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Sustainability of lime stabilized road subgrade in mountainous regions of Türkiye

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Abstract

In this paper the use of lime stabilized subgrade for low volume roads in two regions with high mountains and different frost penetration conditions in Türkiye was investigated in terms of design, performance, and cost. Pavements on unstabilized and stabilized subgrade were designed for two regions (Izmir and Van), covering all climate variations. The resilient modulus of the lime stabilized subgrade with different soil pulverization levels for non-freezing and freezing conditions were taken from a previous laboratory study. Frost effects were considered in pavement design using two different approaches, including limited subgrade frost penetration method and reduced subgrade strength method. Detailed application and evaluation were performed for all steps. Lime stabilized subgrades significantly reduced the thickness of base courses, and the benefit of lime stabilization was highly dependent on soil pulverization level. A detailed cost analysis on the unstabilized and stabilized cases found that the use of lime stabilization in the subgrade provided significant initial cost savings. Comparative analysis by using the AASHTO (1993) method and KENPAVE software, and quantity effect of soil pulverization level on the performance of low volume roads from a service life perspective, show that subgrade resilient modulus can be estimated. It is also possible to make correct performance estimation in the field. The results of the study show that lime stabilization is a good solution for low volume roads in the mountainous regions of Türkiye.

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Acknowledgments

Experimental results used in this study were determined in a joint venture project between Istanbul University and the Turkish General Directorate of Highways by project number KGM-ARGE/2012-25. These results are not the official views of Turkish General Directorate of Highways. The project was also funded by Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa Scientific Research Projects under Project No: ACIP 54739. The authors would like to express their gratitude to the laboratory technicians for their valuable efforts during the experiments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Transportation Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Yalova University, Yalova, 77200, Türkiye

    Yavuz Abut

  2. Geotechnical Engineering Division, Civil Engineering Department, Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa, Avcilar Campus, Avcilar, Istanbul, 34320, Türkiye

    İlknur Bozbey

  3. Civil Eng., M.Sc. & Geoph. Eng., Sentez Geopier Foundations, Istanbul, 34320, Türkiye

    Ece Kurt Bal

Authors
  1. Yavuz Abut
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  2. İlknur Bozbey
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  3. Ece Kurt Bal
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Contributions

Conceptualization: [Yavuz ABUT], Methodology: [Yavuz ABUT, İlknur BOZBEY], Formal analysis and investigation: [Yavuz ABUT], Writing - original draft preparation: [Yavuz ABUT, İlknur BOZBEY, Ece KURT BAL]; Writing - review and editing: [Yavuz ABUT, İlknur BOZBEY, Ece KURT BAL], Resources: [Yavuz ABUT, İlknur BOZBEY], Supervision: [Yavuz ABUT, İlknur BOZBEY].

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Correspondence to Yavuz Abut.

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Data Availability: The data supporting the results of this research are accessible upon reasonable request from the corresponding author.

Conflict of Interest: The authors declared no conflicts of interest.

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Abut, Y., Bozbey, İ. & Kurt Bal, E. Sustainability of lime stabilized road subgrade in mountainous regions of Türkiye. J. Mt. Sci. 20, 2436–2452 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-022-7876-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-022-7876-6

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