Pavement Performance of Fine-Grained Soil Stabilized by Fly Ash and Granulated Blast Furnace Slag-Based Geopolymer as Road Base Course Material
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 36, Issue 7
Abstract
Fly ash (FA) and granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS) were used as a precursor for geopolymerization to develop a low-carbon pavement base construction material. Based on the orthogonal test method, three levels were set separately for the L9 () test considering the proportion of FA (raw fly ash to grained fly ash), ratio of sodium hydroxide to liquid alkaline activator (LAA), and proportion of GBFS mixed with FA and solid–liquid ratio [(FA + GBFS): LAA] as factors influencing the geopolymer. The influence of these factors on the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of soil stabilized by geopolymer was studied. The optimal combinations of levels and factors were determined. The UCS with these ratios combined was 5.1 MPa. According to the above compositions, the mechanical (UCS, splitting tensile strength, and flexural tensile strength) and durability (drying shrinkage, water stability, freezing and thawing resistance, and wet–dry cycle) properties of soil samples stabilized using the aforementioned geopolymer were investigated. Moreover, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis were performed to determine the effect of the change in hydration silicate gel in the UCS development. According to the SEM and XRD test results, hydrated silicate gels exist in the sample, filling the pores of the soil, making the soil more compact, bonding the soil particles, and enhancing the engineering performance of the soil. This study enables waste material utilization as a replacement and partially reactive material in pavement applications.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge funding from the Research Project of Shanxi Construction Investment Group Co. LTD. (Contract Nos. DQ-JS-01 and DQ-JT002) and Research Project of Shanxi Transportation Holdings Group Co. LTD. (Contract No. 21-JKKJ-8) in China. The authors gratefully acknowledge test support from materials and durability laboratory of Shanxi Jiaoke Highway Engineering Consulting and Supervision Co. LTD. Xirong Niu and Yanfang Sun contributed equally to this work.
Author contributions: Yanfang Sun: Methodology, Validation, Investigation. Yu Yang: Investigation, Writing of original draft, Performance test, Data curation. Xirong Niu: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing of original draft. Jing Yang: Investigation, Methodology, Data curation, Writing of review and editing. Kai Deng: Performance test. Shuai Song: Performance test. Xiayang Shi: Funding acquisition. Zhiheng Wen: Methodology. Yongfeng Wang: Performance test.
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 36 • Issue 7 • July 2024
Copyright
© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 8, 2023
Accepted: Dec 18, 2023
Published online: Apr 23, 2024
Published in print: Jul 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Sep 23, 2024
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