Getting the water out.

Road construction requires a stable base. How to improve the nature of existing soil? What are the binding agents used for this purpose.

Extremely cohesive and wet soils are not suitable for compaction by rollers. In such cases, the existing soil needs to be stabilized first to improve its bearing capacity and prepare it as a suitable base for the upper pavement structure. Stabilization is a method of soil improvement, its goal being to permanently bind the water in the soil.

Lime and cement provide stability

This goal is achieved by mixing binding agents – in particular lime or cement – into the soil. Cement stabilization is particularly suitable for making subsoils permanently resistant to traffic loads, ingressing water and frost. Soils that require stabilizing are often very muddy, so that the stabilizing operation needs to be carried out by powerful, all-wheel driven machinery. Wirtgen soil stabilizers are therefore equipped with large, deep-treaded tyres, offer excellent traction, and feature a powerful travel drive system. Their mixing rotors are capable of mixing pre-spread binding agents into the soil at depths of up to 50 cm in one single working pass. Soil stabilization reduces the water content, turning the soil into a crumbly, stabilized mixture that is ideally suited for compaction by single-drum compactors.