Abstract
The presence of frost susceptible soils makes the design, construction, and maintenance of geostructural systems such as pavement difficult. This pronounced in areas that experience seasonally cold weather characterized by freezing sub-zero temperatures. An innovative approach in mitigation is to render frost susceptible soils hydrophobic. This is achieved by treating soils with cost-effective and environmentally compatible polymers in a process that makes them water repellent (Engineered Water Repellency). This paper investigates the treatment of selected frost susceptible soils using commercially available chemicals (ATS-100, Terrasil, DOWSIL IE6683) at varying concentration dosages. The degree of hydrophobicity imparted, and performance was determined using contact angle measurements and Water Drop Penetration Tests. Treatment using ATS-100 and Terrasil were found to be effective even at small concentrations with values ranging from 73 degrees to 144 degrees for ATS-100 and from 103 degrees to 145 degrees for Terrasil. Effective values for DOWSIL IE6683 were obtained at a ratio of 1:10.