A study on laterite stones as building material

∗
Errol Dsouza and U. Dileep Kumar

Civil Engineering Dept., Sahyadri College of Engineering & Management, Mangalore 575007
∗
Email: dileepkumar.cv@sahyadri.edu.in

Abstract of each other can have very altered properties; however,

In this study we have classied laterite stone based each of these laterites can be similar to other laterites
on its strength characteristics from 5 major quarries located thousands of miles away. The resemblances and
of the South Canara region in Karnataka, India. This variances between all laterites are generally measured
study includes investigation of the laterite stone for in terms of their chemical, mineralogical and physical
construction purposes. The inherent properties of laterite properties. Majority of the laterites are categorized into
such as texture, colour, structure and hardness were one or more systems depending upon their properties.
investigated. The engineering properties laterite building
blocks freshly quarried from various depths of the quarry Investigation based on physical properties and
are studied. The mechanical and physical properties behaviors are of great interest to engineers, since laterites
of laterite were found to be dependent on the inherent with similar physical characteristics can often be used in
prole characteristics of the quarry. The properties of building construction of similar facilities even though the
laterite varied signicantly, depending upon the depth laterite may exhibit dierent chemical and mineralogical
and location of the quarry. The methods of choosing properties. Physical behavior of laterite is of prime
a good laterite block suitable for construction is also importance to engineers because it reects the strength
discussed in this paper. characteristics of the laterite. [1] Researchers have
studied the geotechnical features of some lateritic samples
Keywords: Laterite; compressive test; unconned from the sedimentary region of the Lagos  Ibadan
compressive test; engineering properties. Highway. Samples of the foundation soil of an unstable
section around Sagamu were studied with an intention
to characterize them as highway sub-grade laterites and
1 Introduction also tests were conducted to establish any geotechnical
basis. Parameters such as grain size distribution,
Amongst the numerous rock forms that ascend in the
optimum moisture content, consistency limits, unconned
tropic and sub-tropical region, laterites are of distinct
compression, Permeability and california bearing ratio
importance for building construction. Laterite brick
were investigated [2]. The eects of rock our on
stones are a vital component in all building construction,
engineering properties of lateritic soil have been studied
specically in coastal regions, where it is found in
[2]. Various tests conducted so far include measurement
abundance. Hence, an understanding of the origin,
of properties such as Atterberg limits, natural moisture
development and use of laterite rocks is essential for the
contents, shrinkage limits, California bearing ratio,
eld and laboratory people who work with them. The
compaction, and unconned compressive strength of
following is a brief evaluation of the laterite development
the soil with rock our contents varying from 2%, to
process and a discussion about the properties which
10% by weight of the dry soil. This paper gives the
impact strength of laterites. All types of laterites are
strength characteristics of laterite stones collected from
formed of materials which have undergone a complex
the Mangalore region determined with various tests so
chemical and physical weathering process. These are
that the properties found out may be benecial for
extremely weathered soils, which comprise of large,
building construction.
quantities of iron and aluminium oxides, as well as quartz
and other minerals. They are found in large amount in
the tropics and sub-tropics, where they are usually found 2 Experimental Methodology
just below the surface of extensive grasslands or forest
clearings in areas with high precipitation. The colors can Field investigations were carried out at ve major
vary from yellowish-brown to red, brown, violet to black, quarries of Mangalore region, which are recognized as
depending mostly on the concentration of iron oxides. large resources of Laterite in South Canara district.
This weathering process is complex because it takes large For this investigation, quarries selected are: IN-
number of years and during the process the major agents Innoli, KE-Kedembadi, MA-Malar, MU-Muloor and SA-
such as physiography, geology and climate aect the Sambarthota. The Mangalore region lies in coastal region
laterite growth. The diculty is further compounded by of Karnataka surrounded by Arabian Sea and western
the fact that laterites which are formed within a few feet ghats and divided by many rivers. The Laterite proles

