Fiber Reinforcement for Rapid Stabilization of Soft Clay Soils

Since World War II, the military has sought methods for rapid stabilization of weak soils for support of its missions worldwide. Over the past 60 years, cement and lime have been the most effective stabilizers for road and airfield applications, although recent developments show promise from nontraditional stabilizers, such as reinforcing fibers. The benefits derived from fibers may depend on whether they are used alone or in combination with chemical stabilizers. The ability of stabilizers to increase the strength of two soft clay soils within 72 hours to support C-17 and C-130 aircraft traffic on contingency airfields was investigated. Laboratory test results shows that longer fibers increased the strength and toughness the most for a clay treated only with fibers. For a clay treated with fibers in addition to a chemical stabilizer, shorter fibers increased toughness the most, but the fibers had little effect on strength. Higher dosage rates of fibers had increasing effectiveness, but mixing became difficult for fiber contents above 1%. Poly(vinyl) alcohol fibers were anticipated to perform better than other inert fibers because of hydrogen bonding between the fibers and clay minerals, but these fibers performed similarly to other fibers.
Published in Transportation Research Record, Journal of the Transportation Research Board, no. 2026 p21-29, 2007.