STABILIZED PAVEMENT

MATERIALS

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 STABILIZED PAVEMENT MATERIALS
• Problem Soils categorizes subgrade materials with low strength, or

other unfavorable properties such as for:

– expansive soils

– dispersive soils

– organic soils

– saline soil or presence of saline water

• These soils require special treatment before acceptance in the

pavement foundation so that they will be re-classified to fall into

one of the subgrade categories for the purpose of pavement design.

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3
 STABILIZED PAVEMENT MATERIALS
• Soil stabilization is the alteration of the properties of an existing

soil either by blending two or more materials and improving

particle size distribution or by the use of stabilizing additives to

meet the specified engineering properties.

• “The treatment of the materials used in the construction of the

road bed material, fill or pavement layers by the addition of a
cementitious binder such as lime or Portland Cement or the
mechanical modification of the material through the addition of a
soil binder or a bituminous binder. Concrete and asphalt shall not
be considered as materials that have been stabilized.” ( ERA
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Mannual)
• Generally, the objective of soil stabilization are:

– Improve the strength (stability and bearing capacity) for

subgrade, subbase, base and low- cost road surfaces,

– Improve the volume stability – undesirable properties such as

swelling, shrinkage, high plasticity characteristics, and difficulty

in compaction, etc caused by change in moisture,

– Improve durability – increase the resistance to erosion,

weathering or traffic

– Improve high permeability, poor workability, frost susceptibility,

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etc
 STABILIZED PAVEMENT MATERIALS
• The factors that should be considered in soil stabilization include:

– Physical and chemical composition of the soil to be stabilized,

– Availability and economical feasibility of stabilizing agents,

– Ease of application,

– Site constraints,

– climate,

– curing time, and safety.

• Such factors be taken into account in order to select the proper type
of stabilization.
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• Basically four techniques of soil stabilization are commonly

practiced in pavement construction.

– Mechanical stabilization

– Cement stabilization,

– Lime stabilization, and

– Bitumen stabilization

• The suitability of these methods depends on site constraints,

materials, climate, and economic feasibility.

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• The stabilizing process with admixture involves the addition of a
stabilizing agent to the soil, mixing with sufficient water to achieve
the optimum moisture compaction of the mixture, and final curing
to ensure that the strength potential is realized.

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 Mechanical Stabilization
• Mechanical stabilization is a method by which a soil or gravel is

mixed with the original soil in order to improve the grading and

mechanical characteristics of the soil.

• It is an improvement of an available material by blending it with

one or more material in order to improve the particle size

distribution and plasticity characteristics.

• The principal properties affecting the stability of compacted base or

sub-base materials are internal friction and cohesion.

• Internal friction is chiefly dependent on the characteristics of the

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 Mechanical Stabilization
• Typical materials used for mechanical stabilization include river

deposited sand, natural gravel, silty sands , sand clays, silt clays,

crushed run quarry products, volcanic cinders and scoria, poorly

graded laterites and beach sands, etc.

• Materials produced by blending have properties similar to

conventional unbounded materials and can be evaluated by

ordinary methods.

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 Mechanical Stabilization
• The cohesion, shrinkage, swelling and compressibility are mainly
associated with the quantity and nature of the clay fraction as
indicated by plastic properties.

• Preliminary mix design of mechanical stabilization is based on

particle size distribution, plastic properties and strength tests
(CBR, etc.)

• When unconventional materials are used, more detailed testing

and investigation will often be needed and may include the
modification of the accepted design or specification criteria.
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 Mechanical Stabilization
• Particle Size Distribution: -

• While maximum friction strength does not necessarily coincide with

maximum density, the achievement of a high density will generally

provide a high frictional strength.

• A particle size distribution that results maximum dry density,

obtained with the closest packing and minimum voids, has been

shown experimentally to follow fuller’s equation with the value of

the exponent ‘n’ usually 0.45 to 0.50 for most soils.

