Soil stabilization: Innovative Wirtgen technology creates sustainable solution

Heavy, boggy soil makes life hard for road-builders, because roads need a reliable base. That's why the load-bearing capacity of the soil must be assured before every road construction project. Soil stabilizers transform soils with insufficient load-bearing capacity into ground with ideal properties for paving and compacting. The Wirtgen product range has the right solution for every soil stabilization task. At bauma China, Wirtgen is presenting all three models of the WR series for the first time: the WR 200, WR 240 and WR 250.

Wheeled soil stabilizers of the WR series

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The WR 200, WR 240 and WR 250 models of the Wirtgen WR series are ideally suited for efficiently stabilizing soils with insufficient load-bearing capacity over a large area. Cement, lime and water are used as additives and binding agents. With their powerful milling and mixing rotors, Wirtgen soil stabilizers mix pre-spread binding agents into the existing soil at working depths of up to 560 mm, transforming it into a high-quality construction material in an in-situ process. The soil is improved by the addition of lime and stabilized with cement. The homogeneous soil-binding agent mixture that is produced offers high tensile, compressive and shear strength, long-term resistance to water and frost as well as volume stability. Typical applications include the construction of paths, roads, motorways, foundations, parking lots, sports grounds, industrial parks or facilities, airports, embankments, backfills or landfills

Since the process makes use of existing soil material and only requires the mixing in of additives, 100% of the reclaimed, bound and unbound road material is reused. Eliminating the need for environmentally harmful truck transports, the soil stabilization method has a much smaller carbon footprint than a complete soil exchange. What is more, the rapid, space-saving process minimizes construction times and disruption to traffic. Wirtgen offers the right machine for each construction project.

WR 240: The allrounder

Regarded as the allrounder, the WR 240 is the specialist in the stabilization of large areas of insufficiently cohesive soil and in the resource-saving processing of damaged asphalt pavements using the cold recycling process. A multitude of new features give it the edge in terms of performance and economy. It has given an impressive demonstration of its prowess on both counts over recent months, as the overwhelmingly positive feedback from customers confirms. Despite higher productivity, the WR 240 consumes significantly less fuel thanks to advanced engine management, delivering a tangible reduction in building contractors' costs. Their machine operators also praise the large, modern cabin and the resultant allround visibility, the improved maneuverability of the machine and the optimized ergonomics and intuitive operation.

WR 200: Smaller and more compact

At bauma China 2016, Wirtgen will also be unveiling the smallest member of the WR series: the WR 200. The compact machine excels in both cold recycling and soil stabilization, truly coming into its own on small and confined sites thanks to its great maneuverability. It is also easy to transport, making it ideal for one-day jobs.

WR 250: The powerhouse

The most powerful machine of the new WR generation is also set to be unveiled in China: the WR 250. The powerhouse is designed for stabilizing heavy and swampy soils and shows its strengths to best advantage on recycling and pulverization jobs, where it turns roadways up to 25 cm thick into homogenous granulate. A new feature is the option of additionally operating the milling drum gearbox from the cabin, making it possible to flexibly activate a number of milling drum speeds. Tailored to the high output of the WR 250, the milling drum design helps to achieve an outstanding mix quality at a high feed rate.

Tractor-towed stabilizers of the WS series

For soil stabilization, Wirtgen also offers the WS 220 and WS 250 tractor-towed stabilizers with working widths of 2,150 mm and 2,500 mm and a working depth of 0 - 500 mm. A practical attachment system for the milling drum unit allows tractors to be transformed into soil stabilizers in a matter of moments. The range of applications of Wirtgen's tractor-towed stabilizers is wide and varied. For instance, the machines lend themselves ideally to homogenizing masses that are hard to compact, such as non-uniform soil mixtures. The tractor-towed stabilizers are able to reliably transform even, heavy, sandy or coarse subgrade material into compactable soil with good paving properties.

A low tare weight and compact dimensions facilitate transport to and from the job site. Given the low up-front investment required, a combination of tractor and tractor-towed stabilizer is particularly suitable for small to medium-sized construction projects.