Thesis (MScIng)--University of Stellenbosch, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The moisture content of road foundations plays an important role in the durability of the pavement and the driving comfort of the road. After a pavement has been completed, gradual moisture changes occur in the foundations until equilibrium conditions can be reached, and this can have negative results if expansive clays, for example, are present in the foundation. Pre-wetting of the foundation material is seen as a method to minimilize moisture changes after construction, but if the pavement was already completed, it would be very difficult to change or alter the moisture content in the foundation, because water could then only be applied to the shoulder areas of the road and horizontal infiltration in the soil is exceptionally slow. The research which is reported in this account was undertaken to determine whether the process of electro-osmosis could be applied to accelerate water infiltration underneath covered areas, as in, for example, road foundation layers. Electro-osmosis, if found to be successful, has various advantages, of which the most important is that it can be applied without stopping the normal operations of the road. This research was carried out on a mixture of G5 material (TRH14 classification) and fine material in the form of clay with a low plasticity. Firstly, tests were performed to determine the percentage of fines required. It was found that, if too little fines were present infiltration did not occur, because moisture could flow freely through the openings between the rough aggregate. Electro-osmosis also had no effect on the rate of flow. The allocated amount of fines required to fill sufficient openings was about 30% (TRH14 classification of mixture is G10). Free flow was stopped and true infiltration occurred. Simultaneously, the rate of infiltration could be accelerated with electro-osmosis. Furthermore, a two-dimensional model of a road was constructed with electrodes placed on both sides, with the aim to determine the infiltration pattern controlled by electro-osmosis and what the effect of the initial moisture content would be on the process. Water was introduced to the one side of the model road and the wetting of the foundation was investigated. If the electric current for electro-osmosis was switched off, the infiltration was mainly vertical, as expected, but with the current switched on, there was an obvious acceleration of infiltration in the horizontal direction. As in the case of the initial tests, it was found that electro-osmosis was not very successful to accelerate horizontal infiltration at low percentages of fines. Furthermore, it was obvious that electroosmosis was also more effective if the initial moisture content of the soil was low. Low amounts of fines and high initial moisture contents had rather the electroosmotic flow of water passing underneath the road as a result instead of infiltration acceleration, with the result that the moisture content did not change much. The research thus showed that electro-osmosis is a possible manner in which moisture could be conducted into the foundation layers of roads to increase the moisture content if the appropriate amount of fines and moisture content were present in the foundation material. Further research could still be carried out and the materials in each case should be practically evaluated before this method could be continued with. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die voginhoud van padfondamente speel ’n belangrike rol in die duursaamheid van die plaveisel en die rygerief van die pad. Nadat ’n plaveisel voltooi is, vind daar geleidelike vogverandering in die fondamente plaas totdat ewewigstoestande bereik is, en dit kan nadelige gevolge inhou indien uitsettende kleie byvoorbeeld in die fundament teenwoordig is. Voorafbenatting van die fondamentmateriaal word gereken as ’n metode om vogveranderinge na konstruksie te minimeer, maar indien die plaveisel reeds voltooi is, is dit baie moeilik om die voginhoud in die fondament te verander of beheer omdat water dan slegs buite die skouerareas van die pad toegedien kan word en horisontale infiltrasie in grond uiters stadig is. Die navorsing waaroor hierin verslag gedoen word, is onderneem om te bepaal of die proses van elektro-osmose aangewend kan word om waterinfiltrasie onder bedekte areas, soos byvoorbeeld padfondamentlae, te versnel. Elektro-osmose, indien dit suksesvol blyk te wees, hou verskeie voordele in, waarvan die belangrikste dat dit aangewend kan word sonder om die normale bedryf van die pad te staak. Die ondersoek is uitgevoer op ’n mengsel van G5 materiaal (TRH14 klassifikasie) en fynstof in die vorm van klei met ’n lae plastisiteit. Eerstens is toetse uitgevoer om die persentasie fynstof wat nodig is, te bepaal. Daar is bevind dat, indien te min fynstof teenwoordig is, infiltrasie nie plaasvind nie aangesien water vryelik deur die openinge tussen die growwe aggregaat kan