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 Mechanical Stabilization
• The theoretical maximum density of aggregates is obtained when

grain size distribution follow the Fuller maximum density equation

of the form:

Where: p = percent passing sieve size “d”

D = maximum sieve size in the material,

n = a constant which varies between 0.45 to 0.50.

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 Mechanical Stabilization
• Particle Size Distribution: -

• With some materials such as gravel, sand and clays, high densities can be

achieved with ‘n’ values as low as 0.33.

• For materials, with a maximum size of 19 mm, the amount of fines passing

the 75μm sieve will be 6 and 8% for ‘n’ values of 0.5 and 0.45 respectively.

• In certain cases higher percentages of material passing the 75 µm sieve

may provide the best performance.

• When the pavement design relies on a relatively low permeability in the

pavement courses, the materials used should be of particle size

distribution within the limits established by substituting values of 0.50

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 Mechanical Stabilization
• These limits are sufficiently wide to allow for variations that will
inevitably occur in field mixing.

• When the value of the exponent ‘n’ is less than 0.33, the fines
content of the material may be excessive. A high fine content will
result in reduced permeability, but may lead to the development
of pore pressures and consequent instability during compaction or
in service.

• Where ‘n’ is greater than 0.5, the material may be prone to

segregation and raveling and therefore more difficult to work.

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 Mechanical Stabilization
• Liquid Limit and plasticity index: -

• The plasticity limits generally be used as satisfactory design criteria

for mechanical stabilized materials.

• Moreover, plastic Index and Linear Shrinkage of a material passing

0.425 mm are normally related to one another. The permissible

values of shrinkage may be determined by test or estimated from

the permissible values of PI. Typical values are 2% for sealed and 3%

for unsealed pavements.

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 Mechanical Stabilization

• When the percentage of soil binder is low, as a rough rule, the

plasticity Modulus (PI x the percentage passing the 425 µm sieve
relative to the whole material) should not exceed 200 for gravel
to receive bituminous surface treatment.

• In arid climates, consideration could be given to relax the PM to

about 400, provided road formations are well drained.

• In the case of major works it is advisable to construct trial

sections of pavement for evaluation at least two years before
embarking upon their large- scale use.
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 Mechanical Stabilization
• Strength Tests: -

• Stabilized materials may be assessed by strength tests suitable for

this purpose at the density and moisture conditions prevailing in

the pavement during the service life.

• Prediction of moisture condition and hence the failure envelopes at

moisture conditions bracketing the equilibrium moisture conditions

and at the required density anticipated is important.

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 Mechanical Stabilization
• The equilibrium moisture conditions to be expected in a pavement

may be obtained by examining existing roads constructed from

materials similar to those being investigated and assembling such

information for future use.

• One of the most commonly used strength tests is the laboratory

CBR test.

• A 4-day soaking of compacted specimens before testing is generally

used. However, conditions to be adopted for the test may be

altered in respect of the degree of compaction and moisture

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content, to simulate the worst conditions expected in service.
 Mechanical Stabilization
• The selection of suitable criteria should take account of local experience,
especially that related to the performance of local materials.

• Design of stabilized mixtures to reach satisfactory road pavement

involves:

– characterizing the individual materials,

– proportioning them to fit the selected criteria,

– making up a trial mixture to adequate investigation and

– design, good construction and control testing techniques.

• This involves careful proportioning and thorough mixing of the

constituent materials to produce a uniform unsegregated final product
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which can be compacted and finished in accordance with the
 Cement Stabilization
• Cement is an effective stabilizing agent applicable to a wide range

of soils and situations .It has two important effects on soil

behaviors:

– Reduces the moisture susceptibility of soils: cement binds the

particles greatly and reduces moisture induced volume change

– Develop inter-particle bonds in granular materials: increased

tensile strength and elastic modulus.

• Soil properties progressively change with increasing cement

contents. For practical reasons, two categories of cement stabilized

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materials have been identified.
 Cement Stabilization
 Cement modified materials: cement is used to reduce plasticity,

volume- change, etc, and the inter-particle bonds are not

significantly developed.

