Improvement of swelling clay soils

Clay soils are prone to shrink-swell due to the presence of swelling minerals. Soil stabilization is a technique commonly used to reduce this risk particularly for light shallow constructions. In Benin palm branches are often discarded in the wild contributing to environmental pollution. This study examines the influence of the geomechanical characteristics of Igana soil stabilized with palm fibers. To this end we carried out physical and mechanical tests. The physical tests revealed that this soil belongs to category A-7-5 (HRB classification): a clayey very plastic silt soil (Casagrande classification) non-organic non-inactive with a high swelling potential and a high plasticity index.