United States Department of Transportation
i
Evaluating the Performance of Inverted Pavements in Tennessee
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2022-05-01
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[PDF-10.60 MB]
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Edition:Final Report January 2019 – May 2022
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Abstract:Inverted pavement is an unconventional type of flexible pavement structure. In this pavement structure, an unbound aggregate base (UAB) with a low initial modulus is sandwiched (layered) between two stiffer layers, a thinner asphalt concrete layer (AC) and a cement-treated base layer (CTB). This type of pavement structure has been a potential alternative to the conventional flexible pavement structure due to its cost-efficient usage of asphalt, comparable performance and durability based on past studies. However, field investigations of inverted pavement have not been widely conducted and are very limited in the USA. Therefore, the objective of this study is to present a comprehensive investigation of the inverted pavement system including field and laboratory works. In this study, the effect of nonlinear stress-dependent property of unbound aggregates on both the inverted and conventional flexible pavement structures was first investigated. Second, through field investigation in Vulcan pavement, a comparison study between the inverted and conventional pavements was conducted under the same traffic level and environmental conditions. In addition, the nondestructive pavement testing method – falling weight deflectometer (FWD) was applied to evaluate the structural conditions of the inverted pavement, contributing to the effective maintenance and preservation of pavements. Finally, the accelerated pavement testing (APT) method was used to evaluate the rutting performance of a full-scale inverted pavement constructed on the UT (University of Tennessee) campus. Based on the results of the comprehensive investigation of both field (full-scale) and numerical simulations, the inverted pavement structure can be regarded as an alternative to the conventional flexible pavement.
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