Geotech Geol Eng (2010) 28:287297 DOI 10.

1007/s10706-008-9241-0

ORIGINAL PAPER

Analysis of Flexible Pavements Reinforced with Geogrids

Hema Siriwardane Raj Gondle Bora Kutuk

Received: 17 January 2008 / Accepted: 12 September 2008 / Published online: 23 October 2008 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2008

Abstract Effectiveness of glass ber grids as a reinforcement of the asphalt layer in a exible pavement system was investigated. The study involved both laboratory experimental work and computer analysis of pavement sections. Twenty exible pavement sections (with and without glass ber grids) were constructed and tested in the laboratory as a part of the experimental study. The laboratory-scale pavement sections were instrumented with pressure cells, displacement gages, and strain gages. Test sections were subjected to 1,000,000 load applications at a frequency of 1.2 Hz. Static loading tests were conducted at intervals of 100,000 load applications. In thirteen experiments, glass ber grids were used as reinforcement in the asphalt layer. Several computer analyses of exible pavement sections were performed by using the nite element method (FEM). The laboratory data were compared with results obtained from the computer analyses. Results from this study show that glass ber grids can be used to improve the performance of exible pavement systems. It was also observed that the inclusion of glass ber grid in the asphalt layer provided resistance to crack propagation. Overall, the exible pavement sections reinforced with glass ber grids showed better performance under laboratory test conditions.
H. Siriwardane (&) R. Gondle B. Kutuk Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA e-mail: Hema.Siriwardane@mail.wvu.edu

Keywords Flexible pavements Glass grid Finite element method Reinforcement Nomenclature t Thickness of asphalt layer rc Radius of contact surface P Total load on the tire pc Tire ination pressure D Diameter of contact area [K] Global stiffness matrix {r} Global displacement vector {R} Global load vector U Strain energy density ; Y  X Body forces in x- and y-directions   Tx ; Ty Surface tractions in x- and y-directions S Portion of the body on which the surface traction is applied u, v Nodal displacements in x- and y-directions e Strain vector r Stress vector r0 Initial stress vector Pi Load acting at node i [C] Constitutive matrix {Q} Element load vector {q} Element displacement vector

1 Introduction Flexible pavements have been frequently used to construct highways and roads in the United States,

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and many existing pavements have been treated with bituminous or asphalt materials (Asphalt Institute 1989). Due to excessive trafc loads, many existing pavements have already reached the end of their service life. As a result, surface treatment methods and the use of new pavement reinforcement materials have been explored to improve the performance and service life of exible pavements. Asphalt overlays have been used to improve the performance of deteriorating pavements in the past. The application of geosynthetic materials in highway repair work has become popular in recent years due to their high strength, durability, and ability to relieve stresses by reinforcing the pavements (Barksdale 1991; Koerner 1994; Kwon et al. 2005). Several research studies on the use of geosynthetic or steel reinforcements for improving pavement performance have been reported in the literature (Baek and Al-Qadi 2006; Cleveland et al. 2003; Kwon et al. 2005; Perkins and Cuelho 2007; Shuler and Hermelink 2004). In the past, various types of geosynthetic materials like geotextiles and geogrids have been used to improve the pavement performance, which provided some reinforcing benets. Previous studies (Lytton 1989; Barksdale 1991; Cleveland et al. 2003; Kwon et al. 2005) have shown that geotextiles provided less resistance against lateral movements than that provided by glass ber grids. The stiffness of the fabric material reinforcing the hot mix asphalt (HMA) layer needs to be greater than that of the surrounding HMA (Lytton 1989; Barksdale 1991). High tensile strength and elastic stiffness of glass ber grids have made them an attractive choice for reinforcing pavement systems. There is limited published information available on glass ber grid reinforcement inside the hot mix asphalt in a pavement system (Button and Lytton 1987). Designing a exible pavement reinforced with glass ber grid and evaluating the effectiveness of reinforced pavement performance is a complex problem requiring considerable research and study. This paper presents the results of an investigation on the effectiveness of glass ber grids as a reinforcement of the HMA layer in a exible pavement system. The major objective of this research was to determine the inuence of glass ber grids as reinforcement within the asphalt layer on the performance of a pavement section. Inuence of the glass grid reinforcement in 76 and 152 mm thick asphalt sections was investigated in the laboratory. Three

different types of glass grids were considered. The study involved both laboratory experimental work and computer analyses of pavement sections.

