LOAD-DEFLECTION CHARACTERISTICS OF SOIL-CEMENT PAVEMENTS

A COMPREHENSIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM TO DEVELOP A THICKNESS DESIGN PROCDURE FOR SOIL-CEMENT PAVEMENTS IS IN PROGRESS AT THE LABORATORIES OF THE PORTLAND CEMENT ASSOCIATION. THE PROGRAM HAS BEEN DIVIDED INTO THE FOLLOWING AREAS OF STUDY' /A/ THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LOAD AND DEFLECTION FOR SOIL-CEMENT PAVEMENT, AND /B/ AN EVALUATION OF THE FATIGUE PROPERTIES OF SOIL-CEMENT. DATA FROM THESE STUDIES MAY BE CORRELATED BY THEORETICAL CONCEPTS TO FORMULATE A THICKNESS DESIGN PROCEDURE. THIS PAPER REPORTS THE FINDINGS OF THE SUDY TO DEVELOP A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LOAD AND DEFLECTION FOR SOIL-CEMENT. AN EQUATION WAS DERIVED WHICH PREDICTS LOAD CAPACITY AS A FUNCTION OF DEFLECTION, THICKNESS OF SOIL-CEMENT, RADIUS OF BEARING AREA, AND MODULUS OF SUBGRADE REACTION. NEITHER THE TYPE OF MATERIAL STABILIZED NOR THE CEMENT CONTENT WAS STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT IN DETERMINING THE PARAMETERS OF THE EQUATION FOR SOIL-CEMENT. THIS SUGGESTS THAT IF ASTM PROCEDURES ARE FOLLOWED AND PCA CRITERIA ARE MET, A MATERIAL WITH UNIQUE STRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS IS PRODUCED. A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE LOAD CAPACITY OF SOIL-CEMENT AND A HIGH-QUALITY GRANULAR MATERIAL INDICATED THAT IF DEFLECTIONS WERE MAINTAINED EQUAL , THE CAPACITY OF SOIL-CEMENT WAS 1.5 TIMES GREATER FOR THE 4-IN. AND 3.3 TIMES GREATER FOR THE 10-IN. BASE THICKNESSES: /AUTHOR/