Pavement subgrade stabilisation using refractory castables: minimisation of layer thickness

Abstract

Soil stabilisation is known as a practical alternative for improving soil properties and assuring adequate subgrade stability. The present study involves compaction and strength tests on the native (un-stabilised) material, followed by similar tests on stabilised soils at specified stabilisation material contents (15-50% by weight). It is also focused on the utilisation of refractory castable material in subgrade soil and examines how it will affect the thickness of bituminous layers of flexible pavement. The design of flexible pavement with the help of IITPAVE software is demonstrated. Stabilisation of subgrade has resulted in reducing the thickness of bituminous layers as shown in the research. In one case 3 mm of bituminous wearing course and another case, 10 mm of wearing course were eliminated. Further, the economic benefit analysis of the National Highway (NH) - 48(Jaipur-Ajmer) section for various maintenance alternatives using HDM-4 is also presented.

KEYWORDS:

• Soil stabilisation
• Refractory castables
• IITPAVE
• Pavement design
• HDM-4

Acknowledgement

Manipal University Jaipur facilitated the guiding of the work presented in this manuscript. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the research laboratory.

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Conflict of interest

The authors disclose no conflict of interest.

Declarations

Ethical approval and consent to participate

Not applicable

Consent for publication

The author hereby gives his consent to publish his scientific note titled ‘Pavement subgrade stabilisation using refractory castables: Minimisation of layer thickness’ in the journal Road Materials and Pavement design. The author guarantees that the contribution to the work has not been previously published elsewhere and the person named as co-author of the contribution is aware of the fact and has agreed to be so named.