Improving properties of modified clay with cement containing random chicken feather fibers

Abstract

Over the past decades, the poultry meat processing industry’s growth has generated a huge amount of feather “waste”. This waste has given rise to a number of environmental concerns and had a low value-being when used in many industrial applications. Promoting the use of sustainable materials is now a pole of interest in engineering construction. Aiming to recover this waste in enhancing the properties of problematic soils, an experimental study is conducted using these materials. An earth material named Zebabdja clay is treated by the cement to improve its properties. The inclusion of waste byproducts such as chicken feather fibers would improve the characteristics of the soil with low load bearing capacity. The present work attempts to valorize this kind of natural fiber in the field of building and solve an environmental problem using local materials. The control parameters evaluated herein include cement content (6%, 8%, 10% et 12%) and chicken feather fibers contents (1%, 2% et 3%). The unconfined compressive and direct shear tests were measured at different curing times. The results found show that 10% is the needed amount of cement to be used in order to stabilize the clayey soil treated. An increase in chicken feather fibers up to 2% indicates an improvement of the mechanical performances of the clayey soil, which may constitute a very interesting engineering solution for the weak soil.

Keywords

• clay
• cement
• chicken feather fibers
• unconfined compressive strength
• shear strength