Moisture-Density Relation of Lime –Treated Samples of Lateritic Soils in Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria

Lateritic soils are the local types of soils in Nigeria which when stabilized with lime develop improvement in their strength properties. One major strength property of the soil that is improved is the moisture-density relations which is the focus of this study.In these study, the influence of the physical characteristics of five selected lateritic soils (samples A to E) on their compaction behaviour in the natural state and their responsiveness to treatment with lime was determined in the laboratory. The percentage of lime used on the sample varied from 0% to 10%. However the samples used are burrow pit materials on rehabilitated roads in Ado – Ekiti environs.Tests on lime treated samples produced increase in the optimum moisture content (OMC) and reduction in the maximum dry density (MDD) as lime content increased for the same compactive efforts on all the samples. For example in samples A the OMC increased from 13% at 0% lime content to 22.8% at 10% lime content while the MDD reduced from 1.8g/cc at 0% lime content to 1.57g/cc at 10% lime content. This was the trend for all the other samples. Lime treatment flattens the compaction curve thereby ensuring that a given percentage of the prescribed density can be achieved over a much wider range of moisture contents, so that relaxed moisture control specifications are possible. Also the optimum moisture content is moved towards higher values, enabling soils in wet natural conditions to be compacted satisfactorily. Keywords : Moisture-density relation, lime treated, lateritic soils, Ado- Ekiti Journal of Applied Science, Engineering and Technology Vol. 6 (1) 2006 pp. 56-61