Evaluation of Some Engineering Properties of Lateritic Soils around Dall Quarry, Sango Area, Ilorin, Nigeria

• Main Authors: O. A. Omotosho, O. J. Ojo, K. I. Adetolaju
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Faculty of Engineering and Technology 2012-06-01
• Series: Nigerian Journal of Technological Development
• Online Access: http://njtd.com.ng/index.php/njtd/article/view/66

Lateritic soils at the DALL Quarry in Ilorin metropolis (Sango area), southwestern Nigeria were investigated with respect to their geotechnical properties and their suitability as construction materials. The two samples collected fall within the basement complex and they overly the migmatite-gneiss complex rocks. The grain size analyses show that sample ADET 1 is silt-clayey, very gravelly sand while sample ADET 2 is gravelly, silt-clayey sand. Atterberg consistency limit test shows that the soil samples are above the activity (A) line in the zone of intermediate plasticity (CL) which means that they are inorganic soils. The samples contain inactive clay (activity 0.95 and 0.63 respectively) with little or no swelling tendency and therefore good for construction material and this would prohibit foundation failure during foundation settlement. The California Bearing Ratio (CBR) values indicate that they are good as sub-grade construction materials. The cohesion ranges from 60-1 OOKpa (average=75 Kpa) and the angle of internal friction ranges from 31°-35° with an average of 33°. The geotechnical analyses results show that the soils can be used as construction materials. Thus, the soil could support shallow foundation, homogeneous embankments, slope stability and sub-grade materials in road constructions.