2 Experimental Work As a part of the experimental work, twenty exible pavement sections, with and without glass ber grids were constructed and tested in the laboratory. The pavement sections were built in a rectangular container with dimensions of 1.2 m 9 1.8 m 9 0.8 m. The crosssection of a typical pavement section is shown in Fig. 1. The laboratory pavement sections were instrumented with pressure cells, dial gages and strain gages. Pavements must be designed adequately to carry trafc loads over the lifetime of the system. Usually, the design thicknesses are based on the estimated number of load applications over the life-span. In this study, test sections were subjected to 1,000,000 load applications at a frequency of 1.2 Hz to simulate trafc with a single axle load of 80 kN. A circular loading plate was used to apply the wheel load on the laboratory pavement sections. The following equations were used to determine the dimensions of the loading plate to simulate the effects of a wheel load (Yoder and Witczak 1975): s P rc 1 pc p D 2r c 2

where rc is the radius of contact surface, P is the total load on the tire, pc is the tire ination pressure and D
Loading Plate Dial gage Geogrid Asphalt Layer Gravel Subgrade

Pressure Cell

Fig. 1 Cross-section of a pavement reinforced with glass ber grid

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289
Wheel Load Dial Gauge t
216 mm 152 mm

is the diameter of contact surface. In this study, the thickness of the loading plate was 25 mm and the diameter of the loading plate was 305 mm. Laboratory test section consisted of hot mix asphalt (HMA), granular base, subgrade soil and a glass ber grid as shown in Fig. 1. A geotextile was used between the gravel base and the subgrade soil in all of the experiments. In this study, a layer of hot mix asphalt was used as the base layer as shown in Fig. 1. The maximum size of the aggregate in the mix was 25 mm and the nes-to-asphalt ratio for asphalt base was 1.0. Unit weight of the granular material was found to be 17.7 kN/m3. The soil subgrade chosen for this study was classied as A-4, according to AASHTO soil classication system. The soil had a Liquid Limit (LL) of 22.75 and a Plasticity Index (PI) of 8.57. A laboratory CBR (California Bearing Ratio) value was determined as 8% for the soil subgrade. The soil was compacted to an average unit weight of 20.6 kN/m3. Glass grids used in this study were considered to have good bonding characteristics with the asphalt due to their adhesive properties. Reinforcement using glass grids in the pavement section is expected to perform better than other polymeric bers because of its excellent bonding properties with asphalt and also due to low creep properties. Three different types of glass ber grids (A, B and C) were used in the study. Glass grid A represents the lightest grid while glass ber grid C represents the heaviest glass ber grid. Glass grid B has a weight between those of glass grid A and glass grid C. Loading experiments were conducted with and without reinforcement in the asphalt layer. In order to evaluate the inuence of asphalt thickness on the pavement performance, two different thicknesses were considered. Asphalt thickness of 76 mm was considered to be the thin asphalt section and the asphalt thickness of 152 mm was considered to be the thick asphalt section in this study. Thin asphalt sections were compacted in two layers of 38 mm in thickness, while the thick asphalt sections were compacted in two layers of 76 mm in thickness. A crack was also simulated by introducing a void in the HMA layer having a thickness of 76 mm as shown in the Fig. 2. Twenty exible pavement sections (with and without glass ber grids) were constructed and tested in the laboratory as a part of the experimental study. The laboratory-scale pavement sections were

Loading Plate

HMA Glass Grid Gravel Geosynthetic Pressure Cell Subgrade

152 mm

(a) without simulated crack

Wheel Load Loading Plate 152 mm Simulated Crack HMA t
216 mm

Dial Gauge

Glass Grid Gravel Geosynthetic Pressure Cell Subgrade

152 mm

(b) with simulated crack

Fig. 2 Experimental outline for pavement section (a) without simulated crack and (b) with simulated crack

instrumented with pressure cells, displacement gages, and strain gages. Test sections were subjected to 1,000,000 load applications at a frequency of 1.2 Hz. Static loading tests were conducted at intervals of 100,000 load applications. In thirteen experiments, the glass ber grids were used in the asphalt layer. More details on the experimental program can be found elsewhere (Kutuk 1998).

