Evaluation of Reinforcement Strain Growth During Traffic Loading - UTC

The objective of this project is to establish the feasibility of using geosynthetic strain measurements from reinforced pavement test sections to establish relationships between a permanent to resilient strain ratio and a normalized traffic pass level. This information is needed as input to a design method for reinforced pavements previously established in a project for FHWA.

A recently completed project for FHWA has resulted in a proposed mechanistic-empirical design method for reinforced pavements that is compatible with the AASHTO 2002 Pavement Design Guide currently in development. A critical component of this design method is a relationship between the ratio of permanent to resilient strain and a normalized measure of traffic passes. This relationship was ascertained for several reinforcement products from previously constructed test sections and appeared to provide reasonable relationships that predicted acceptable levels of performance. To more fully establish the feasibility of using data from test sections to describe this relationship, this project will examine data from approximately 18 other reinforced test sections. Evaluation of this data will determine if this relationship is unique for any aggregate type and pavement cross section geometry and whether the relationships for different geosynthetics are distinct and consistent with the reinforcement benefit seen from these test sections. This project is considered a seed project in that its successful completion will lead to new proposals that fully establish these relationships for use in design.