 Cement bound materials: cement is used to sufficiently enhance

modulus and tensile strength. Cement bound materials have

practical application in stiffening the pavement.

• SELECTION OF CEMENT CONTENT

• The cement content determines whether the characteristics of the

mixture are dominated by the properties of the original soil or by

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 Cement Stabilization

• As the proportion of cement in the mixture increases, so the

strength increases. Strength also increases with time.

• The choice of cement content depends on the strength

required, the durability of the mixture, and the soundness

of the aggregate

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 Cement Stabilization
• The minimum cement content, expressed as a percentage of the dry

weight of soil, should exceed the quantity consumed in the initial

ion exchange reactions.

• It is recommended that the percentage of cement added should be

equal to or greater than the initial consumption of lime test (ICL),

(British Standard 1924).

• A number of factors influence the quality of the cement-soil

interactions.

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 Cement Stabilization

• The most important factors can be categorized into four groups:

– Nature and type of soil.

– Cement content.

– Moisture content.

– Pulverization, mixing, compaction, and curing conditions.

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 Cement Stabilization
• Nature and type of soil.

• This include: clay content (max 5%) plasticity of the soil (max LL of

45), gradation, content of organic materials (max 2%), sulphate

content (max 0.25% for cohesive soils and 1 % for non- cohesive

soils), and PH content.

• Soils with high clay content and high plasticity are difficult to mix

and high additive contents are required for an appreciable change

in properties.

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 Cement Stabilization
• Pre – treatment with lime however is good method to allow

the soil to be cement- stabilized later one.

• The requirements with respect to the organic matter, PH,

and sulphalte contents are in fact the same as those which

are used for concrete.

• Cement content.

• The cement required to stabilize soils effectively vary

with the nature and type of soils.

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 Cement Stabilization
• The criteria used are the compressive strength (about 1.7 MPa)

after seven days.

• The quantity required for gravely soils is generally much less than

required for silty and clayey soils.

• Generally, a soils is regarded to be suited for cement- stabilized if

the soil has a maximum grain size than 75 mm, percents passing

and retained 0.075 mm sieve is less than 35% and greater than

55% respectively, and liquid and plastic limits less than 50 and 25

respectively.
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 Cement Stabilization
• Cement content.

• Based on vast experience on cement stabilization, the general

guidelines in the following table have been provided regarding the
amounts of cement that are needed to stabilize a soil.
Amount of Cement (%)
Soil type
By Weight By Volume
A-1-1 3-5 5-7
A-1-b 5-8 7-9
A-2 5-9 7 - 10
A-3 7 - 11 8 - 12
A-4 7 - 12 8 - 13
A-5 8 - 13 8 - 13
A-6 9 - 15 10 - 14
A-7 10 - 16 10 - 14
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 Cement Stabilization
• Moisture content.

• Moisture is required for hydration of cement to take place, to improve

the workability, and facilitate the compaction of the soil – cement
mixture.

• The soil-cement mixture exhibit the same type of moisture – density

relationship as an ordinary soil. Thus, for a given compaction effort,
there is an optimum moisture content at which the maximum density
is obtained.

• It is, however, seen that the highest compressive strength can be

obtained with specimens compacted slightly below the optimum for
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maximum density.
 Cement Stabilization
• Many procedures of construction are available, but can be
categorized into mixing in plant (in a travelling plant and stationary
plant for dry mixing), and in place mixing.

• The methods are principally the same except mixing in the first is
done in mixing plants and in the later is in-place.

• Regardless of the type of machine used, the procedure of mix- in-

place construction involves initial preparation of the subgrade,
pulverization of the soil, spreading of the soil, dry-mix the soil and
the cement, adding water and wet mix, compact and finish, and
protect and cure( place a curing membrane to keep moist). 31
 Cement Stabilization
• The influence of the degree of mixing and compaction is self explaining.
One should however be aware of the fact that any delay in compaction
after mixing will have a negative effect.

• As with concrete, curing is an important factor influencing on the end

result. The temperature should be high enough and the stabilized
material should be prevented from drying out in order to obtain the
best result.