3 Experimental Results Vertical subgrade stresses and surface displacements measured under different experimental conditions are presented below to show the inuence of asphalt layer thickness and the glass reinforcement on pavement performance under laboratory conditions. Figure 3 shows the inuence of different glass grids on vertical subgrade stress in a test section with a

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Loading Plate HMA Gravel Base

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Pressure Cell # 1
60

Pressure Cell # 2

50 40 30 20 10 0 0.E+00

Pressure Cell # 1

Experiment # 3 (Grid - A) Experiment # 2 (Grid - B) Experiment # 7 (Grid - C)

2.E+05

4.E+05

6.E+05

8.E+05

1.E+06

Number of Load Cycles

Fig. 3 Inuence of different glass grids on vertical subgrade stress

152 mm thick HMA layer. As can be seen from this gure, the measured stresses uctuate within a narrow range. These results indicated that the inuence of different glass ber reinforcement on vertical subgrade stress was not signicant when the thickness of asphalt layer was 152 mm. Figure 4 shows the variation of vertical subgrade stress in a reinforced pavement section for different glass grids in a doubly reinforced test section. In one case, heavier glass grid was used as the reinforcement in the HMA layer. Based on these results, it appears that the
70 60

vertical stress in the subgrade is lower in the pavement section with stronger glass grid for the second half of the loading history. Inuence of asphalt thickness on the vertical subgrade stress is shown in Fig. 5. As shown in this gure, the vertical subgrade stress at cell # 1 for the thicker non-reinforced asphalt section (t = 152 mm) is lower than that corresponding to the thinner nonreinforced asphalt section (t = 76 mm). Figure 5 also shows that inclusion of reinforcement within the thinner asphalt section (t = 76 mm) results in a slightly lower vertical stress for most part of the loading. The glass grid reinforcement appears to spread the circular load over a larger area in the lower layers of the pavement section causing a slightly lower vertical subgrade stress. Within the experimental parameters considered in this study, the vertical subgrade stress appears to be more inuenced by the thickness of asphalt layer than the inclusion of reinforcement in the asphalt layer. The thicker asphalt layer leads to lower vertical subgrade stress. Reinforcement in the asphalt layer also causes a slight but insignicant reduction in the vertical subgrade stress. Figure 6a shows the vertical subgrade stress for a thinner reinforced test section (t = 76 mm) with and without a simulated crack. The vertical subgrade stress does not seem to be signicantly inuenced by the inclusion of a simulated crack. Even though a slight increase in the vertical stress was observed up to 450,000 loading cycles as shown in Fig. 6a, the vertical stress was similar for both cases (with and without the simulated crack) for the rest of the loading history.

Vertical Stress (kN/m2)

60

Vertical Stress (kN/m2)

50 40 30 20 10 0 0.E+00
Experiment # 8 (Grid C in HMA; Grid C between Gravel Base and HMA)
Experiment # 9 (Grid A in HMA; Grid C between Gravel Base and HMA)

Vertical Stress (kN/m2)

50 40 30 20 10 0 0.E+00
Experiment # 12 (Without Reinforcement; t = 76 mm)

Average Values of Experiments # 11 and # 17 (With Reinforcement; t =76 mm)

Experiment # 4 (Without Reinforcement; t = 152 mm)

2.E+05

4.E+05

6.E+05

8.E+05

1.E+06

2.E+05

4.E+05

6.E+05

8.E+05

1.E+06

Number of Load Cycles

Number of Load Cycles

Fig. 4 Variation of vertical subgrade stress for different glass grids in a doubly reinforced section

Fig. 5 Inuence of asphalt thickness and reinforcement on vertical subgrade stress

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60 50

291

40 30 20 10 0 0.E+00
Average Values of Experiments # 11 and # 17 (With Reinforcement; t = 76 mm; No Crack)
Average Values of Experiments # 14 and # 15 (With Reinforcement; t = 76 mm; Simulated Crack)

2.E+05

4.E+05

6.E+05

8.E+05

1.E+06

Number of Load Cycles

(a) Influence of crack on vertical subgrade stress in

reinforced test sections
70 60

50 40 30 20 10 0 0.E+00
Experiment # 14 (Grid A; Simulated Crack; t = 76 mm) Experiment # 15 (Grid A; Simulated Crack; t = 76 mm) Average Values of Experiments # 14 and 15 Experiment # 4 (Without Reinforcement; t = 152 mm)

