Evaluation of the Effect of Lime-Stabilized Subgrade on the Performance of an Experimental Road Pavement

• Main Authors: Péter Primusz, Gergely Markó, Balázs Kisfaludi, Miklós Kosztka, József Péterfalvi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Zagreb, Faculty of Forestry 2015-01-01
• Series: Croatian Journal of Forest Engineering
• Online Access: https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/223375
• ISSN: 1845-5719; 1848-9672

Forest roads should be constructed to provide economic wood transport routes while causing minimal environmental impact. Therefore, the extended use of local materials (soil, stone) is essential. As cohesive soils cannot be drained by gravity and saturated cohesive soils have low bearing capacity, their use as a building material raises problems. This issue can be solved by lime stabilizing the soil. An experimental road was constructed to evaluate the effect of lime stabilized cohesive soil on the pavements built on top of it. Nine pavement versions were built on three different thickness (15, 25 and 35 cm) of lime stabilized soil. A traditional pavement without lime stabilization was also built for comparison. The bearing capacity of the stabilized layers and the finished pavements were calculated. The long term performance of the pavements was tested by measuring the effect of artificial traffic on their bearing capacity. Results showed that the bearing capacity modulus of the lime stabilization was around 500 MPa. 25–35 cm of lime stabilization under the pavements was necessary for good long term performance. 35 cm thickness of the stabilized local soil was enough to withstand the applied traffic without serious damage. Therefore, lime treated cohesive soil can be recommended as a subgrade layer in forestry conditions.