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 Cement Stabilization
• Since cement stabilized materials constitute in most cases the main
structural part of pavements, much attention is given to their
mechanical characteristics such as:

» Tensile and compressive strength,

» Deformation behavior, and

» Fatigue characteristics

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 Cement Stabilization
• Tensile and compressive strengths: -

• The compressive strength based on the unconfined compressive test

increases with the cement content in the mixture depending on the

nature and types of soil. It has been used to determine strength of

stabilized materials, but has little application to pavement design.

• CBR can be used to evaluate the strength of cement modified

materials, but not for bound materials. Tensile strength is important in

the design of cement bound materials.

• Density is also an important parameter which has a direct relationship

with the UCS. 34

 Cement Stabilization
• Deformation behavior: -

• In order to make proper stress- strain analyses, information on the

elastic modulus of the materials should be known.

• It is well known that clays, sands, and gravels show different elastic
deformation behavior under repetitive loading. The addition of
cement on these materials changes the elastic deformation
properties, but not completely. The parent material will have a
great influence on the properties of the soil-cement mixture.

• Cemented clayey materials also exhibit some degree of permanent

deformation under repeated loading and a certain amount of creep
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under steady loads.
 Cement Stabilization
• Cemented sand and gravel exhibit a similar performance but
permanent deformation and creep are less than in
cemented clayey soils.

• The less fines are present in the soil mixture the more the
cement-treated soil behave like concrete.

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 Cement Stabilization
• Fatigue characteristics: -

• Cement stabilized materials cracks either due to hydration

and drying shrinkage and fatigue at the result of repeated
tensile stresses (strains)

• It has been apparent that the parent soil has a great

influence on the fatigue characteristics of cement stabilized
materials.

• Although there seems a great variation, there is indeed

something like a threshold strain level under which no
fatigue will occur.
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 Cement Stabilization
• Since durability and UCS are strongly related, the durability test is
normal used in the soil- cement mix design procedure.

• However, UCS test is also used as an additional test to the

durability test.

• Durability is defined as a loss in weight of a specimen after 12

freeze- thaw cycles or 12 wet- dry cycles.

• The material loss is generated by brushing the samples after each

cycle.

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 Lime Stabilization
• Lime is a broad term which is used to describe calcium oxide (CaO)-
quick lime; calcium hydroxide Ca(OH)2- hydrated lime, and calcium
carbonate (CaCO3)-carbonate is of no value for stabilization.

• The most commonly used products of quick lime and hydrated lime are
hydrated calcitic lime (CaO), dolomitic quick lime (CaO MgO).

• Lime can be applied as dry hydrated lime, quick lime or slurry lime.

• Lime is an effective stabilizing agent for clayey to improve both

workability and strength. Lime is not effective with cohesion less or
low cohesion materials without the addition of secondary (pozzolanic-
fine materials which react with lime to form cementations
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compounds) additives.
 Lime Stabilization
• The cementitous products resulting from cement and lime stabilization

are with comparable behavior and follow fairly similar evaluation, and

construction considerations.

• The significant difference in the nature and rate of cementations

reactions, however, is a basis for the choice between cement and lime.

• Basically four different factors are involved in the soil-lime reaction which

are: cation exchange, flocculation, pozzolanic reaction, and carbonation.

• Cation exchange is an immediate reaction and unlike pozzolanic reaction,

reaction, it is not significantly dependent on temperature in which cations

such as sodium and hydrogen are replaced by calcium ions for which the
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clay mineral has a greater affinity.
 Lime Stabilization
• Chemically equivalent amounts of quick lime and hydrated lime have the
same effect on plasticity.

• However, quick lime has an additional drying effect since, the chemical
reaction between the lime and the water in the soli removes free water from
the sol and the heat produced by the reaction assists in drying.

• The change in plasticity is accompanied an immediate change in the strength

of the soil as measured by the CBR.

• The effect of lime on the CBR value increases with time as the pozzolanic
reactions take effect.

• Siliceous and aluminous materials in the soil react with lime to produce a gel
of calcium silicates and aluminates.

