Stiffness characterization of reinforced asphalt pavement structures built over soft organic soils Article

Sobhan, K, George, KP, Pohly, D et al. (2010). Stiffness characterization of reinforced asphalt pavement structures built over soft organic soils . TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH RECORD, (2186), 67-77. 10.3141/2186-08

cited authors

  • Sobhan, K; George, KP; Pohly, D; Ali, H

authors

abstract

  • Many existing roadways in Florida are built over thick organic and peat layers that cause excessive pavement distress in the form of cracking, distortion, rutting, and differential settlement. A case study shows the use of a variety of geosynthetic and steel mesh reinforcing products embedded in the asphalt overlay placed in SR-15 and US-98 in southeast Florida in an effort to extend the useful life of the pavement structure. Twenty-four test sections, each 152 m (500 ft) long, were constructed, which included eight control sections and 16 reinforced asphalt sections containing GlassGrid, PetroGrid, PaveTrac, and asphalt rubber membrane interlayer at two different test locations with different subsoil characteristics. Before the rehabilitation project, a series of falling weight deflectometer (FWD) tests was conducted at every 15.2 m (50 ft) along the proposed test section alignment for evaluating the existing pavement capacity, statistically determining the site variability among the test sections. Six months after the reconstruction project, FWD tests were repeated at the same locations to characterize the test sections. The stiffness properties of the composite pavement structures were determined directly from the load-deflection data for evaluating the relative performance of the reinforced pavement sections. Statistical analysis of the data showed that the stiffnesses of the reinforced sections were consistently higher than the control sections, owing primarily to the reinforcements. A slight trend was observed from these early age data, indicating an expected relationship between the performance of the test sections and the site geotechnical characteristics.

publication date

  • December 1, 2010

published in

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

start page

  • 67

end page

  • 77

issue

  • 2186