TY - GEN
T1 - Assessment of Geotextile Effectiveness in Decreasing Subgrade Pumping and Increasing Service Life in Rigid Pavements Using Scaled Model Mobile Load Simulator
AU - Kermani, Behnoud
AU - Stoffels, Shelley M.
AU - Xiao, Ming
N1 - Funding Information:
The financial and technical support provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for the collection of data related to the test without geotextile (Contract # 4400008014, Project # PSU WO 009B) is acknowledged. Mr. Dan Fura, the infrastructure laboratory supervisor in the Department of Civil Engineering at Penn State, provided valuable technical assistance with the MMLS3 testing. The Geosynthetic Institute (GSI) provided GSI fellowships to the first author; the support is highly appreciated.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Pumping in rigid pavement can be defined as a traffic-induced subgrade soil migration into an overlying subbase layer, and/or redistribution of materials under slabs. Pumping may reduce the service life of pavement. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a geotextile layer in reducing the upward migration of subgrade soil particles to subbase and increasing service life in rigid pavements. A one-third scale model mobile load simulator (MMLS3), an accelerated pavement testing (APT) device, was used to simulate the repeated traffic loading on a scaled simulated pavement representing a typical rigid interstate highway. Two tests with identical configurations were conducted, except that a geotextile layer was placed at the interface of subgrade and subbase in one of the tests. In this study, pumping at a rigid pavement joint was investigated. Results of the tests were then compared. Materials used for construction of the scaled pavements were selected such that they represented an in situ stress condition. It was realized that the amount of migration increased with increased number of loading cycles. After 1,000,000 cycles of MMLS3 loading, approximately 70% reduction in the amount of subgrade migration and 52% reduction in the severity of joint faulting were observed when using geotextile at the subgrade-subbase interface of the pavement. This indicated that a geotextile separation layer was significantly effective in mitigating subgrade soil migration and could extend pavement serviceability.
AB - Pumping in rigid pavement can be defined as a traffic-induced subgrade soil migration into an overlying subbase layer, and/or redistribution of materials under slabs. Pumping may reduce the service life of pavement. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a geotextile layer in reducing the upward migration of subgrade soil particles to subbase and increasing service life in rigid pavements. A one-third scale model mobile load simulator (MMLS3), an accelerated pavement testing (APT) device, was used to simulate the repeated traffic loading on a scaled simulated pavement representing a typical rigid interstate highway. Two tests with identical configurations were conducted, except that a geotextile layer was placed at the interface of subgrade and subbase in one of the tests. In this study, pumping at a rigid pavement joint was investigated. Results of the tests were then compared. Materials used for construction of the scaled pavements were selected such that they represented an in situ stress condition. It was realized that the amount of migration increased with increased number of loading cycles. After 1,000,000 cycles of MMLS3 loading, approximately 70% reduction in the amount of subgrade migration and 52% reduction in the severity of joint faulting were observed when using geotextile at the subgrade-subbase interface of the pavement. This indicated that a geotextile separation layer was significantly effective in mitigating subgrade soil migration and could extend pavement serviceability.
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U2 - 10.1061/9780784482124.037
DO - 10.1061/9780784482124.037
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85063441069
SN - 9780784482124
T3 - Geotechnical Special Publication
SP - 357
EP - 367
BT - Geotechnical Special Publication
A2 - Meehan, Christopher L.
A2 - Kumar, Sanjeev
A2 - Pando, Miguel A.
A2 - Coe, Joseph T.
PB - American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
T2 - 8th International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering: Geotechnical Materials, Modeling, and Testing, Geo-Congress 2019
Y2 - 24 March 2019 through 27 March 2019
ER -