AccScience Publishing / AJWEP / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/AJWEP025510390
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

A sustainable approach to soil stabilization: Geotechnical and microstructural insights into bagasse ash treatment

Jayakrishnan Radhakrishnan1† ,  Johnpaul Vincent1†* ,  Balasundaram Natarajan1 ,  Venkatesan Govindaraj2,3
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1 Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Karpagam Academy of Higher Education, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
2 Department of Civil Engineering, Saveetha (Autonomous) Engineering College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
3 Department of Computing Technologies, School of Computing, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chennai, India
†These authors contributed equally to this work.
AJWEP, 025510390 https://doi.org/10.36922/AJWEP025510390
Received: 20 December 2025 | Revised: 26 January 2026 | Accepted: 29 January 2026 | Published online: 6 April 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

Expansive soils such as Black Cotton Soil pose major challenges to infrastructure due to their swelling behavior, necessitating sustainable stabilization methods using locally available industrial or agricultural waste materials. This study aims to evaluate bagasse ash (BA), an agro-industrial waste from Chittur sugar mills, as a sustainable stabilizer for improving the geotechnical properties of expansive Black cotton soil (BCS) in South India. Addressing the gap in the use of locally sourced waste for BCS stabilization, this study combines comprehensive geotechnical and microstructural analyses to enhance soil performance for infrastructure development. Laboratory and field tests revealed that untreated BCS has unfavored characteristics, such as high plasticity, low strength, and high swelling potential. Upon treatment with BA (5%, 10%, and 15% by weight), the soil exhibited improved strength, reduced plasticity, enhanced compaction characteristics, and a denser microstructure due to pozzolanic reactions. Scanning electron micrographs confirmed improved particle bonding and reduced porosity. The BA not only enhances the load-bearing capacity and durability of expansive soils but also addresses the environmental issue of waste disposal. This study provides a scientifically validated, low-cost, and sustainable alternative to conventional soil stabilizers, making it highly relevant for infrastructure development in expansive soil regions and contributing to the broader goals of green geotechnical engineering.

Keywords
Black cotton soil
Chittur
South India
Soil behavior
Geotechnical properties
Expansive soil
Funding
None.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare they have no competing interests.
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Asian Journal of Water, Environment and Pollution, Electronic ISSN: 1875-8568 Print ISSN: 0972-9860, Published by AccScience Publishing
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