Analysis of excess water impact on the structural performance of flexible pavements

Abstract

Excess water in pavement foundations is one of the major factors contributing to pavements deterioration. In recent years, a number of research studies have been carried out to understand the water movement into pavements and to assess its detrimental effects on the mechanical response of the foundations. However, these studies do not quantify the impact of suction reduction or pore pressure buildup in the foundations on the pavement response. In this paper, coupled finite element analyses are carried out to investigate the effect of the excess water in the granular foundations on the structural performance of flexible pavements. The coupled analyses simulate critical features governing the foundations' hydromechanical response including the transient unsaturated flow and porous nonlinear behaviour of the foundations under moving wheel loads. Furthermore, a parametric study that examines the influences of various loading and foundation parameters on the performance of pavements subjected to excessive moisture scenarios is carried out. The numerical analysis results obtained in this paper are qualitatively in line with the empirical observations reported in the literature.

Keywords::

• pavement foundations
• excess water
• rutting
• pore pressure
• matric suction
• drainage