Permanent Deformation Study of Pavement Layers Using Laboratory Pavement Model Testing

Abstract

Lightly stabilized granular materials with slow-setting cementitious binders are widely used in the construction of new pavements and rehabilitation of old pavements in Australia and other countries. Higher strength and durability of these materials combined with relatively low cost are reasons they are widely used. The mechanistic-empirical design of pavements with lightly stabilized materials requires key parameters, such as permanent deformation of these materials. A cyclic load-testing facility was developed for studying the permanent deformation characteristics of pavement materials. In particular, a typical pavement structure consisting of a lightly stabilized granular road base material over an expansive soft clay subgrade material was studied using a pavement model testing (PMT) facility. In the PMT facility, the model pavement structure was constructed in a 1.0 × 1.1 × 0.6-m steel tank, and the wheel loading from the vehicle was simulated using a circular steel plate subjected to sinusoidal-type axial loading through an actuator assembly. The results of this study indicate that the permanent deformations of the pavement structure and the subgrade increased with the number of load cycles and were greatly affected by the moisture movement from the subgrade to the stabilized base layer.