Sustainable soil stabilisation with blastfurnace slag – a review

This paper reviews a relatively recent approach towards sustainable soil stabilisation, by utilising ground granulated blastfurnace slag, an industrial by-product from steel manufacture. It describes in detail the reactions and reaction mechanisms that occur when soil modification and subsequent stabilisation processes take place. The effects of incorporating slag in the soil stabilisation process on the engineering properties of a soil are also reviewed and discussed. The review demonstrates the great potential of slag in soil stabilisation, in particular of the sulfate-bearing soils whose stabilisation using the traditional stabilisers of lime and/or Portland cement leads to excessive swelling.