Malaysian Experiences of Peat Stabilization, State of the Art

Peat has been considered as an organics remnant that suffers decomposition process throughout times under overburden pressure. Composition of peats normally consists of organics materials which sometimes exceed 75% specifically from woods that grows in marshes and places in conditions where deficiencies of oxygen exist. Usually peat area related with swampy and normally a low shear strength region. High compressibility is significant and often related to problematic soil for construction purposes. In this article, extensive number of studies are reviewed to understand the behavior of the peat after being stabilized. New findings indicated that the peat contents differs from one location to another, thus inevitably gives different behavior. Many improvisation methods have been put forward such as chemical stabilization, cement stabilization, deep mixing and fiber reinforcement to name a few to enhance the strength properties of the peat. This is mainly for construction reliability purposes. However, the suitability of the ground improvement for peat thus depend on its fundamental properties and cost involve for any dedicated ground construction work. This paper review the properties of peat in Malaysia and reviewed recent development in the peaty soil stabilization in Malaysia. It is also compared the materials used for the peat stabilization and the expansive clay soils as the main two problematic soils.