A review on soil stabilisation of unsealed road pavements from an Australian perspective

Abstract

Unsealed roads are the backbone for many countries’ growth and development. Given low traffic volumes, economic considerations cannot justify higher class paved roads, as a result, are prone to distress. Research studies have shown that the targeted application of additives and specific techniques to unsealed pavements can improve its engineering and geotechnical properties. This paper covers a comprehensive up to date literature review of various techniques for improving unsealed road durability. The literature is categorised based on non-chemical and chemical additive techniques. These techniques are reviewed and discussed to provide a critical overview of the stabilisation mechanisms, properties, performance, durability, and suitability in unsealed roads. This review highlights the shift towards sustainable stabilisation without considerable impact to current unsealed pavement practices, but at the effect of a sound understanding of stabilisation approaches and longterm performance data. The review captures the current state-of-knowledge in the field of unsealed road pavements.

KEYWORDS:

• Unsealed roads
• soil stabilisation
• traditional stabilisers
• calcium-based stabilisers
• non-traditional stabilisers

Acknowledgements

Support provided by Adj/Prof Brian O’Donnell and Prof Anoop Swarup from CPEAP Ltd is greatly appreciated. This research was conducted by the Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Research Hub for nanoscience-based construction material manufacturing (IH150100006) and funded by the Australian Government. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Australian Research Council [grant number IH150100006]; Australian Government.