Accelerated Subgrade Stabilization Using Enzymatic Lime Technique

Soft soils are problematic because of their low strength, low bearing capacity, low permeability, and high compressibility. The addition of lime has a pronounced effect on such soils. In this paper, studies were performed to understand the effect of lime on five different types of soft soil. Similar experiments were conducted on the same soils by using an enzyme as the stabilizer, and also by introducing the enzyme with lime during stabilization. Comparative studies between the sets of experiments using test parameter California bearing ratios (CBRs) revealed that the addition of bio-enzyme with lime accelerated the strength improvement that occurred during lime stabilization and resulted in a stronger soil matrix. Pavement designers can employ the new proposed system of stabilization to possibly reduce pavement subgrade layer thickness.