2.E+05

4.E+05

6.E+05

8.E+05

1.E+06

Number of Load Cycles

(b) Comparison of a non-reinforced thick asphalt

section and a reinforced thin asphalt section with a simulated crack
Fig. 6 Vertical stresses in reinforced and non-reinforced pavement sections. (a) Inuence of crack on vertical subgrade stress in reinforced test sections. (b) Comparison of a nonreinforced thick asphalt section and a reinforced thin asphalt section with a simulated crack

crack was higher than that corresponding to the nonreinforced thick asphalt section (t = 152 mm). Based on the results shown in Fig. 6b, at 1,000,000 load cycles approximately 15% reduction in vertical stress for non-reinforced thick asphalt section (Experiment # 4) was possible in comparison to the average vertical stress of the reinforced thin asphalt sections (Experiments # 14 and # 15) with a simulated crack. However, it is noteworthy that the non-reinforced thick asphalt section (t = 152 mm) exhibited higher displacements as discussed in a subsequent section. Moreover, there were visual signs of severe rutting which may indicate failure in the non-reinforced thick asphalt section (t = 152 mm). In other words, the thin reinforced sections (with or without a simulated crack) show higher vertical stress levels at cell # 1, but the displacements are higher in the non-reinforced thick pavement section as shown later in this paper. Figure 7 shows the cumulative displacements for reinforced and non-reinforced thick asphalt sections where the thickness of the HMA layer was 152 mm. The cumulative displacements decreased with the inclusion of reinforcement within the asphalt layer. An improvement of approximately 40% was observed when the HMA layer was reinforced with glass grid A. For thicker pavement sections, displacements with lighter glass grids result in slightly larger surface deformations in comparison to test sections with heavier glass grids. For the larger thickness (t = 152 mm), doubly reinforced pavement sections improved the pavement performance in comparison to a singly reinforced pavement section as shown in Fig. 8. In general, glass
14

Figure 6b shows a comparison of vertical subgrade stress for a non-reinforced thick asphalt section (Experiment # 4; t = 152 mm) with a reinforced thin asphalt section (Experiments # 14 and # 15; t = 76 mm) that included a simulated crack. Results from Fig. 6b show that the vertical subgrade stress at cell # 1 for a non-reinforced thick asphalt section (t = 152 mm) was almost steady throughout the loading history. The Experiment # 15 is a duplicate of Experiment # 14 that corresponds to a thinner reinforced asphalt section (t = 76 mm) with a simulated crack. The average of the stress for Experiments # 14 and # 15 is shown in Fig. 6b. The average vertical stress corresponding to the thin reinforced section (t = 76 mm) with a simulated

Vertical Stress (kN/m2)

Vertical Stress (kN/m2)

Cumulative Displacements (mm)

12 10 8 6 4 2 0 0.E+00

Without Reinforcement With Reinforcement (Glass grid A in HMA) With Reinforcement (Glass Grid B in HMA) With Reinforcement (Glass Grid C in HMA)

2.E+05

4.E+05

6.E+05

8.E+05

1.E+06

Number of Load Cycles

Fig. 7 Cumulative Displacements for reinforced and nonreinforced thick asphalt sections

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14
Without Reinforcement

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14

Cumulative Displacements (mm)

Cumulative Displacements (mm)

Experiment # 4 (Without Reinforcement; t = 152 mm)

12 10 8 6 4 2 0 0.E+00

Singly Reinforced (Grid A in HMA) Doubly Reinforced (Grid A in HMA; Grid C between Gravel Base and HMA) Doubly Reinforced (Grid C in HMA; Grid C between Gravel Base and HMA)

12 10 8 6 4 2 0 0.E+00

Experiment # 14 (Glass Grid A in HMA; Simulated Crack; t = 76 mm) Experiment # 15 (Glass Grid A in HMA; Simulated Crack; t = 76 mm) Average Values of Experiments # 14 and # 15

2.E+05

4.E+05

6.E+05

8.E+05

1.E+06

Number of Load Cycles

2.E+05

4.E+05

6.E+05

8.E+05

1.E+06

Number of Load Cycles

Fig. 8 Inuence of reinforcement on cumulative displacements for a thick asphalt section

Fig. 10 Performance of a non-reinforced thick asphalt section and a thin reinforced asphalt section with a simulated crack

grid reinforcements reduced the cumulative displacements in pavement sections tested in the laboratory. This substantial decrease in the cumulative displacements illustrate that an improvement can be gained by doubly reinforcing the pavement section by adding glass ber grid between the gravel base and the hot mix asphalt in addition to the one inside the HMA. Approximately 60% improvement was observed in doubly reinforced test section in comparison to nonreinforced test section in terms of cumulative displacements. Figure 9 shows the comparison of cumulative displacements for a non-reinforced thick asphalt section and a reinforced thin asphalt section. Measured displacements show that the reinforced thin asphalt section performed better than the non-reinforced thick asphalt section. Figure 10 shows the variation in cumulative displacements with number of load cycles for a

