Soil Stabilization: An Overview

Soil is no doubt a major part in construction process and one of nature"s most abundant construction materials

. Soil stabilization is a technique to modify the soil for a particular construction process. It is the alteration process of one or more properties of soil by chemically or mechanically to make it engineer"s desired soil. Modification in soil"s properties on a minor level referred to as a Soil Stabilization method. Soil may be stabilized to increase strength and durability or to prevent soil erosion and dust generation.

Soils are of different properties and may vary from region to region. The key success in soil stabilization is soil testing. There are various methods to stabilize soils however all are come in two broad categories:

Mechanical stabilization and Chemical stabilization

Almost every road construction process uses one or both of the stabilization methods. The mechanical method refers to the compaction of soil or by compaction an interlocking of soil aggregate particles. Mechanically soil stabilization may be used in preparing soils to function as sub-grades, faces and surfaces. The main objective of mechanically soil stabilization is to reduce volume changes, increase stability and drainability of soil. Adding gravel, sand or other granular material is common in mechanical soil stabilization.

Another method is Chemical stabilization in which some chemicals like lime, fly ash, bituminous materials and cement are used to modify the soil properties and make it engineer"s friendly soil. Cement is one of the effective stabilizers for a wide range of materials. However lime can be used either to modify some of the physical properties or also improve the quality of soil. It is commonly used to stabilize the pH level which is an important impact on plant growth. Lime is not like fertilizer it"s just like a soil conditioner which corrects the soil condition and also increase beneficial bacterial activity. In addition types of bituminous stabilized soil are soil bitumen, sand bitumen, oiled earth etc.

A variety of types of equipments are used to add and mix materials into the soil to make it stabilize. In addition soil, water and cement are mixed together to achieve stabilizing effects. Blast furnace cement is also used which can improve the stability of soil for buildings.

There are various types of soil stabilization which can help to prevent soil erosion and they works best in different situations. To hold the soil together and to control soil erosion, soil binders are used which consists of a liquid that is sprayed over the soil and makes it to stay in place. Physical barriers can also be used like plastic sheet, fences and mats which help the soil from moving down as much as possible.

by: prsped

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