Design of Granular Pavement Layers Considering Climatic Conditions

A new simple design approach that uses test results from the repeated load triaxial apparatus to establish the risk level of permanent deformations in the unbound granular layers (UGL) in pavement constructions under consideration of the seasonal effects was developed. From these data, a serviceability limit line (plastic shakedown limit) stress boundary for the unbound granular materials (UGM) was defined for different moisture contents. Below this line, the material has stable behavior. The serviceability limit line was applied in a finite-element (FE) program, FENLAP, to predict whether stable behavior occurs in the UGM. To calculate the stress in the UGL, a nonlinear elastic model (Dresden Model) was implemented into the FE program. The effects of changing moisture content during spring thaw period and asphalt temperature on pavement structural response were investigated. Additionally, permanent deformation calculations for the UGL were performed taking the stress history into consideration. The results clearly demonstrate that, for pavement constructions with thick asphalt layers, there is no risk of rutting in the granular base, even at a high number of load repetitions. The proposed design approach is a very satisfactory simple method of assessing the risk of rutting in the UGL, even without the calculation of the exact permanent deformation of the pavement construction.