Efect of cyclic heating on some engineering characteristics of some soils from Ilorin, Nigeria
Abstract
This work investigates probable changes during repeated heating and cooling cycles on some index and engineering
properties of some lateritic soils. Bulk soil samples were taken within Ilorin metropolis. These samples were oven dried
for 24 h at 110 oC and cooled naturally to room temperature. This procedure was repeated four times. The effect of
cyclic heating and cooling on various soil properties including Atterberg limits, particle size distribution, moisture—
density relationship and California bearing ratio (CBR) were investigated. The results show that maximum dry density
(MDD) reduced consistently with repeated heating and cooling while optimum moisture content (OMC) increased. CBR
increased with repeated heating and cooling up to 23.5%. A percentage decrease in liquid limit up to 25% was recorded
while plastic limit and plasticity index reduced in all samples. Increase in CBR is an indication of increase in strength with
repeated heating while the decrease in MDD is an indication of reduced density on account of increase in OMC of the
soil samples with repeated heating.