Method of Construction for Geopolymer Soil Stabilized Platforms
Abstract
To protect valuable assets from corrosive environments and associated maintenance issues, the Department of Defense (DoD) military services prefer to store vehicles, aircraft, and equipment in controlled environments, such as engineered tension fabric structures. How-ever, this type of structure requires a solid base, which is often made of concrete and when left behind, it creates real property issues. To address this issue, an alternative method of construction for stabilizing soil was developed and tested by ERDC-CERL during FY17 by using a gravel base and stabilizing it with geopolymer. In this method, mixtures of geopolymer and sand are percolated into loose gravel beds to produce hard surfaces that exhibit nearly the same strength as ordinary concrete. Advantages of this technique include lack of batching, repurposing of industrial waste products, and ease of installation. This report discusses laboratory demonstrations performed by ERDC-CERL to determine a useful range of component ratios, characterize the critical properties of the gravel bed, and identify the most successful application methods. Results indicate that a geopolymer mortar with 35 wt sand, or 45 wt sand with additional water, can effectively percolate through an ASTM 6 gravel bed, resulting in a strong, stabilized platform.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 20, 2017
- Accession Number
- AD1049293
Entities
People
- Ghassan K. Al-chaar
- Peter B. Stynoski
Organizations
- Construction Engineering Research Laboratory