vloei. Elektro-osmose het ook geen effek op die vloeitempo gehad nie. Die aangewese hoeveelheid fynstof om genoegsame openinge te vul was ongeveer 30% (TRH14 klassifikasie van mengsel is G10). Vrye vloei is dan gestuit en ware infiltrasie het plaasgevind. Terselfdertyd kon die tempo van infiltrasie versnel word met elektro-osmose. Voorts is ’n twee-dimensionele model van ’n pad gebou, met elektrodes aan weerskante geplaas, met die doel om te bepaal of die infiltrasiepatroon deur elektro-osmose beheer kon word en wat die effek van beginvoginhoud op die proses sal wees. Water is aan een kant van die modelpad ingevoer en die benatting van die fondament bestudeer. Indien die elektriese stroom vir elektroosmose afgeskakel was, was die infiltrasie hoofsaaklik vertikaal, soos verwag, maar met die stroom aangeskakel was daar duidelike versnelling van infiltrasie in die horisontale rigting. Net soos in die geval van die aanvanklike toetse is bevind dat elektro-osmose nie baie suksesvol was om horisontale infiltrasie te versnel by lae persentasies fynstof nie. Dit het verder geblyk dat elektro-osmose ook meer effektief was indien die aanvanklike voginhoud van die grond laag was. Lae hoeveelhede fynstof en hoë aanvanklike voginhoude het eerder elektroosmotiese deurvloei van water onderdeur die pad tot gevolg gehad as infiltrasieversnelling, met die gevolg dat die voginhoud nie veel verander het nie. Die navorsing het dus getoon dat elektro-osmose ’n moontlike wyse is waarop water in die fondamentlae van paaie ingevoer kan word om die voginhoud te verhoog indien die geskikte hoeveelheid fynstof en voginhoud in die fondamentmateriaal teenwoordig is. Verdere navorsing kan nog uitgevoer word en die materiale van elke geval sal prakties evalueer moet word voordat met die metode voortgegaan kan word.

The State of Texas has the most extensive network of surface-treated pavements in the nation. This network has suffered from the detrimental effects of expansive soils in the subgrade for decades. Longitudinal cracking on the Farm-to-Market (FM) network is one of the most prevalent pavement distresses caused by volumetric changes of expansive subgrades. Engineering practice has shown that geogrid reinforcement and lime treatment can effectively reduce the reflection of longitudinal cracking on the pavement over shrinking subgrade. However, little is known about the mechanism leading to the propagation of the shrinkage cracks to the surface of the pavement. The use of geogrid reinforcement and lime treatment is mostly based on empirical engineering experience and has not been addressed in depth. This dissertation research evaluates the stress field and constitutive models of the subgrade soil subjected to matric suction change. The non-uniform matric suction change in the subgrade is simulated by a thermal expansion model in a finite element program, ABAQUS, to determine the shrinkage stresses in the subgrade soil and pavement structure. Numerical solution by the finite element analysis shows that the most likely location of shrinkage crack initiation in the subgrade is close to the pavement shoulder and close to the interface of the base and subgrade. Linear elastic fracture mechanics theory is used to analyze the crack propagation in the pavement. Compared to the fracture toughness of the pavement materials, the stress concentration at the initial shrinkage crack tip is large enough to drive the crack to propagate further. When the shrinkage crack propagates through the whole pavement structure, a longitudinal crack develops at the pavement surface close to the pavement shoulder. Based on the analysis of shrinkage crack propagation, this dissertation investigates the mechanism of geogrid reinforcement and lime treatment. The geogrid can significantly reduce the stress concentration at the crack tip if the geogrid is placed at the bottom of the base. A geogrid with a higher stiffness further reduces the stress intensity factor at the upper tip of the shrinkage crack. The lime treatment can improve the mechanical properties of the expansive soil in several ways. The lime-treated soil has lower plasticity index, higher tensile strength and higher fracture toughness. The possible location of the shrinkage crack initiation is not in the lime-stabilized soil but in the untreated natural soil close to the bottom of the lime-treated layer, where tensile stresses exceed the tensile strength of the untreated soil. The shrinkage crack is less likely to develop through lime-treated soil, which has increased fracture toughness. The combination of geogrid reinforcement and lime treatment offers the most benefit for the control of dry-land longitudinal cracking. In a pavement with a lime-treated layer, the best place to install the geogrid is at the interface between the lime-stabilized layer and the untreated natural soil. If using a geogrid with high stiffness, the Mode I stress intensity factor may be reduced to a certain level that is lower than the fracture toughness of the pavement material.