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 Lime Stabilization
• This gel cements the soil particles together in a manner that is
similar to that of hydrated cement.

• It has been shown that the thickness of the water layer around the
clay particles decrease substantially as the result of cation
exchanges.

• This condition the turn promotes the development of flocculent

structures. This means that plasticity, shrinkage and swelling and
other normal clay – water interactions are distinctly inhibited.

• The effect of lime on clay minerals of high cation exchange capacity,

such as montmorillonite clays, is therefore more apparent than it is
on clay of low cation exchange capacity such as koalinite clays.42
 Lime Stabilization
• Minerals in the soil that react with lime to produce a cementing compound are
known as pozzolans, it takes, it takes considerably more time than required for
hydration of Portland cement.

• This long term effect on strength, causing continuing strength improvements with
time, often called pozzolanic reactions.

• The cementing action also depends on climatic conditions and a thorough

compaction of the mixture.

• High curing temperatures have a positive effect on the pozzlanic reactions.

• Temperatures lower than 13 and 160C retard the reaction; from this point of view
it is obvious that lime stabilization is especially popular in tropical countries.

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 Lime Stabilization
• Other factors that are of influence on the soil- lime reaction are:

– The presence of excessive quantities of organic carbon retards

the lime –soil reaction,

– Moderately weathered and unweathered soils with high pH

display good reactivity,

– Poorly drained soils exhibit a higher degree of lime-reactivity

than better drained soils,

– All calcareous soils react satisfactorily with lime and

– A minimum amount of clay approximately 15% is required to

insure an adequate source of silica and/ or alumina for the lime-
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soil pozzolanic reaction.
 Lime Stabilization
• The strength of lime stabilized materials is dependent on the amount

of lime, the curing time, curing temperature and compaction.

• In addition, the quality of water, type of stabilizing lime, and

uniformity of are important affecting the quality of production as they

are in cement stabilization.

• Mix design procedures for lime stabilization are the determination of

the maximum amount of lime that can be taken by the soil before free

lime occurs (the lime content above which further increases do not

produce significant additional strength) or the lime requirement to

attain a specific strength levels. 45

 Lime Stabilization
• Characteristics related design procedures are related to the

conditions for which they have been developed.

• The usually used minimum strength requirements for mix design

are 0.69 MPa for subbaes and 1.12 for subbase materials and 0.11

for base- course materials.

• When lime is used for subgrade improvements, the design lime

content may be designated as the lime content above which no

further appreciable reduction in PI occurs or minimum lime content

is increased 0.5 to 1.0% to offset the effect of field variability.

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 Bituminous Stabilization
• Bituminous materials are used as stabilizers to retard or completely
stop moisture absorption by coating soil or aggregate grains in the
soil-aggregate mixture.

• Bituminous stabilization is used with non- cohesive granular

materials-where the bitumen adds cohesive strength; and with
cohesive materials –where the bitumen “waterproofs” the soil thus
reducing loss of strength with increase in moisture content.

• Both effects take place partly from the formation of bituminous film
around the soil particles which bonds them together and prevents
the absorption of water, and partly from simple blocking of the
pores, preventing water from entering the soil mass. 47
 Bituminous Stabilization
• Because more care is necessary in bituminous stabilization to achieve
satisfactory mixing, its use has not been as widespread as cement and
lime stabilization.

• Bituminous materials: -

• The bituminous materials that are used for stabilization works are
mostly penetration grade bitumen and cutback bitumen and bitumen
emulsion.

• The characteristics of cutbacks depended on the particle size

distribution of the soil, the temperature of application, and the type of
mix plant.

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 Bituminous Stabilization
• The more viscous binders are normally used for soils having only a
small proportion of material passing the 0.075mm sieve and for
plant mixes, while the lighter binders are used for mix –in place
methods and with soils containing a larger proportion of fines.

• Emulsions are generally suitable for soil stabilization in climate

where rapid drying conditions occur, since this is equivalent to
adding water to the soil as well as bituminous binder.

