Mississippi. Dept. of Transportation

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A laboratory and field study was conducted related to chemically stabilized pavement layers, which is also

referred to as soil-cement. Soil-cement practices within MDOT related to Class 9C soils used for base layers

were evaluated in this report. The overall objective was to provide draft design and quality control guidance that

could be incorporated and/or specified to improve performance of soil-cement base layers. A total of 2,101 tests

were performed to evaluate a variety of parameters. Testing included strength versus time, strength variability,

compaction, elastic modulus, wheel tracking, and thermal profile measurement. One key component of the

research was development of economical thermal profile equipment to evaluate compacted soil-cement during

the first few hours of hydration. The primary intention of this equipment is a quality control tool. Another key

component of the research was development of equipment that allowed soil-cement to be compacted inside a

plastic mold that could be used for laboratory mix design, specimen preparation for pavement layer thickness

design, and for quality control. Results indicated the plastic mold compaction approach has many advantages

and should be implemented into design and quality control operations. At the present time, widespread use of

thermal profiles for quality control is not recommended. Additional study, however, could result in effective

implementation of thermal profiles into soil-cement construction projects on a more frequent basis.

US Transportation Collection

State Study 206