Paper Title
The Effect of Moisture Content on Strength Development of Stabilised Materials for Construction Components

Abstract
Strength development and method of calculating compaction moisture content was observed in the development of unfired lime-clay building components. The achievement of the optimum moisture content (OMC) of soil plays an important role in compaction and the strength of the compacted soil, where the properties and performance of soil are greatly influenced by the moulding moisture content due to its effect on the structure and orientation of clay particles. Two different approaches to establish the OMC in the stabilisation of clay soil involving multi binary binder in cementitious binder system were investigated. The work started with stabilised clay soil (LOC) alone with varying mix stabilisers then to progress with stabilised blended LOC with Pulverised Fuel Ash, industrial by-product as partial target material (LOC-PFA (50:50)). Series of cylinders of 50mm diameter and 100mm in height were fabricated and cured for 7 and 28 days. The finding shows that the best approach of calculating OMC are dependent on curing period, stabiliser content and whether Ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS) was incorporated in the blended binder system. The unconfined compressive strength (UCS) results at 7 and 28 days show that stabilised LOC-PFA has higher strength values compared with stabilised LOC alone. With lime-GGBS blends (30:70) ratio recorded the highest strength values compared with the lime-GGBS (50:50), or the other blended stabilisers used. The outcome from this research would produce cost savings in raw materials and illustrates an efficient means of recycling a waste material into construction components for infrastructure development. Index terms - Moisture content; clay; PFA; strength; sustainable