Assesing the capability of polymer stabilizer in forest road stabilization (Case study: Kheyrud forest)

Some soils cause many problems to the road because of their undesirable mechanical properties. Several methods have been proposed for improving the mechanical properties of soil and in this study the ability of a polymeric was tested. As the soil of study area is fine-grained texture، with high clay content and plasticity، it''s necessary to improve the mechanical properties and stabilize the soil before road construction. Therefore، various laboratory tests including grain size distribution، Atterberg limits، soil compaction and California Bearing Ratio (CBR) were performed on control and treated samples. The results showed that the material decreased the liquid limit and plasticity index and increased the optimum moisture، maximum dry density and bearing capacity. However، the improvements in soil properties، especially increasing the bearing capacity، were not as high as claimed by producer company.