Gatch Roadways

[martin888888]

Does anyone have any experience with roadways constructed with gatch material? I am doing a project in the UAE in which we have an access road to a facility with 8-10 vehicles per day but does have daily heavy truck traffic as a large water truck will access the site. Gatch material is locally readily availble and noramlly used for unpaved raodways in the area. I dont have a lot of experience with the materail and am trying to develope a roadway section and specs. Anyone know if any information on the material is availble or can share their knowledge? I have worked a lot in the Middle East but never ran across this roadway construction.

 

[cvg]

http://nooralsahara.com/our-products.html

it is moisture sensative and not very suitable for road construction without stabilization. you would need to get samples of the actual material to a geotech to run tests to determine the amount of cement and the resulting strength before you could complete a design.

Article
Geotechnical properties of Kuwaiti “gatch” and their improvement

G RIEDEL, A SIMON
Dorsch Consult Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH, Munich Germany
Engineering Geology - ENG GEOL 01/1973; 7(2):155-165. DOI: 10.1016/0013-7952(73)90043-4
ABSTRACT Due to the difficulties experienced with the so-called gatch soils, the Ministry of Public Works of Kuwait engaged the services of the firm DORSCH, Consulting Engineers of Munich, Germany, to study the properties of gatch and to recommend methods to improve its suitability for road construction. An investigation program was agreed upon and selected samples were obtained from Kuwait.Prior to the geotechnical tests, mineralogical analyses were carried out. Surprisingly they found no trace in the samples of gypsum which was believed to cause damage to the highways built on gatch. The geotechnical tests performed indicated that the gatch soils were very sensitive to moisture and were therefore unsuitable as highway construction materials. However, their properties could be improved by various stabilization methods. It was found that cement stabilization was the most promising method since it not only increased the bearing capacity of the soil but also reduced its swelling characteristics.