Experimental Study of the Valorization of Sulfate Soils for Use as Construction Material

Andrés Seco, Jesús María del Castillo, Céline Perlot, Sara Marcelino-Sádaba, Eduardo Prieto and Sandra Espuelas
Additional contact information
Andrés Seco: Department of Engineering, Institute of Smart Cities, Public University of Navarre, 31006 Pamplona, Spain
Jesús María del Castillo: Department of Engineering, Institute of Smart Cities, Public University of Navarre, 31006 Pamplona, Spain
Céline Perlot: Laboratoire SIAME, E2S UPPA, Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, 64600 Anglet, France
Sara Marcelino-Sádaba: Department of Engineering, Institute of Smart Cities, Public University of Navarre, 31006 Pamplona, Spain
Eduardo Prieto: Department of Engineering, Institute of Smart Cities, Public University of Navarre, 31006 Pamplona, Spain
Sandra Espuelas: Department of Engineering, Institute of Smart Cities, Public University of Navarre, 31006 Pamplona, Spain

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 11, 1-11

Abstract: This article shows an experimental investigation carried out for the stabilization of a sulfate soil. The stabilization was carried out in two phases: the first phase was the consumption of the sulfate present in the soil through its controlled transformation into ettringite. After this, a modified soil with lower maximum density, greater optimum moisture identified via standard proctor (SP) test, no plasticity and improved unconfined compressive strength (UCS) was obtained. In the second phase, the modified soil was stabilized by the use of different additives rich in oxides of calcium or magnesium, combined with by-products or waste materials containing reactive aluminum or silicon oxides. As a result, the mechanical strength of the modified soil was improved. In this phase, a binary binder composed of a magnesium oxide product and ground granulated blast-furnace slags (GGBS) obtained the highest UCS. The binary binder composed of lime and an alumina filler formed ettringite in the treated soil. This experiment allowed for the validation of a two-phase stabilization process and the non-conventional additives used, mainly magnesium oxide and GGBS, even for high-bearing-requirement pavement layers’ construction.

Keywords: sulfate soil; stabilization; pavement material; civil engineering; ettringite (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/11/6609/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/11/6609/ (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:14:y:2022:i:11:p:6609-:d:826377

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 ().