Loessoid Soils Improvement – Laboratory Tests and Road Engineering Applications

Abstract Moisture-sensitive or collapsible soils are materials with high porosity that under the loads transmitted by the superstructure or even under its own weight present additional settlements once the soil is saturated. This category includes loess deposits and other high silt content soils with uneven porosity. A method often used for foundation on these soils is the realization of local loessoid material compacted columns. This paper presents, on one hand, the experimental laboratory programs aiming to achieve some optimal mixtures of local material (loess) and different other materials (sand, bentonite, cement) in order to improve the values of the mechanical parameters of the soil and so, to limit the settlements. On the other hand, it presents a lot of settlement calculations for different case scenarios.