Impact of Moisture Variation on Strength and Deformation of Clays

Details

• Creators:
  Sabnis, Anup ; Manosuthkij, Thammanoon ; Abdallah, Imad ; Nazarian, Soheil ; Puppala, Anand J.
• Corporate Creators:
  University of Texas at El Paso. Center for Transportation Infrastructure Systems
• Corporate Contributors:
  Texas Department of Transportation. Research and Technology Implementation Office ; United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Expansive Clays Flexible Pavements Low Volume Roads Moisture Content Pavement Design Pavement Subgrade
• Publication/ Report Number:
  FHWA/TX-08/0-5430-1
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States ; Texas
• Edition:
  Technical Report 1/06 – 8/08
• Corporate Publisher:
  Texas. Department of Transportation
• Abstract:
  This research project was focused on low-volume roads over expansive clayey soils in Texas. In spite of the over conservative pavement designs recommended and widely used in Texas for roads in high PI clay areas, these pavements often fail prematurely. It is imperative to improve the design and laboratory procedures to address expansive subsoil conditions and then design pavements accordingly to extend the life expectancy of these roads. The intent of this research project was to cultivate the vital features of strategies for improving low-volume flexible pavement design and thus improving the overall low-volume road performance. These include: 1) Identify the most significant soil parameters directly related to the performance of these types of roads; 2) Propose practical laboratory test methods and analyzing models to address the problem of premature failure of low-volume roads on high PI expansive subgrade; 3) Qualify and quantify current remediation procedures, climatic effects and road condition assessment (both successful and unsuccessful) used to mitigate the shrink-swell problems; and 4) Develop a user-friendly expert system design tool to guide the designers through the process for more realistic designs and rehabilitations. This document provides information about the first two items. Static compaction in one lift was found to be the most practical procedure. The variations in modulus and shrinkage/expansion strains with moisture under a number of different moisture conditioning procedures were evaluated. For each moisture conditioning process, models were developed to estimate the variations in the modulus and shrinkage/expansion strains with moisture. Finally the fit parameters of those models were correlated to the index properties of the clays so that they can be readily used in practice. The developed models in this research project were implemented in the assessment of the pavement performance in Research Report 5430-2.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  0-5430
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:4bbf4056dfc51eadfa64a82ff30a9f04ee3af8c4636d3ddc72218d60940c53f82e960bae8ef88beb4a493bfb7b01d300a43a9a10892949a9df0a2b6056c919d8
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/88912/dot_88912_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.45 MB ]