With the increase in industry and industrial products, quantities of waste have increased worldwide, especially plastic waste, as plastic pollution is considered one of the wastes of the modern era that threatens the environment and living organisms. On this basis, a solution must be found to use this waste and recycle it safely so that it does not threaten the environment. Therefore, this research used plastic waste as an improvement material for clay soil. In this research, two types of tests were conducted, the first of which was a laboratory test, where the undrained shear strength (cohesion), compression index (Cc), and swelling index (Cr) of the improved and unimproved soils were calculated (plastic was added in pr

High tunnels, or unheated plastic greenhouses, are becoming increasingly popular among organic vegetable growers across the United States. However, the intensive production typical of these systems presents soil health challenges, including salinization due to high fertilizer or compost inputs coupled with lack of rainfall to leach salts. Legume cover crops may improve soil health in high tunnels by reducing the need for external inputs, while adding organic matter. We tested the soil health effects of a winter hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth) cover crop used to replace fertilizer N in an organic tomato cropping system in high tunnels. Studies were replicated across three sites differing in climate and soil type (Kansas, Kentucky, and Minne

In the present work, radon gas concentrations in different surface soil samples in Baghdad governorate were measured using RAD-7 detector. The results have been shown that, the Radon gas concentrations ranged between (41.67±1.78Bq/m3), to (185.67±4.22Bq/m3), a map showing the distribution of the concentration of radon in selected areas was defined to identify areas with high pollution level. The reason for the high concentration of radon is that these surface soil samples are taken from agricultural areas. It is also known that fertilizers contain uranium levels as well as areas bombed in wars in the country. It is worth noting that all radon concentrations in Baghdad governorate are below the recommended minimum of 200-300Bq/m3) (Inte

Soil stabilization with liquid asphalt is considered as a sustainable step towards roadway construction on problematic subgrade soil, there are no requirements to import good quality materials or to implement energy consumption, but to mix the readily available soil with liquid asphalt through the cold mix technique. In this work, collapsible soil obtained from Nasiriya was mixed with asphalt emulsion, lime, and combinations of lime and asphalt emulsion (combined stabilization) and tested in the laboratory for California bearing ratio in dry and soaked conditions. Field trial sections have been prepared with the same combinations and subjected to plate bearing test. The influence of combined stabilization on the structural properties in ter

The change in project cost, or cost growth, occurs from many factors, some of which are related to soil problem conditions that may occurs during construction and/or during site investigation period. This paper described a new soil improvement method with a minimum cost solution by using polymer fiber materials having a length of (3 cm) in both directions and (2.5 mm) in thickness, distributed in uniform medium dense .
sandy soil at different depths (B, 1.5B and 2B) below the footings. Three square footings has been used (5,7.5 and 10 cm) to carry the above investigation by using lever arm loading system design for such purposes.
These fibers were distributed from depth of (0.1B) below the footing base down to the investigated dep

In the case where a shallow foundation does not satisfy with design requirements alone, the addition of a pile may be suitable to improve the performance of the foundation design. The lack of in-situ data and the complexity of the issues caused by lagging in the research area of pile foundations are notable. In this study, different types of piles were used under the same geometric conditions to determine the load-settlement relationships with various sandy soil relative densities. The ultimate pile capacity for each selected pile is obtained from a modified California Bearing Ratio (CBR) machine to be suitable for axial pile loading. Based on the results, the values of Qu for close-ended square pile were increased by 15

In this experimental study, the use of stone powder as a stabilizer to the clayey soil studied. Tests of Atterberg limits, compaction, fall cone (FCT), Laboratory vane shear (LVT), and expansion index (EI) were carried out on soil-stone powder mixtures with fixed ratios of stone powder (0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%) by the dry weight. Results indicated that the undrained shear strength obtained from FCT and LVT increased at all the admixture ratios, and the expansion index reduced with the increase of the stone powder.