Building Pad Site

The contractor needed a solution to stabilise soft soils encountered on a building pad site. After reviewing the options, the contractor elected to cement treat the entire site. However, after a series of heavy rainstorms, the cement stabilisation failed, with the site experiencing heavy deflections and rutting from construction traffic. The engineer, Youngdahl Consulting, needed to provide the contractor with a recommendation to stabilise the subgrade since the site would need to support heavy construction traffic and eventually heavy crane loading.

Working with the engineer, a local Tensar representative visited the site to preform DCP testing in areas experiencing rutting. Using data from the DCP tests, the client was provided with several design scenarios incorporating InterAx geogrid. InterAx geogrid improves confinement of unbound aggregate materials, resulting in a stiffer, more durable working surface. Subgrade strength specific aggregate thicknesses ranging from 8-12” was placed on top of InterAx NX850 geogrid. This solution minimised planned over-excavation, reducing costs and allowing the project to stay on schedule.