PSI - Issue 70

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ScienceDirect

Procedia Structural Integrity 70 (2025) 303–310

Structural Integrity and Interactions of Materials in Civil Engineering Structures (SIIMCES-2025) Evaluating the Influence of Cement Addition on the Geotechnical Properties of Brick Dust – Mixed Local Soil Vinod Kumar a , Akash Priyadarshee a , Atul Kumar Rahul a, *, Shashikant Kumar a , Vijay Kumar a , Ashish Kumar a a Department of Civil Engineering, Muzaffarpur Institute of Technology, Muzaffarpur, Bihar, Postcode- 842003, India Abstract In India, the brick industry is one of the fastest-growing industries that support construction requirements. Brick dust is a by product of the brick industry. Brick dust is utilized for different purposes, such as in the construction of pavement, as a filling material, etc. Brick dust can be used as an admixture to improve soil performance. This study series of Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) tests is performed on the soil mixed with brick dust. The impact of cement on the soil and brick dust mix is also investigated. Soil used in this study was obtained from the village of Muzaffarpur. The content of brick dust was varied from 5% to 50%. The cement content was varied from 2% to 6%. Results of UCS have shown that brick dust and cement alone can potentially improve the soil's strength. Brick dust enhances the soil's strength by improving its gradation, while cement improves its strength through its cementitious property. The combined effect of brick dust and cement can potentially improve strength more than individual admixtures.

© 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under the responsibility of International Conference on Structural Integrity Organizers

Keywords: Cement; brick dust; unconfined compressive strength;

1. Introduction Soils used for engineering construction often present variable characteristics, especially in regions dominated by clayey or expansive soils. When exposed to moisture fluctuations, these soils typically display low shear strength, high compressibility, and pronounced volume change behavior, which can severely compromise structural integrity

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +91-7827602230 E-mail address: atulcivil.iitbhu@gmail.com

2452-3216 © 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under the responsibility of International Conference on Structural Integrity Organizers 10.1016/j.prostr.2025.07.057