Foamed Concrete as Road Base on Soft Soil

The main objective is to produce lightweight concrete with adequate strength. The study here applied foaming agent to produce concrete that are lightweight.

This research is part of an on-going effort to produce strong foundation on soft soils using concrete as the base. The main objective is to produce lightweight concrete with adequate strength. The study here applied foaming agent to produce concrete that are lightweight.

The basis of this ongoing study is to obtain a mix-proportion that would produce concrete that are lightweight yet strong for use as road base. Several mixing attempts have been made to produce normal and high performance concrete, respectively.

Among problems faced is foam instability after casting, mixes segregation, concrete brittleness, determination of foam optimal amount, and the achievement of a lightweight density. At present investigation, adding foam to self-compacting (SC) mixes showed a more positive outcome that other mixes; the hardened concrete is strong stable and light.

The study now narrows down to the SC mixes as a base for determining the optimum amount of mix proportion for foamed concrete to be used as road base on soft soil. In addition, further investigations are needed on the design aspect of the foundation, floatability, optimum strength and density, as well as use of fly ash and recycled plastics.

Researchers: Mohd Ibrahim Safawi M Zain, Abd Razak Abd Karim, Jethro Henry Adam