Durability and shrinkage studies of cement stabilsed granular lateritic soils

Cement stabilised materials are increasingly being used in pavement structural layers to solve the issue of scarcity of good quality stone aggregates and also to enhance the performance of the pavement. In addition to the strength and stiffness, the performance of pavements layers also largely depends upon the durability and shrinkage characteristics of stabilised materials used as base and subbase layers. The research reported in this paper focuses on the laboratory durability and shrinkage characteristics of cement stabilised granular lateritic soils (CLS). Wet–Dry (W–D) durability test and soaked UCS tests were conducted on CLS samples to evaluate the minimum dosage requirement of the binder. Preliminary studies were also done to assess the water absorption characteristics of CLS. Shrinkage properties of CLS were assessed through drying shrinkage tests. Effect of moisture content and cement content on ultimate drying shrinkage was also established in this study.