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The requirement for traditional road construction to be built over soft or loose soils or other poor performing fill materials presents unique engineering challenges. Low quality soils / fill materials may be incapable of supporting the projected traffic loads in the area where the new road is planned to be constructed. In situations such as these, designers and engineers must apply the use of innovative materials and construction techniques in order to address the problem of building on soft soils or where sensitive existing utilities or wetlands may be present, whilst at the same time, ensuring that they are able to meet ever more demanding project timelines.
Existing road constructions often require widening as population growth over time results in increased traffic density and congestion on the existing road infrastructure. Over time, this increased traffic congestion can become too great for the existing road infrastructure to handle. This phenomenon may eventually result in the requirement for the existing roadway to be widened, which often necessitates the need for soil or other fill types to build up the existing shoulders of the road. This process can be expensive and very time-consuming if the soil or ground cover adjacent to the existing roadway is deemed unsuitable to be able to support the newly projected traffic loads.
Abiat GeoFoam is also a suitable product for use as the foundation material for the construction of airport runways. Abiat GeoFoam can be used to replace potentially unsuitable ground cover without overloading the underlying subgrade materials.
The high compressive strength of Abiat GeoFoam can be used in this application, to control settlement on potentially highly compressible and saturated.
The use of Abiat GeoFoam can provide numerous advantages for the construction of approach fills for bridge abutments. The products high load bearing capacity allows the Abiat GeoFoam to safely support the combined live and dead loadings associated with these types of constructions without over-stressing the underlying ground cover.
The use of Abiat GeoFoam in bridge abutment construction usually results in less differential movement occurring at the bridge/approach fill interface.
In addition, when compared to traditional embankment fills, Abiat GeoFoam due to its light-weight
Abiat GeoFoam can also be used to build free-standing, sound absorbing, high walls or embankments to reduce noise transmission in urban areas from road traffic on highways and freeways. Abiat GeoFoam can also be used to reduce the transmission of heavy transport and ground borne vibrations, for example, under railways or pavements, as part of the foundation of adjacent structures, or as a cut off wall between the railways or pavements and the adjacent structures.
The Abiat GeoFoam product can be used in the creation of complex landscape designs. This can be done by the building up of block layers and the ability of each of the Abiat GeoFoam to be cut into intricate shapes and profiles. Where required, the cutting of the blocks to shape, can be done on site with the use of portable hot wire cutters or hand saws. Depending on the project complexity and size however, predetermined block lay-up patterns can be developed, such that each of the Abiat GeoFoam blocks can be delivered to site, already pre-cut to the desired profile.
Abiat GeoFoam can be used as light-weight backfill behind retaining and buried structures to greatly reduce the lateral pressures that would normally be acting on these structures when traditional fill materials are used. As the horizontal pressures acting on a retaining wall structure are directly proportional to the weight of the backfill material used, the use of Abiat GeoFoam as the chosen backfill material, results in greatly reduced horizontal loads being applied.
This in turn enables the potential for implementation of a thinner or less complex retaining wall design to be able to be applied, resulting in significant project cost and time savings being able to be realised.
Abiat GeoFoam can be used to remediate unstable slopes whether they be man-made or if they are naturally occurring. Remediation of the slope can be achieved by removing a portion of the existing loose unstable soil and replacing it directly with Abiat GeoFoam fill. The inherent structural stability of the Abiat GeoFoam results in improved overall stability of the slope and significantly reduces the potential for landslides occurring in the area of the slope, due to excessive rain, earthquakes or other naturally occurring events taking place.
The construction of levees for the provision of flood mitigation protection around riverbanks is another application where the use of Abiat GeoFoam excels. Levees are frequently built on and around the highly compressible alluvial soils that are naturally occurring along riverbanks. These compressible and water saturated soils undergo settling over time due to ongoing compression. The settlement and / or erosion of these alluvial soils are natural processes that are continuously occurring on and around riverbanks necessitating the construction of levees.
Abiat GeoFoam can be used in areas where the underlying soil condition or soil type (such as clay) is deemed unsuitable for the support of civil and or residential building constructions that would transmit high load bearing stresses, which the existing ground cover may not be able to withstand.
Abiat GeoFoam can also be used in some specialist, non-traditional civil applications, such as the construction of tiered seating platforms as used in various public venues such as movie theatres, sports complexes, auditoriums, churches etc.
Abiat GeoFoam can also be used to build free-standing, sound absorbing, high walls or embankments to reduce noise transmission in urban areas from road traffic on highways and freeways. Abiat GeoFoam can also be used to reduce the transmission of heavy transport and ground borne vibrations, for example, under railways or pavements, as part of the foundation of adjacent structures, or as a cut off wall between the railways or pavements and the adjacent structures.
