United States Department of Transportation
i
Field Monitoring of Wicking Geotextile for Moisture Reduction in Pavements
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2023-03-01
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[PDF-4.40 MB]
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Edition:Final Report June 2018–May 2021
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Abstract:Water is often detrimental to the performance of pavements since it reduces soil strength and modulus and provides sources for erosion and freeze-thaw of base courses and subgrade. A common approach to removing water within pavements is to provide a drainage system, which is effective only when the soil beneath the pavement is saturated or nearly saturated and water drains out under a hydraulic gradient. However, a majority of subgrade soils and aggregate bases beneath pavements are unsaturated during their service life. Therefore, the traditional drainage method becomes ineffective in removing water from pavements under undrained conditions. A wicking geotextile product available in the market that includes wicking fibers has been proven effective in removing water under both saturated and unsaturated conditions due to its wicking ability in limited laboratory tests and field projects. The field study in this project consisted of three sections with tests designed to answer the following: 1. Whether the wicking geotextile can replace cement treatment of the natural subgrade to minimize capillary rise, 2. Whether the wicking geotextile can maintain low water content in the aggregate base, and 3. Whether the aggregate type affects the effectiveness of the wicking geotextile. To evaluate the effectiveness of the wicking geotextile, moisture sensors were installed in these three sections to monitor their water content changes for two and a half years. The monitoring data showed that the wicking geotextiles with the natural subgrade was more effective to remove water from the aggregate base than the non-woven geotextile with the cement-treated subgrade and maintain the aggregate base at a low water content during the dry period. The wicking geotextile could not stop the rise of the groundwater table and was not effective in performing the wicking function when the groundwater table was above the wicking geotextile; however, it became effective when the groundwater table was below the wicking geotextile. Further verification of its effectiveness to reduce water contents of soils in concrete pavements in the field is necessary before its widespread applications.
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