A study on the use of polyurethane for road flood damage control

Abstract

The strength of subgrade soil or road foundation could influence the design of road pavement structures. Flood can be one of the causes of weakened subgrade and consequently road damages. Since the condition of subgrade layer is critical in the road pavement stability, a preliminary study was carried out to ascertain the use of polyurethane insertion as a stabilization mechanism in road subgrade. This study was conducted based on two types of soil that are usually used as soil embankment in road construction. California Bearing Ratio (CBR) test was conducted on the various categories of soaking days and repeated submerged conditions to determine the strength of subgrade soil with and without polyurethane layer. It can be concluded that polyurethane layer can be used to increase or maintain the strength of subgrade soil from the inundation effect.