Mechanical Characterization of Pavement Granular Materials Using Hardening Soil Model

Abstract

Various testing methods, such as the static triaxial test, cyclic resilient modulus test, repeated-load static triaxial test, repeated-load California Bearing Ratio (CBR) test, and repeated-load oedometer test, were explored to characterize pavement granular materials. Using such methods, an experimental data set of the stress–strain response of a typical granular material was collected. The modulus values as obtained from the cyclic triaxial tests and the various repeated-load tests were compared. The feasibility of predicting the behavior of the granular material using the hardening soil model was analyzed. Hardening soil model parameters were calibrated using simple static triaxial test data. The effectiveness of the model in predicting the material behavior was then verified by predicting the other experimental results using the hardening soil model with a finite-element implementation. The stress–strain behavior as predicted by the model matched well with the experimentally measured stress–strain values; hence the validity of the hardening soil model was ascertained.