Resilient Characteristics of Polymer Emulsion-Treated Sandy Soil

Abstract

The current pavement design guidelines, for example, Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG), heavily rely on the resilient moduli of pavement materials. Some locally available pavement materials may not meet the design requirements and often require the application of efficient stabilizers. Therefore, the characterization of natural and treated subgrade soils using resilient modulus is important for the design of durable flexible pavements. A research study was designed and conducted to investigate the effect of polymer emulsion treatment on the resilient characteristics of sandy soil, which is used in constructing highways and airport surfaces. A commercially available polymer emulsion was used to stabilize cohesionless soil, and an attempt was made to understand the influence of polymer emulsion dosage and curing time on the strength and resilient characteristics of treated soil mixtures. Several laboratory tests were conducted on mixtures prepared with different dosages and curing times to evaluate the improvement in unconfined compressive strength and resilient moduli properties of treated sandy soil. Multiple regression analyses were conducted on resilient moduli test results using two- and three-parameter models and identified the best model exhibiting a good fit with the experimental data. A case study was demonstrated using the resilient moduli of untreated and polymer emulsion-treated soil to determine the thickness of airfield pavement. Overall, the outcome of the study is expected to assist the state and federal agencies in stabilizing and using problematic sandy soils for constructing various pavement structures.