Evaluation on the Effect of Depth Buried Pipeline and Refilling Materials on Pavement Performance

PURPOSES : Compared to the criteria from advanced countries, Korea has conservative criteria for the buried depth of pipeline (about 30~70cm deeper) causing the waste of cost and time. Therefore, this research investigated the effect of various buried depths of pipeline on pavement performance in order to modify the criteria to be safe but economical. In addition, a recycled aggregate which is effective in economical and environmental aspect was evaluated to be used as a refilling material. METHODS : In this study, total 10 pilot sections which are composed with various combinations of pavement structure, buried depth of pipeline, and refilling material were constructed and the telecom cable was utilized as a buried pipeline. During construction, LFWD (Light Falling Weight Deflectometer) tests were conducted on each layer to measure the structural capacity of underlying layers. After the construction is completed, FWD (Falling Weight Deflectometer) tests and moving load tests were performed on top of the asphalt pavement surface. RESULTS : It was found from the LFWD and FWD test results that as the buried depth decrease, the deflections in subbase and surface layer were increased by 30% and 5~10%, respectively, but the deflection in base layer remained the same. In the moving load test, the longitudinal maximum strain was increased by 30% for 120mm of buried depth case and 5% for 100mm of buried depth case. Regarding the effect of refilling material, it was observed that the deflections in subbase and surface layer were 10% lager in recycled aggregate compared to the sand material. CONCLUSIONS : Based on the testing results, it was found that the change in buried depth and refiliing material would not significantly affect the pavement performance. However, it is noted that the final conclusion should be made based on an intensive structural analysis for the pavement under realistic conditions (i.e., repeated loading and environmental loading) along with the field test results.