A lightweight embankment reduces the vertical or horizontal loads and thrusts applied to the support or containment of the embankment, whether soil, pipelines, or above ground and underground structures.
The use of lightweight granular fill materials to reduce vertical or horizontal pressure has become common practice in the construction of new road and railway embankments, embankments for landscape design or in the repair of existing embankments and Laterlite lightweight expanded clay aggregates are the perfect materials for the design and execution of lightweight embankments in building and construction, public works, civil engineering and landscaping projects.
The geotechnical properties of the aggregates – low density, high angle of internal friction, high compressive strength, excellent water permeability and insolubility to water, controlled grading, negligible settlements and deformations, 100% mineral origin and inert nature, resistance to chemical attack and fire, etc. – combined with the simple and traditional embankment construction technique (without the need for a load distribution slab on top of the backfill) make lightweight embankments with Laterlite expanded clay aggregates very useful for the construction of new buildings, make the embankments lightened with Laterlite expanded clay lightweight aggregates very useful to solve many geotechnical, engineering and civil problems and to optimise the cost of construction.
The main applications of Laterlite lightweight expanded clay granular fill in embankments are:
- Embankments on soft ground
- Embankments on landfill
- Approach embankments to bridge abutments and alignment ramps connecting to rigid structures
- Existing embankments widening
- Embankments on potentially unstable slope
- Embankments constructed over underground structures
- Embankments and fills behind retaining walls
- Embankments and fills for compensated foundations in buildings
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