “The Omani artificial pozzolans (sarooj),” Cement, concrete and aggregates, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 19-26, 2001.
[16] M. Shiva Kumar and T. Selvaraj, “Ancient organic lime plaster production technology and its properties among Mayan, Egyptian, Persian and Asian civilizations,” Asian Journal of Civil Engineering, vol. 24, no. 7, pp. 2709-2718, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42107-023-00653-x
[17] Y. Al-Saidi, A. H. Al-Saidy, S. El-Gamal, and K. M. A. Sohel, “Shear Strengthening of Stone Masonry Walls Using Textile-Reinforced Sarooj Mortar,” Buildings, vol. 14, no. 7, 2024. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14072070
[18] A. H. Al-Saidy, M. Al-Busaidi, S. El-Gamal, and K. M. Abu Sohel, “Flexural Strengthening of Stone Masonry Walls Using Textile-Reinforced Sarooj Mortar,” Materials, vol. 16, no. 16, p. 5703, 2023.
[19] A. Ganiyu, A. Al Abdulsalaam, H. Al Alawi, and A. Badr, “Impacts of alkaline activated slag blended with Omani Sarooj on expansive soil,” in The 75th Canadian Geotechnical Conference, GeoCalgary 2022., Calgary, AB, Canada., 2022: The Canadian Geotechnical Society.
[20] M. Ashfaq, A. A. Baig Moghal, B. Munwar Basha, and A. A. Baig Moghal, “Carbon Footprint Analysis on the Expansive Soil Stabilization Techniques,” in IFCEE 2021, 2021, pp. 213-222.
[21] S. Ramakrishna and R. Jose, “Addressing sustainability gaps,” Sci Total Environ, vol. 806, no. Pt 3, p. 151208, Feb 1 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.151208
[22] K. Annaba et al., “Harnessing Natural Pozzolan for Sustainable Heating and Cooling: Thermal Performance and Building Efficiency in Moroccan Climates,” Buildings, vol. 14, no. 9, 2024. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14092633
[23] L. H. N. Al Gharbi, S. Kuckian, K. Kumar, H. Yahia, and C. V. S. R. Prasad, “Evaluation of the Strength properties of Sarooj based concrete design,” in IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 2023, vol. 1282, no. 1: IOP Publishing, p. 012013.
[24] M. S. Meddah, N. Benkari, S. N. Al-Saadi, and Y. Al Maktoumi, “Sarooj mortar: From a traditional building material to an engineered pozzolan -mechanical and thermal properties study,” Journal of Building Engineering, vol. 32, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2020.101754
[25] A. Hago and A. Al-Rawas, “Design of a Rotary Kiln for Production of Sarooj,” The Journal of Engineering Research [TJER], vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 55-61, 2008.
[26] A. A. Al-Rawas, A. Hago, H. H. Sutherland, A. A. Yousif, M. Al-Shihi, and B. Al-Shihi, “A comparative quantitative study of an Omani soil using X-ray diffraction technique,” Geotechnical & Geological Engineering, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 69-84, 2001.
[27] T. Ashok Kumar, T. Thyagaraj, and R. G. Robinson, “Swell–shrink behaviour of fly ash-stabilised expansive soils,” Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers – Ground Improvement, pp. 1-12, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1680/jgrim.21.00024
[28] F. Zha, B. Qiao, B. Kang, L. Xu, C. Chu, and C. Yang, “Engineering properties of expansive soil stabilized by physically amended titanium gypsum,” Construction and Building Materials, vol. 303, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2021.124456
[29] A. Zhou, J. Du, X. Lin, Y. Bu, and J. Kodikara, “Nanoscale mechanism on lime stabilization of expansive soil,” Acta Geotechnica, vol. 18, no. 5, pp. 2681-2701, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-022-01751-x
[30] A. M. Al-Swaidani, I. Hammoud, I. al-Ghuraibi, and A. Mezyab, “Nanocalcined Clay and Nanolime as Stabilizing Agents for Expansive Clayey Soil: Some Geotechnical Properties,” Advances in Civil Engineering Materials, vol. 8, no. 3, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1520/acem20190039
[31] A. Al-Swaidani, I. Hammoud, I. al-Ghuraibi, and A. Meziab, “Effect of adding nano-calcined clay and nano-lime on the geotechnical properties of expansive clayey soil,” in IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 2019, vol. 615, no. 1: IOP Publishing, p. 012058.
[32] A. A. Al-Rawas, M. F. Goosen, and G. A. Al-Rawas, “Geology, classification, and distribution of expansive soils and rocks,” Expansive Soils: Recent Advances in Characterization and Treatment, p. 1, 2006.
[33] G. Hoffmann, M. Meschede, A. Zacke, and M. Al Kindi, “Field Guide to the Geology of Northeastern Oman,” 2016.
[34] BS 1377-2, Methods of test for soils for civil engineering purposes. Classification tests and determination of geotechnical properties, British Standard Institution, 2022.
[35] BS EN 13286-47, Unbound and hydraulically bound mixtures. Test method for the determination of California bearing ratio, immediate bearing index and linear swelling, British Standard Institution, 2021.
[36] R. Razali et al., “Shear strength and durability against wetting and drying cycles of lime-stabilised laterite soil as subgrade,” Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/C, vol. 132, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2023.10347.
[37] L. Mascarin, H. Ez-zaki, E. Garbin, M. Bediako, and L. Valentini, “Mitigating the ecological footprint of alkali-activated calcined clays by waste marble addition,” Cement and Concrete Composites, vol. 127, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2021.104382
[38] M. Abdulqader et al., “Physicochemical properties of limestone calcined clay cement (LC3) concrete made using Saudi clays,” Journal of Materials Research and Technology, vol. 25, pp. 2769-2783, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2023.06.114
[39] W. Sapta, Y. Harianto, and N. Gofar, “CBR Correlation with Index and Compaction Properties of Soil,” Indonesian Geotechnical Journal, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 179-188, 2023. https://doi.org/10.56144/igj.v2i3.72
