The Effect of Quicklime Stabilization on Soil Properties

Compacted soils are used in earthworks such as construction of embankments, compacted cushions or road/railway foundation. Lime stabilization refers to the stabilization of soil by the addition of burned limestone products, either calcium oxide (quicklime, CaO) or calcium hydroxide (hydrated lime, Ca(OH)2). This paper presents: an extensive laboratory tests conducted to determine the optimal percentage of quicklime to reduce the excessive moisture to the optimal of compaction, the degree of compaction achieved by mixing in comparison to the compacted untreated material and the methodology for conducting the mixture and the compaction on site. The moisture reduction by adding quicklime method was applied to build a compacted cushion consisting of two types of cohesive materials: silty clay with moisture content with 5% greater than the optimum of compaction and loess (collapsible soil) with moisture content with 5…10% greater than the optimum of compaction.