SBIR Phase II: Subgrade Repair and Stabilization

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This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop and demonstrate a novel vitrification process for subgrade soil stabilization. The process includes a method to inject readily available materials into the vitrification zone eliminating subsidence that would otherwise occur as the soils densify during vitrification. The process is based on the use of modifiers that adjust the vitrified soil properties. The Phase I work demonstrated feasibility of the process and that the vitrified material was suitable for subgrade stabilization and resulted in materials having strengths qualified for structural reinforcement applications. Economic analysis completed in Phase I indicated that the method is competitive with conventional subgrade repair methods. The Phase II work will establish the commercial merit of the process by demonstrating its economy, robustness and versatility to produce subgrade synthetic rock from soils in the field. The Phase II work includes participation by a university and an end user. The proposed research and development will yield a fundamental understanding of the relationships between the vitrification process parameters, soil and synthetic rock properties. This will enable optimization of the process in commercial applications.The commercial market for the proposed technology includes soil stabilization of inadequate foundation and slope materials around many kinds of structures including building, bridges and waterways. Customers will be highway departments (state and federal), airport authorities, municipalities and the industrial sector. Essentially, the process will be useful to any entity, including contractors that deal with maintenance of subgrade and/or new construction that have "local" subgrade instability issues to overcome.