Feasibility of Using Modified Silty Clay and Extruded Polystyrene (XPS) Board as the Subgrade Thermal Insulation Layer in a Seasonally Frozen Region, Northeast China

Qinglin Li, Haibin Wei, Leilei Han, Fuyu Wang, Yangpeng Zhang and Shuanye Han
Additional contact information
Qinglin Li: School of Transportation, Jilin University, Changchun 130022, China
Haibin Wei: School of Transportation, Jilin University, Changchun 130022, China
Leilei Han: School of Transportation, Jilin University, Changchun 130022, China
Fuyu Wang: School of Transportation, Jilin University, Changchun 130022, China
Yangpeng Zhang: School of Transportation, Jilin University, Changchun 130022, China
Shuanye Han: School of Transportation, Jilin University, Changchun 130022, China

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 3, 1-15

Abstract: To achieve the purposes of storing industry solid wastes and enhancing subgrade stability in seasonally frozen regions, Structure III, which utilized the modified silty clay (SC) and extruded polystyrene (XPS) board as a novel subgrade thermal insulation layer (NSTIL), was presented. The above modified SC consisted of oil shale industry solid waste, fly ash and SC. In terms of environmental impact, the average single pollution index, the Nemerow integrated pollution index and national standards were carried out to estimate whether the modified SC could be used as a subgrade filler. These results show that, although the modified SC will produce pollution to the environmental background, the concentration of each hydrochemical constituent from the modified SC meets the corresponding national standards in China. In terms of the thermal insulation capability, the numerical simulation of coupling moisture and temperature was applied to analyze that of Structures I, II and III. The research results show that the numerical results of the Structure I are approximated to the official website information of Jilin province, indicating that the above numerical simulation is effective for coupling moisture and temperature of frozen soil. Both modified SC and NSTIL have the advantage of good thermal insulation property, but the thermal insulation property of the NSTIL is greater. Furthermore, the NSTIL at the top of the Structure III can protect the SC of the experimental road from the damage of frost heave. The research results are of great significance for reducing environmental pollution caused by oil shale industry solid waste and fly ash, increasing the utilization rate of industrial waste and enhancing the subgrade stability in seasonally frozen regions.

Keywords: seasonally frozen region; modified silty clay; oil shale industry solid waste; fly ash; subgrade insulation layer; frost-depth; environmental pollution assessment; coupling moisture and temperature (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/3/804/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/3/804/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:3:p:804-:d:203312

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().