Chinchu Cherian

University of Northern British Columbia · School of Engineering

This study describes the nondestructive testing and evaluation of different clay–lime composites by real-time impedance spectroscopy (IS) monitoring of lime hydration and cementation mechanisms. The experimental investigations were carried out on two different clays, white clay (with predominantly kaolinite mineralogy) and brown clay (with predomin...

The inorganic solid waste generated in pulp and paper industries called pulp mill fly ash (PFA) is a potentially valuable resource as supplementary cementitious material. However, large PFA volume is discarded in landfills due to stringent environmental regulations and lack of proper guidelines for safe alternative applications, thereby posing subs...

Inadequate road infrastructure is a longstanding issue in the northern regions of Canada, significantly impacting daily lives of its residents. Freeze-thaw cycles and permafrost thawing are primary challenges in cold-climate road development, leading to premature deterioration. Consequently, roads navigating through the harsh and difficult terrains...

ime is a popularly adopted binder for improving the mechanical properties and controlling the volume change behavior of problematic clayey soils. However, lime treatment offers certain limitations due to the durability issues arising from varying physico-chemical conditions exacerbated by climatic stresses or clay mineralogy. Lime-treated soils ric...

In the last decades, the environmental sustainability problem has been pronounced due to the rapid industrialization and urbanization and ever-increasing quantities of waste materials. The construction industry is a principal consumer of natural reserves, resulting in a fast depletion of non-renewable resources, accumulating more waste, and creatin...

Textiles and apparel are amongst our primary necessities. The increasing environmental problems associated with the voluminous textile waste discarded in landfills have urged the textile and fashion industries to adopt and implement environmentally sustainable waste management and disposal strategies. The critical need for textile waste diversion f...

This paper presents a novel application of assorted pre-consumer textile fabric as a reinforcing element in wood ash-stabilized soils, as a practical solution for amassing textile waste in landfills and associated environmental problems. In this study, different mix designs of soil-wood ash-fabric waste composites are formulated by varying the fabr...

This paper presents a feasibility study of non-hazardous wood fly ash, an industrial waste generated in the pulp and paper mills, as a cementitious binder for the construction of low volume roads. Two types of wood fly ash, namely precipitator fly ash (PFA) and multi-cyclone fly ash (MFA) were characterized and evaluated in their original, untreate...

This paper presents the formulation of eco-friendly building material using wood-based pulp mill fly ash (PFA) as a low carbon binder in stabilized rammed earth (RE). An efficient geopolymer binder was synthesized from the PFA precursor using alkali-silicate activation method. Based on the preliminary compaction test results, different design mixtu...

Sustainable rammed earth (RE) material was formulated using pulp mill fly ash (PFA), an industrial waste product, as an alternative low carbon cementing material. The alkali-silicate activation of PFA in RE showed substantial strength improvement. However, combinations of calcium bentonite clay and raw PFA without activation imparted significantly...

In this study, an inorganic geopolymer binder based on non-hazardous pulp mill fly ash was developed for sustainable soil stabilization using alkali-silicate activation method. The formulation of fly ash-geopolymer was optimized in terms of maximum strength development, with considering key influencing parameters such as ash dosage, activator chemi...

This study was conducted to develop a sustainable post-fire soil restoration strategy utilizing pulp mill fly ash (PFA) as soil stabilizer. Wildfire impacts on forest soil properties located in Okanagan region of British Columbia was initially assessed, and efficiency of PFA for post-fire soil stabilization was evaluated in terms of hydro-mechanica...

This study investigated the role of pore fluid pH in governing the microstructural characteristics of loess soil and its ultimate effect on collapse mechanisms. A series of standard oedometer tests was conducted to evaluate the impact of acidic and alkaline pore fluid pH on the collapse behaviour of loess. The microstructural characterisation of so...

The quantification of the kinetics of short-term clay–lime interactions is a key step for optimizing the parameters during lime stabilization of fine-grained soils, and also for predicting the long-term performance of lime treated soil matrix. The existing scientific literatures often believed that monitoring of consistency limits as well as compac...

The continual growth of pulp and paper industry has led to the generation of tremendous volumes of fly ash as byproducts of biomass combustion processes. Commonly, a major part of it is landfilled; however, updated environmental regulations have tended to restrict the landfilling of fly ash due to rising disposal costs and the scarcity of suitable...

The intrinsic morphology, mineralogy and gradation characteristics of geomaterials and geosynthetics play a pivotal role in determining their vital geotechnical properties. In view of this, this paper attempts to demonstrate the relevance of advanced digital image analysis for micromorphological characterisation of geomaterials and geosynthetics ba...

The recent research infers that the detailed characterization of lime-treated soils using analytical techniques enables better understanding of the complex soil–lime interaction mechanisms as well as the pivotal factors influencing the efficacy of lime treatment. In view of this, the present study focuses on evaluating the effects of lime treatment...

The present study describes the calcium adsorption behavior of clays exhibiting distinct mineralogical composition. The adsorption characteristics were determined using conventional batch-equilibrium sorption method, and different theoretical models were applied to describe the equilibrium sorption isotherms. The variation in calcium adsorption cap...

The complex physico-chemical interactions occurring in a clay-lime system involves number of strongly coupled processes, such as short-term cation exchange reactions and flocculation mechanism as well as long-term poz-zolanic reactions [1,2]. The adsorption of free lime significantly alters the physico-chemical and surface charge properties of clay...

During the process of lime stabilization of fine-grained cohesive soils, the sorption and diffusion properties of soil play chief role in determining the immediate and long-term soil-lime interactions, which in turn decides the degree of improvement that can be achieved. In view of this, the present manuscript aims to investigate the sorption and d...

The quantification of the kinetics of short-term clay-lime interactions is a key step for optimizing the parameters during lime stabilization of fine-grained soils, and also for predicting the long-term performance of lime treated soil matrix. The existing scientific literatures often believed that monitoring of consistency limits as well as compac...

In this era of steadfast industrial developments and expansion of urban areas, lime stabilization is an attractive proposition for upgrading the engineering performance of problematic fi ne-grained soils. The optimum lime content which allows for maximum performance of lime-treated soil is determined using various conventional methods; however, non...

The intrinsic morphology, mineralogy and gradation characteristics of geomaterials and geosynthetics play a pivotal role in determining their vital geotechnical properties. In view of this, this paper attempts to demonstrate the relevance of advanced digital image analysis for micromorphological characterisation of geomaterials and geosynthetics ba...

The stabilization of problematic fine-grained soils using lime as an admixture is a widely accepted practice, owing to its simplicity and cost-effectiveness. The optimal quantity of lime required for soil stabilization primarily depends upon the reactive nature of soil as well as the degree of improvement desired. The term ‘optimum lime content’ (O...

Knowledge Based Expert Systems (KBES), have recently emerged from research in Artificial Intelligence as practical problem solving tools and Geotechnical engineering is an area most recognized for its application. This paper presents a knowledge-based decision support system for the selection of ground improvement techniques. The user interface and...