Case study

Ipswich city expansive soil

Treatment methods
Australia, New Zealand , China , India , USA,UK are countries experiencing
difficulties with pavement design and construction over expansive soil.
Ipswich city council

– Ipswich city is located in south east of Queensland .

– Ipswich city council is underlain by predominantly impermeable subsoils which
cause periodic subsurface water-logging and typically classified as expansive ,
CH soil . council battled with effective pavement design and construction due to
poor subgrade behaviour .
– Ipswich city council also experiencing problems with longevity of road and
pavement in the Ipswich area , typically where expansive soils are dominant.
Over the years there have been obvious problems such as longitudinal cracking ,
kerb rotation , crown heave .
CH soil in Red
Longitudinal Crack & kerb
rotation
Methods used in the Determination
of a Pavement Design

– Bearing capacity : In Ipswich and around the world, the California Bearing Ratio
(CBR) method of pavement design is dominant. .
– Strength: Triaxle shear test method used to determine shear strength
parameter .
– Shrink/swell
Treatment Methods

– Subgrade treatment methods been used to reduce the effect of expansive soil
on pavement in Ipswich area . Subgrade treatment methods use further
following methods .

– Replacement
– Compaction
– Pre-Wetting
– Chemical Stabilization
– Geosynthetics
– Moisture barriers
– Replacement Method : removes the weak clay soil and replace it with less
expansive material . Ipswich City Council has found this appears to be the case
in established urban areas .
Suggested Techniques

– One of most satisfactory method for dealing with clay subgrades is determine
future clay behaviour under a pavement requires further development .