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of Mangalore region are mostly situated in the mid-land procedure for the assessment of compressive strength of
regions consisting of rolling terrain of narrow valleys and natural building stones used for construction purposes.
hills. These quarries were selected based on the high
volume of quarrying. Unconned compression test was conducted as per
IS:9143 using Universal testing machine. For preparation
Field studies were carried out in the ve laterite of cylindrical specimen, the compaction was done using
quarries by investigating the exposed vertical face. circular mould. The specimen was of dimension 40mm
Distinct zones of textural and morphological variations diameter and 76mm height. The purpose of the
were examined with the help of a geologist. Samples test is to obtain a quantitative value of compressive
were taken in the form of standard size blocks as per IS: strength of laterite. We have measured this with the
1121 (Part I)  1974 (Rearmed 2008) to determine the unconned compression test, which is an unconsolidated
engineering properties. The bedding surface of specimen un-drained test where the lateral conning pressure is
was noted during the time of collection. The physical zero (atmospheric pressure). The unconned compression
hardness of the specimen was tested by scratch test and (UCC) test is one of the simplest and quickest tests used
studied based on mineral composition specied by the for determining the compression strength.
Moh's scale of hardness. Samples were collected in the
polythene bags to conduct eld moisture content test.
An inspection of 3 active quarries in within a diameter
The samples selected represented the true average of the
of 1 km in the Malar region revealed that the depth of
type or grade of the stone under consideration. Also
laterite suitable for building construction within quarry
the test samples were selected from the quarried stone
varied from 2 to 9 m. The typical Malar quarry selected
or taken from the natural bed of rock. The selected
for the study had a total depth of 7.5 m. The three
laterite block specimens were sealed and their engineering
specimens1,2, and 3 were taken from 3 dierent levels,
properties were characterized in the laboratory.
from a depth of 2, 6 and 7.5. Total depth of quarry is
about 7.5 m below the ground level. The top portion
Test pieces were made from samples selected in
(thickness of 0 to 0.6 m) consists of reddish brown gravelly
accordance as per IS: 1121 code. Table 1 gives test
soil with organic materials like living organisms (humus
specimen dimensional data and they were dried in an
zone) and roots of vegetation. The Malar laterite quarry
◦
oven at 105 ±5 C for 24 h and cooled in desiccators to
is dark red in color which is found useful for constructional
◦
room temperature (20 to 30 C) to remove the moisture
purposes. Even though the texture of the laterite was
content.
uniform across depth, the results indicated a variation
in hardness and other engineering properties. A typical
observation is an increase in clay content and softening

Table 1: Test specimen data. of material with increase in depth. Further, clay content

Specimen increased across the depth of the prole i.e. 10%.15%

Sl. Type of Specimen
dimension 24% for the samples 1, 2, 3 respectively. The moisture
No. test type
in mm. content for the crushed laterite samples 1, 2, 3 was 1.78,

Cube 2.46, 14.56%, respectively. The pH range for the laterite

150 x 150 is 6.5 for lateritic clay to 7.02 for lateritic gravel. The
1 compressive Cubes
x 150 lateritic clay with higher moisture content also tends to
strength
be more acidic than the gravel. Based on the wet analysis,
Cube
45 dia the clay contents present in the crushed soil increases with
2 compressive Cylinders
x 90 length its increasing depth from 10% to 20%. A typical malar
strength
prole is shown in Figure 1.

For compressive test, specimen were made as per IS:

1121 (Part I)  1974 (Rearmed 2008). The compressive
strength of laterite or ultimate strength of laterite is
dened as the load which causes failure of the specimen
divided by the area of the cross section in Uniaxial
compression, the load being applied without shock and
increased continuously at a rate approximately 140
kg/cm2 per minute until the resistance of the test sample
breaks down and no greater load is sustained. Care is
taken in the preparation of the sample while loading to
avoid large variation in the results of compression test.
It is however, realized that in an actual structure, the
laterite at any point is in a complex stress condition and
not in uniaxial compression. However, it is customary
to conduct the test in uniaxial compression only. The
samples were 150mm cubes, made as per IS code of
practice IS 456  2000. The advantage of selecting IS:
1121 (Part I)  1974 is that this standard stipulates the Figure 1: Malar laterite prole.

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3 Results and Discussion
The compressive strength and unconned compression
test result obtained for the Malar Quarry laterite
specimens are tabulated below. Based on the values
obtained from the various tests carried out on the
laterite samples, high compressive strength and low water
absorption is seen in samples located in the top portion of
laterite proles. Physical Hardness of all laterite samples
is found to be in the range of 14 according to Moh's scale,
and decreased with depth for all laterites. Table 2 gives
the results of compressive strength on cubes obtained
from Malar quarry; and Table 3 gives results of unconned
compressive strength obtained from Malar quarry.

Table 2: Test results of compressive strength on cubes

obtained from Malar Quarry. Figure 2: Variation of water absorption with depth.

