Behaviour of fibre-reinforced and stabilized clayey soils subjected to cyclic loading

Much research has been undertaken on the use of fibres to reinforce soils for varying range of applications such as adobe bricks and walls and pavements, but little is available on the response of these materials to repeated loading the subgrade soils in road pavement may be subjected to. Thus, with a view on the application of pavement design, an investigation was undertaken to assess the effect of fibre on kaolinite and laterite stabilised with both cement and lime subjected to repeated loading. Crimped monofilament of 12 mm long polypropylene fibre with a diameter of 18 microns was used to reinforce both the soils at concentration of 0.3% stabilized with 4% and 6% of lime and cement. Results show that kaolinite soils reinforced with 0.3% of fibres together stabilized with 6% cement under repeated axial load test deform less than 1% after 3,600 load cycles and could be used in pavement construction. For laterite soils under the worst case scenario conditions of soaking, the samples of plain soil and those stabilized with cement did not have enough strength and collapse before loading. However, reinforced and stabilised, particularly were strong enough after soaking to be used in the upper parts of a pavement.