Rubber powder-polymer combined stabilization of South Australian expansive soils

Abstract

This study examines the combined capacity of rubber powder inclusion and polymer treatment in solving the swelling problem of South Australian expansive soils. The rubber powder was incorporated into the soil at three different rubber contents (by weight) of 10%, 20% and 30%. The preliminary testing phase consisted of a series of consistency limits and free swell ratio tests, the results of which were analyzed to arrive at the optimum polymer concentration. The main test program included standard Proctor compaction, oedometer swell-compression, soil reactivity (shrink-swell index), cyclic wetting and drying, crack intensity, and micro-structure analysis by means of the scanning electron micr..