Depth
Hardness Compres-
Sample from Specic
(Mohs sive strength
No. the top gravity
scale) (N/mm2 )
(m)
1 2 3 to 4 2.7 4
2 6 2 to 3 2.48 2.58
3 7.5 2 to 3 2.62 2.34

Table 3: Results of unconned compressive strength

obtained from Malar quarry.
Corrected Compres-
Load Deforma-
Strain area sive stress
(N) tion (mm)
(mm2) (N/mm2)
0 0 0 0 0
18.86 0.5 0.006 1393.46 0.014
584.69 1 0.011 1401.56 0.417
1131.65 1.5 0.017 1409.76 0.803
2112.41 2 0.029 1426.44 2.010
3583.55 3 0.034 1434.93 2.497 Figure 3: Variation of compressive strength with depth.
4838.71 3.5 0.040 1443.52 3.352
5149.00 4 0.046 1452.22 3.546
5771.41 4.5 0.052 1461.02 3.950
5281.03 5 0.057 1469.93 3.593

Similar tests were also conducted on the samples

collected for the other quarry locations. The values are
represented in the graphical form. It can be seen that the
laterite samples in the top portion of proles show high
compressive strength and low water absorption. For all
ve quarry laterites, there was a decrease in the specic
gravity and compressive strength, and an increase in the
water absorption with increase in depth. This trend
seems to suggest that the degree of hardness decreases
with depth. It is also observed that at greater depths in
the quarry the clay content is higher. Shown in Figures
2, 3 and 4 are variations of water absorption, compressive
strength and specic gravity respectively with increasing
depth of the laterite prole at various quarries. Figure
5 shows the stress-strain relation obtained for the Malar
quarry.
Figure 4: Variation of specic gravity with depth.

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 general morphology distributions of strata were similar in
almost all the 5 quarries, (c) As the depth increases the
physical Hardness of all laterites decreased, and (d) With
increase in depth, there was a decrease in the compressive
strength and specic gravity, and an increase in the water
absorption.

References
[1] O.O. Owoyemi et al Highway Geotechnical Properties
of Some Lateritic Soils from the Sedimentary Terrain
of the Lagos-Ibadan Highway, International Journal
of Scientic Engineering Research, vol. 3, Issue 12,
ISSN 2229-5518, August-2012.

Figure 5: Stress-Stain obtained from UCC of Malar [2] T.H.T. Ogunribido "Eects of Rock Flour on
prole. Some Engineering Properties of Lateritic Soil",
International journal of pure sciences and technology,
vol. 1, Issue 10, pp. 10-16, ISSN 2229-6107, 2012.

Table 4: Depth available for extraction of laterite stones. [3] B. S. Badmus "Plasticity and Compressibility
Sl. Quarry Characteristics of Lateritic Soil from Southern
Depth (m)
No. names Nigeria" Research journal of soil and water
1 Innoli 2 to 9 management, vol. 1, ISSN 2075-1095,2010.
2 Kedembadi 2 to 8.5
3 Malar 0.5 to to 6.5 [4] IS: 8381. Indian standard recommended practice for
quarrying stones for construction purposes. Bureau of
4 Muloor 1.5 to 9
Indian Standards, New Delhi, India, 1977.
5 Sambarthota 2 to 16

[5] IS: 3620 Indian standard specication for laterite

Shown in table 4 is a comparison of experimental stone block for masonry. Bureau of Indian Standards,
values with the IS code; it can be seen that the depth New Delhi, India, (1979).
available for extraction of building stone from various
[6] IS: 2386 (Part III). Indian standard methods for test
laterite quarrys.
for aggregates for concrete: Specic gravity, density
and absorption. Bureau of Indian Standards, New

4 Conclusion Delhi, India, 1963.

[7] IS 1125 (1974): Method of test for determination of

From this study it can be concluded that laterite obtained
weathering of natural building stones [CED 6: Stones].
in the South Canara region can be categorized as weak
rock useful for low-rise buildings and partition walls.
[8] IS 1121-1 (1974): Methods of test for determination
Also the properties of the laterite stone depend on the
of strength properties of natural building stones, Part
location of the quarry as well as the depth within a
I: Compressive strength [CED 6: Stones]
quarry. Based on the study following conclusion can be
derived: (a) Good quality laterite for building purpose [9] IS 9143: Method for determination of unconned
is located in the top portion of laterite proles, (b) The compressive strength of rock material.

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