Properties of Chiang Khruea Lateritic Soil and Their Applications for Civil Engineering -

Abstract

Sakon Nakhon is a city-municipality in Thailand whose infrastructure such as highways and buildings have been rapidly developing. Consequently, large amounts of construction materials such as crushed rock, sand, and laterite are being used in many construction projects. Chiang Khruea sub-district contains the main laterite quarries supplying construction sites in Sakon Nakhon province; the extracted laterite from this area is in demand for highway sub-base construction due to its good shear strength after compaction and its low price. However, the properties of Chiang Khruea lateritic soil are not yet maximally used in other civil engineering applications such as landfill liner, backfill material for retaining walls, and as a base layer for paved roads because engineers do not extensively understand its physical and engineering properties. Therefore, this study investigated and reported on the properties of Chiang Khruea lateritic soil to identify possibilities for its applications in civil engineering. The physical (i.e., specific gravity of soil, Atterberg limits, Los Angeles (L.A.) abrasion) and engineering properties (i.e., compacted soil density, California Bearing Ratio, shear strength parameters, permeability (k) and modulus of subgrade reaction) of Chiang Khruea lateritic soil were investigated through a series of laboratory and in-situ tests. The results reported could be useful for engineers as a reference for sustainable design and construction.