Field evaluation of soft highway subgrade soil stabilized with calcium carbide residue

Abstract

Calcium carbide residue (CCR) is a by-product of acetylene gas production. Stockpiles of CCR continue to accumulate worldwide, in both developed and developing countries. Sustainable reuse options for CCR in civil infrastructures, such as road embankments, have been recently evaluated in the laboratory. However, to date there are limited studies on the actual field performance of CCR in stabilizing clayey soils in highway subgrades. In this study, a field trial was conducted to ascertain the viability of using CCR stabilized clayey soil as a highway subgrade course material. Quicklime was selected as a control binder in the field trial for comparison purposes. The construction procedures of the CCR and quicklime stabilizations in two field sections are presented. A series of field tests, including California Bearing Ratio (CBR) test, plate loading test, Benkelman beam deflection test, and dynamic cone penetrometer (DCP) test were undertaken after the embankment construction. The results indicated that in the top zone of the filled soil layers with 94% degree of compaction, the CCR stabilized subgrade soil exhibited higher values of CBR and resilient modulus, and lower values of resilient deflection and DCP Index relative to the quicklime stabilized soil. The field trial results indicated that CCR had negligible environmental effects and furthermore resulted in low construction costs. Based on the field test results, CCR was found to be a viable alternative binder for stabilizing soft subgrade soils. The outcomes of this research are significant from engineering, economic and environmental perspectives.

Comparative Study on Estimation Methods of Dynamic Resistance Using Dynamic Cone Penetrometer

“…Additionally, the initial rising time of both the force and velocity signals is the time corresponding to L/c at the rod head, and it is equal to the travel time of the compressional waves propagated from the rod head to cone tip. Figure 4b shows the variation in displacement calculated by the integration of velocity, which can be substituted into the denominators in Equations ( 3)- (5). Notably, the displacement in Equations ( 3)-( 5) can be calculated using the signal recorded at the cone tip, while ∆d in Equation ( 2) is obtained by directly measuring the penetration depth.…”

Calcium‐Based Sustainable Chemical Technologies for Total Carbon Recycling

“…Additionally, CCR can replace limestone raw materials in the manufacture of cement clinker., It can be also used on its own to improve problematic clayey soils, which contain sufficient amounts of natural pozzolanic material. The CCR‐stabilized clayey soils were tested for highway subgrade coarse material and pavement qualities . For a number of indicators, for example, California bearing ratio and resilient modulus, CCR performed better than quicklime.…”

Engineering properties of clayey soil stabilised with alkali-activated slag

“…In highway subgrade constructions, the use of untreated clays with a higher water content than optimum can make it difficult to achieve the targeted degree of compaction. Consequently, untreated clays result in low bearing capacity, unacceptable settlement and slope instability under any imposed traffic loading (Du et al, 2016). Clay soils show substantial volume changes due to a change in the moisture content.…”