ABSTRACT
With the increasing demands of stable and high-quality materials in road construction, the need for opening of new gravel borrow pits is increasing, thereby the ability of future generations to meet their own needs will be compromised. Therefore, there is a need to stabilize existing or low-quality materials to meet the desired performance criteria. Alternative additives, such as polymers, have been shown to enhance strength and durability characteristics of soils, in addition of their advantages of having lower carbon footprints, compared to traditional ones. In this study a synthetic Polyacrylamide-Based Additive (PAM) has been used to stabilize three types of soils used in pavement construction. Unconfined compressive strength, California bearing ratio and Abrasion tests were conducted to evaluate performance of PAM-treated soils. The tests showed a significant increase in strength for the treated samples, with varying levels, depending on soil type. The tests also showed a dramatic improvement in abrasion resistance for all soils.