• In the tropics, where the temperature is high the use of emulsions

may be an advantage since it helps to provide part of the optimum
moisture content for compaction, thereby reducing the amount of
water necessary for this purpose 49
 Bituminous Stabilization
• Soils requirements: -

• Bituminous materials are used for the stabilization of both cohesive

and non-cohesive granular soils.

• Soils which can readily pulverized by construction equipment are

satisfactory for bituminous stabilization.

• Cohesive soils usually have satisfactory bearing capacity at low

moisture content. The purpose of using bitumen as a stabilizer in
such soils is to waterproof them as a means to maintain them at
low moisture contents and high bearing capacities.

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 Bituminous Stabilization
• In the non-cohesive granular materials, bitumen serves as a
bonding or cementing agent between particles.

• Depending on the particle size distribution and physical properties

of the available soil materials and the function of the stabilizing
bitumen, there are four types of soil-bitumen mixtures in highway
engineering.

• Soil-bitumen: this is a mixture of cohesive soil and bitumen for

waterproofing purposes. The maximum grain size should preferably
not greater than one-third of the compacted layer. The bitumen
requirements commonly range from 4-7% of the dry weight of the
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 Bituminous Stabilization
• Sand bitumen: sands such as beach, river, pit, or existing roadway
sand may be stabilized with bitumen if they are substantially free
from vegetable matter, lumps or balls of clay or adherent films of
clay.

• Sometimes it may require admixture of filler material to meet

mechanical stability requirements. The required amount of bitumen
content ranges from 4-10%, the optimum should be determined by
compaction, strength, and water resistance testing and should not
exceed the pore space of the compacted mineral mix.

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 Bituminous Stabilization
• Waterproofed granular stabilization: This is a system in which a
soil material possessing good gradation of constituent particles
from coarse to fine, and having high potential density is
waterproofed by uniform distribution of small amount (1-2%) of
bitumen.

• Oiled earth: This is a soil surface, consisting of silt-clay material

made water and abrasion resistant by slow or medium curing
bitumen cutbacks or emulsions.

• Table Characteristics of soils empirically found suitable for

bitumen stabilization.
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 Bituminous Stabilization
Sieve size Percent passing
Soil-bitumen Sand-bitumen Water proofed granular stabilization
A B C

1.5inch 100

1inch 80-100 100

075inch 65-85 80-100 100

No. 4 >50 100 40-65 50-75 80-100

No. 10 35-100 25-50 40-60 60-80

No. 40 15-30 20-35 30-50

No.100 10-20 13-23 20-35

No.200 10-50 <12,<25 8-12 10-16 13-30

Plasticity characteristics
LL <40

PI <18 <10;<15 <10;<15 <10;<152

Field moisture <201

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Linear shrinkage <51
 Bituminous Stabilization
• The mechanism of stabilization with bituminous materials consists of
adding cohesive strength and reducing the percolation of water,

• No chemical interaction is taking place.

• Waterproofing occur by coating the surface of particles aggregated lumps

of particles or by blocking the pores of the soil mass, and a strength
comes from the presence of a continuous film of bitumen giving cohesion.

• There are two opposing effects – the thinner the film of bitumen the
stronger the material; however, thick film or filled pores are the most
effective in preventing ingress of water.

• Too much bitumen, however, causes loss of strength by lubricating the

particles and preventing interlock.
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 Bituminous Stabilization

• The mix design procedure for bituminous treatments of soils may

be considered under four headings;

– mix design for stability in non-cohesive or cohesive materials;

– mix design for sand-bitumen mixes, and

– mix design for oiled earth roads.

• For the first three types of mix, a series of tests should be made
with varying bitumen contents and grades using hot bitumen,
cutback and emulsion, and the appropriate mix is selected giving
due weight to the need for stability or water resistance as required.
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 Bituminous Stabilization
• Compaction, compressive, and water absorption test are normally
used to select the optimum amount of bitumen content.

• May difficulties in construction and poor pavement performance

may be attributed to a lack of appreciation of this additive effect.

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