Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Tips On Chemical Soil Stabilization

By Claudine Hodges


It is a process adopted in order to enhance engineering properties of the soil in a bid to enhance its stability. The chemical soil stabilization normally adopts the use of some chemical components to enhance the soils. This is needed in any case the available soil that is to be used in construction turns unsuitable for the preferred function. What is usually entailed is compaction, drainage and also preconsolidation in addition to several other processes.

A look at some specific methods of making the soils stable, their advantages and drawbacks are explained. Also highlighted are reasons as to why some of the leading companies and the polymer-based admixture programs are more superior options for the wide majority of applications. The most commonly methods that are employed in stabilizing soils throughout the world include;

Cement stabilization - This is a very common method used in this process since it is relatively cost effective and cement is widely available. Here, soil is basically mixed and combined with cements to enhance its strength and sturdiness. The final results are fairly long lasting and resistant to most types of weathers making it an ideal choice for environments that are sandy.

The latter method is however in a way labor intensive in addition to having the ability of posing threats which can cause harm to the environment. To add on to this, the resultant soil-cement mixture is of a high degree of durability making it at times prone to getting cracks making this as one of its drawbacks.

Lime stabilization - It is another widely popular method for stabilizing soils. The method normally is not cost effective when compared with that of using cement. It is actually made expensive due to costs incurred in burning limestone which is a requirement in the process. It poses harm to the environment. It does not however increase stability and strength especially in environments that are dry. This makes it important to increase compressive strengths in certain situations.

Chemical stabilization - They are of a wider group since there are numerous applications that are different. The main advantage of this approach is the possibility of designing a solution that can be specific for any given environment that you will be in need. Consequently, this leads to higher performance and reliability of the approach. Most of the used chemicals in the process are pollutants and they are also costly to acquire.

Polymer stabilization - The methods that are based on polymers are usually more modern techniques. They present various benefits compared to the traditional methods. They also do involve the combining of soils with polymer based materials that are unreactive and friendly to the environment. The major advantage of these procedures is their failure to negatively impact the environment.

From the above, it is clear that various advantages are brought about by each method. Most are cost effective, durable, less prone to damage, easier to maintain and can be used in the correct proportion so as not to harm the environment. Innovative variety of products can be adopted to enhance the properties of the above methods in terms of; reducing water sensitivity, increasing water impermeability, reducing the plasticity index and increasing load bearing volume among others.




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