The current economic situation has severely affected the US road infrastructure and funding has become inadequate for either maintenance or future growth. The inverted base pavement structure is a promising alternative to achieve high quality roads at considerably lower cost than conventional pavements. The proximity of the unbound granular base layer to the tire load makes the response of the granular base critical to the performance of the pavement structure. Therefore extensive material characterization is conducted on the granular materials that make the base. In particular, a true triaxial chamber is developed to study the mechanical response and the stress-dependent stiffness of granular bases compacted at different water contents. A novel method is developed to assess the as-built stress-dependent anisotropic stiffness of granular bases in-situ using both crosshole and uphole test configurations. The two inverted base pavements built in Georgia at the Morgan County quarry haul road and the Lagrange south Loop are tested as part of this study. A nonlinear orthotropic constitutive model is selected to capture the deformational behavior of compacted granular bases. The response of the pavement is analyzed by implementing this constitutive behavior in a three-dimensional finite-element model. Different pavement structures are simulated. It is shown that thin asphalt concrete layers resting directly on granular bases deform as membranes. Finally, numerical simulations are extended to compare inverted base pavements to conventional pavements used in practice. Results highlight the inadequacy of ASSHTO’s structural layer coefficient for the analysis of inverted base pavement structures as well as the potential economic advantages of inverted base pavements.

The emergence of analytically-based pavement design has encouraged investigations toward a better understanding of the behaviour of pavement layers under cyclic loading. Unbound granular base (UGB) materials are commonly placed as base course layers in the design of pavement foundations. Due to their nature and geometry they are unsaturated geo-materials and therefore, it is desirable to study their behaviour using the framework of unsaturated soil mechanics. Current literature reflects very limited achievements in this direction. This thesis presents the development of a cyclic triaxial testing system and associated testing methodology that meets the challenges of testing an UGB material as an unsaturated soil. The testing system enables the initialisation of a specimen to target matric suction and facilitates direct measurement of its evolution under cyclic loading. In conjunction with the use of accurate on-specimens strain measurement transducers, ???clean??? strain and matric suction cyclic responses are obtained. Two types of cyclic triaxial testing are investigated: with constant cell pressure (i.e., CSeries testing) and with varying (cyclic) cell pressure where both axial and radial stress components are simultaneously (and in phase) pulsed (i.e., V-Series testing). Different initial matric suctions, si will be imposed in the testing program and the influence of si on material behaviour is analysed. This is investigated in a similar manner for C- and V-Series testing. The influence of si appears to be significant for both cyclic and permanent strain responses. A strong stress path dependency is found to characterise the behaviour of the UGB material. Under a wide range of cyclic deviator stress magnitudes, permanent strain response is found to correlate with that of matric suction response. Both appear to indicate better the relative performance of a UGB material than the response of resilient modulus. Another particular aspect investigated is the influence of additional fines on the behaviour of the UGB material. To ???isolate??? the effects of additional fines the cyclic and permanent strain responses of ???equivalent??? specimens with equivalent compaction and unsaturation condition, but different fines content, are compared. The results showed that the relative performance of the two materials (distinguished by the different percentage of fines content) in intertwined with the strong stress path dependency. It is also found that a material compacted at higher dry density may not improve its behaviour under cyclic loading, but may worsen with load cycles. Soil-water characteristic curve tests are conducted for the UGB materials investigated, showing high sensitivity of initial matric suction to moisture content, which increases further for the material with additional fines. This explains the notion of ???sensitivity??? of UGB materials as commonly suggested by practicing pavement engineers.