Skip to main content

Fast, cost-effective road stabilisation

The Kivikko industrial area in Finland, which is owned by the City of Helsinki, has expanded gradually over the years and it has expanded again with the new stabilised area now about 3.5hectares. The ALLU equipment and system was used to stabilise Kivikko for the first time in 2001, and the latest job started in June 2010 with the stabilisation work completed by mid-December 2010. [The ALLU Stabilisation System is a Finnish invention that provides a fast, cost-effective and environmental-friendly working
February 15, 2012 Read time: 3 mins
The ALLU Stabilisation System a Finnish invention, was used on an industrial area in Helsinki
Contractor 2655 Biomaa used ALLU for stabilising the foundation layers for an industrial area in the Finnish capital Helsinki

The Kivikko industrial area in Finland, which is owned by the City of Helsinki, has expanded gradually over the years and it has expanded again with the new stabilised area now about 3.5hectares.

The 2180 ALLU equipment and system was used to stabilise Kivikko for the first time in 2001, and the latest job started in June 2010 with the stabilisation work completed by mid-December 2010. [The ALLU Stabilisation System is a Finnish invention that provides a fast, cost-effective and environmental-friendly working method for hardening and dynamic strengthening of soft soils as well as for improving the soil's deformation properties].

Lead contractor for the Helsinki job, Biomaa from Nurmijärvi, Finland, has many years of stabilisation experience. The sub-contractor at the job site was 2296 Skanska Infra.
"The combination of column stabilisation and mass stabilisation was the only way this area could be developed, as the soft clay can reach down to 18m on this area," explains development manager Ville Niutanen from Biomaa, who is also in charge of the project.

The material being treated was soft peat and clay which in some areas was very wet indeed (the top layer down to 3m was peat and after that the soft layer of clay started). The clay layer can be from 3-18m deep until the solid rock or moraine starts. The layer of clay was column stabilised and the peat layer was treated with mass stabilisation after the column stabilisation was done.

"The mass stabilisation done on top of column stabilisation ensures a surface that does not sink," Niutanen says.

The job started by removing stumps and roots, then a layer of fine sand was spread on top of the surface (approximately 150kg/m3) to improve the quality of the peat so that it stabilises better. On top of this a layer of crushed stone was placed to ensure that the column stabilisation machine moved over the location. The column stabilisation was carried out first through the clay layer to the rock or solid bottom. The columns end at the base of the peat layer, about 3m deep.
When the column stabilisation was completed the crushed stone layer was removed and the pre-mixing of the peat layer was started. In premixing, the fine sand was mixed with the peat, and after the peat was stabilised by feeding and mixing the binding agent evenly to the material.

The already stabilised layer was then covered with geotextile and about 100cm layer of crushed stone was placed on top as a preload embankment.

The binding agent used at the job site was cement. In column stabilisation the volume of binding agent was about 130kg/m3 and in mass stabilisation about 100kg/m3.

Depending on circumstances, in one day 800-1,000m3 was mass stabilised using one ALLU unit. The new ALLU PFM 10+10 pressure feeder was in use, and this can feed the binder as far as 200m from the trailer. Part of the time two ALLU PF 7 pressure feeders also worked at the site adding to the capacity.

"It was easy to bring the ALLU PFM to the job site and it saved a lot of time and money, because we did not have to build a road for it at the area where we needed to stabilise, says Niutanen.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • IRF conference tackles transport green targets
    July 4, 2012
    The IRF's 2nd conference on roads and the environment addressed key transport targets, Mike Woof reports Reducing the impact of the road transport sector as a whole was the focus of the IRF's 2nd Roads & Environment Conference. Opening the event, Jean Beauverd, chairman of the IRF in Geneva said, "Evidence of global warming is now unequivocal. Even if we were to stabilise the effects of CO2 emissions, the effects would continue for decades. Eco-friendly processes have not yet reached the full acceptance tha
  • Bitumen technology ideal for road repairs
    July 4, 2012
    Mike Woof discusses some novel developments relating to bitumen In the developed countries of Western Europe there is an increasing shift away from new highway construction to maintaining and rebuilding existing roads. In Germany alone, a network of asphalt roads extending more than 600,000km will have to be maintained or repaired. Highway maintenance techniques do vary between European countries but some commonalities exist. There are techniques that have been sidelined in the last few years but which now
  • Material feeder boosts paving job in South Africa
    December 14, 2017
    The use of a material feeder in a road paving job in South Africa has helped increase productivity and quality on the project. The contractor employed a Vögele MT 3000-2 Offset PowerFeeder to help optimise pavement quality, with the positive paving results having been confirmed by the University of Twente, Netherlands. This body monitored the project from a scientific perspective and its equipment included RoadScan, the innovative temperature-measurement system from Vögele. Using a material feeder can
  • MB’s versatile crusher buckets entering Chinese market
    November 21, 2018

    MB crusher is now offering its high performance crusher buckets into the Chinese market, as well as the rest of South East Asia. The firm is introducing two models for excavators, the BF120.4 model to China, which is suitable for excavators in the 30tonne class and above, as well as the BF90.3, which is suited for excavators weighing from 21tonnes and above. In addition, MB Crusher is now offering the MB-L200 crusher bucket, which is designed for use with wheeled loaders, backhoe loaders and skid steer loaders.