Pavement Designs for the Energy Development Areas with Heavy Loads—Part I: Flexible Pavements and Part II: Rigid Pavements

Details

• Creators:
  Zhang, Jun ; Im, Soohyok ; Mahmoud, Issa ; Zollinger, Dan ; Zhou, Fujie
• Corporate Creators:
  Texas A&M Transportation Institute
• Corporate Contributors:
  Texas Department of Transportation. Research and Technology Implementation Office ; United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Axle Load Force Flexible Pavements Full-depth Reclamation Heavy Vehicles Pavement Design Pavement Performance Recommendations Rehabilitation (Maintenance) Rigid Pavements Traffic Loads Truck Traffic Weigh In Motion

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• Publication/ Report Number:
  FHWA/TX-18/0-6839-R1, 0-6839-R1
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Texas;United States
• Edition:
  January 2015–February 2018
• Corporate Publisher:
  Texas A&M Transportation Institute
• Abstract:
  In recent years, rapid energy development in Texas has caused significant damage to many farm-to-market (FM) roads, which traditionally have a thin asphalt surface layer plus a stabilized base directly over the subgrade. These roadways were often rehabilitated with full depth reclamation (FDR) and often 2 to 3 percent cement was added to the pulverized existing materials. They performed well under normal traffic loads but failed dramatically under the energy sector truck loads. There is an urgent need to repair many of these badly damaged roadways in all energy development areas. The main objectives of this project were to (1) determine traffic conditions (in terms of actual axle load level) for pavement designs in the energy development areas, (2) develop materials options for handling the early trafficking requirement, and (3) recommend improved pavement designs for overloaded vehicles. Researchers first reviewed and analyzed all the traffic data collected by the permanent weigh-in motion stations around Texas, and identified 17 stations with adequate traffic records for developing traffic loading spectra for pavement designs. Researchers found that the energy development areas have much heavier trucks than the non-energy development areas; through comparison with regular equivalent single axle load, researchers conclude overloading traffic caused much damage to pavements. Researchers also surveyed field performance of FDR test sections with asphalt stabilization and some roller compacted concrete pavements. Overall, most FDR test sections performed well; and only one section had a few cracks. Guidance for selecting optimal rehabilitation options and associated materials and their mechanical properties required by pavement designs were then recommended. Following Texas Department of Transportation's (TxDOT’s) pavement design methods, researchers developed pavement design catalogs and material options to support heavy loads in the energy development areas. Additionally, huge efforts were made to assist the Corpus Christi District in designing the intersection between US 281 and SH 123. Researchers highly recommend that the design catalog and the guidance for selecting optimal rehabilitation options and associated materials be implemented to make pavements last longer and have better performance. Also, the construction of the intersection between US 281 and SH 123 should be well documented for future performance evaluation.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  0-6839
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e9fdd0b84ab6be72ae33cd8d0ea77bd57b91dd20ab519ce043ddfc655a6978e2e98f450f1f12beca17f120dbde359d46aac59e5a3deeb51b1675d1bb62b798a0
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/64532/dot_64532_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 18.02 MB ]