Performance of Lime Cement-Stabilized Soils for the I-15 Reconstruction Project: Salt Lake City, Utah

Abstract

The application and performance monitoring of lime cement stabilization were studied for the Interstate-15 Reconstruction Project at 300 West Street in Salt Lake City, Utah. Lime cement columns (LCCs) were used to support a large mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) wall constructed over soft foundation soils and in close proximity to a commercial building. The Utah Department of Transportation has installed instrumentation at this site to measure the construction and postconstruction deformation within the treated zone and around the adjacent building. Also, total pressure cells have been installed atop the treated zone and in an adjacent untreated area to measure differences in load transfer. The use of LCC-stabilized soil has reduced the amount of primary settlement from about 1 m without treatment to about 0.2 m in the treated zone. Ground settlement at the nearest wall of the adjacent building has been about 5 cm total during a 2.5-year monitoring period with 3 of the 5 cm occurring during MSE wall construction and surcharge placement. Also, measurements indicate that the global stability of the MSE wall foundation has been notably improved. It is hoped that the data gathered from this array will provide a valuable case history of LCC performance for evaluation and modeling.