Red mud waste material is a by-product generated during the extraction of alumina from bauxite ore by Bayer process. Million tons of red mud is being produced/piled near by the producing industry in India which is increasing day by day and causing serious issue related to proper disposal as it has very limited application. Accordingly, study on red mud was carried out to explore the possible application in road construction. Physical/chemical characterization was carried out to examine the morphology and chemical constituents. Toxicity characteristics leaching procedure (TCLP) test was also carried out to know the hazardous nature of the material. Stress-strain behavior was analyzed and compared with other similar materials along with other geotechnical characteristics. To study the stress- settlement behavior, laboratory physical small scale plate load test was carried out simulated with traffic loading and the same was validated by numerical finite element method. It was observed that red mud has lattice and impervious microstructure of silt and clay size fine particles. It mainly contains manganese, chromium, vanadium, barium, lead, copper and zinc with traces of other elements. Concentration of heavy metals was within the permissible limit which indicated that it is a non-hazardous material. It has high values of dry density (21.28 kN/m3), California Bearing Ratio (25%) and angle of internal friction (44°) compared to soil which makes it suitable for road construction. It was observed that its stress-strain behavior is similar to conventional materials (soil). Modulus value indicates that it is a stiff material which leads to less settlement as an embankment fill constructed at maximum dry density and optimum moisture content.
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