Modified Chicken Claw (Cakar Ayam Modifikasi) System - A New Concept in Green Pavement Technology over Soft and Swampy Ground

摘要

Some parts of Indonesia region, especially near the coast, have soft subgrade and a part of them is swampy with relatively deep soft soil layer. To utilize and develop such areas absolutely need an adequate road network, while the existing road on such areas needs high maintenance cost. Conventional solutions with embankment made of better soil properties through preloading process, or with the technology of slab on pile system, is expensive and not environmentally friendly. This paper discusses the basic principles, methods of analysis and design, implementations, and practical applications of the Modified Chicken Claw (Cakar Ayam Modifikasi) system, which in addition to technically meets the requirements, is also relatively much cheaper, easier and faster to construct, and more environmentally friendly. This is a totally new concept of pavement system originally developed in Indonesia, which has been widely applied as road construction over soft and swampy grounds with satisfactory long-term performance. The system consists of a relatively thin (10-15 cm) reinforced concrete slab, pipes (chicken claws) inserted into the soft ground at about 2.5 m distances as slab stiffener, and underlying soft soil layer. Compared to previous similar versions, the Modified Chicken Claw system has many advantages including (a) a much more accurate method of analysis and design so as to obtain optimal design, (b) much smaller dimension and chicken claw weight, (c) vertical concrete fin as underlying soil barrier for more pavement stability and durability, (d) the present of thin asphalt layer to significantly reduce the effect of cyclic thermal loading and act as wearing course, (e) combination with a light fill material to minimize the consolidation settlement, and (f) a much shorter construction time with a relatively cheaper cost, since heavy equipment are not necessary.