Wetting-drying cycles durability of cement stabilised marginal lateritic soil/melamine debris blends for pavement applications

Abstract

Melamine manufacturers in Thailand currently produce a substantial amount of melamine products to meet local and international demands. As a result, melamine debris (MD), a waste from melamine manufacturers is generated as an industrial by-product. Innovative solutions for managing this waste is of paramount importance. A novel research into the possible use of MD to stabilise lateritic soil (LS) for pavement application is presented in this paper. This research investigates the density, unconfined compression strength (UCS) and durability against wetting and drying (w-d) cycles of cement stabilised LS/MD blends, at various cement contents and MD replacement ratios. The density and UCS of stabilised LS/MD blends decreases significantly with the MD replacement ratio. Even with the decrease in UCS, the soaked CBR and durability against w-d cycles are improved by MD replacement. The optimum MD replacement ratio was found to be 20%, which corresponds with the highest soaked CBR and w-d cycled UCS. The 3% cement LS/MD blend at 20% MD can be used as a stabilised subgrade material, while 5% cement LS/MD blends at 40% MD and 20% MD can be used as stabilised subbase and base materials, respectively based on the specification of Department of Highways, Thailand. These stabilised materials were found to sustain up to 3 w-d cycles. The outcome of this research will result in the usage of MD waste in developing lightweight cement stabilised pavement materials, which will be useful in term of engineering, economic and environmental perspective.