12

Without Reinforcement; t = 152 mm

10 8 6 4 2 0 0.E+00

With Reinforcement (Glass Grid A in HMA); t = 76 mm

2.E+05

4.E+05

6.E+05

8.E+05

1.E+06

Number of Load Cycles

Fig. 9 Inuence of reinforcement on cumulative displacements for a thin asphalt section

thick non-reinforced section and a thin reinforced pavement section with a simulated crack. Even though the non-reinforced thicker asphalt layer causes lower subgrade stress than that corresponding to thinner reinforced asphalt layer (Fig. 6b), the measured displacements (Figs. 9 and 10) indicate that the thinner reinforced asphalt section performs slightly better than the non-reinforced thicker asphalt section. In a few experiments, failure (as indicated by large displacements) was observed in non-reinforced pavement sections with a simulated crack. Moreover, there were visual signs of severe rutting which may indicate failure. However, no failures were observed in any of the reinforced test sections with or without a simulated crack. Reinforcement in the HMA layer helps in reducing the crack propagation leading to failure. Static loading tests were conducted at intervals of 100,000 load applications. For thicker pavement sections, displacements with lighter glass grids result in slightly larger surface deformations in comparison to test sections with heavier glass grids. For the thin pavement sections, surface deformations for the reinforced test sections were slightly higher than that of the non-reinforced test sections. This small difference was insignicant and may be caused by the difference in the compaction effort. Even though this difference was insignicant, observations have shown that under static loading, non-reinforced pavement sections with a simulated crack resulted in slightly larger surface deformations than that of a nonreinforced pavement sections without any crack.

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Cumulative Displacements (mm)

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Also, it was observed experimentally that the surface deformations for reinforced thin asphalt pavement sections (t = 76 mm) were smaller than the surface deformations for non-reinforced thick asphalt pavement sections (t = 152 mm) (see Figs. 9 and 10). Even though there is a cost for the reinforcement, a thin reinforced pavement section may be more cost effective than a thick nonreinforced section. This is especially the case when it becomes necessary to stop crack propagation through the asphalt layer.

pp

ZZZ ZZZ
S1 R

U u; vdV

ZZZ
R

 Yv  dV Xu X Pix ui Piy vi 3

x u T y vdS T

4 Computer Analysis A number of methods have been used in the past for the load-deformation analysis of pavements (Huang 1993). These methods include analytical methods and numerical methods such as KENLAYER (Huang 1993) and the nite element methods (FEM). KENLAYER (Huang 1993) computer program did not have a capability of including geosynthetic material in the layered system. Details of the methods of analysis can be found elsewhere in the literature. In this study, several computer analyses were performed to analyze non-reinforced and reinforced exible pavements by using the FEM. Glass grid was considered as a linear elastic material since it has very low creep characteristics. The results obtained from the computer analyses were compared with laboratory experimental results. These analyses were used in investigating the effect of glass ber grid inside the asphalt layer on pavement response. Finite element method is a powerful tool for solving complex problems like reinforced exible pavements. In the present research work, a well-known commercially available nite element package ABAQUS was chosen to analyze non-reinforced and reinforced exible pavements (ABAQUS 2006). Two-dimensional and three-dimensional linear elastic analyses were performed on non-reinforced and reinforced pavement sections. Mathematical details of the nite element method can be found elsewhere (Cook et al. 2003) and only a summary is included here due to space limitations. By using the energy principles, the general expression for potential energy can be expressed as follows (Cook et al. 2003):

 where U(u,v) = strain energy density = (1/2)er, X  are the body forces, T x and T y are surface and Y tractions or surface loading per unit area, S represents the portion of the body on which the surface traction is applied, u and v represent the nodal displacements, e represents strain, r represents stress, and Pi denotes the load acting at node i. Equilibrium equations derived by minimizing the potential energy functional, pp can be expressed as: K fqg fQg where K Element stiffness matrix ZZZ fBgT CfBgdv;
V

[C] = Constitutive matrix (Desai and Siriwardane 1984) fQg Element load vector ZZZ ZZZ gdv N T fX
T VZZZ V S

gdS N T fT

B fro gdv fPg

and {q} = displacement vector. The global governing equations can be obtained by combining element stiffness as described elsewhere (Cook et al. 2003). The system of equations becomes non-linear due to complex behavior at material interfaces. In this study, the geosynthetic-asphalt interface was modeled by using contact elements at the interface. The mathematical treatment of the contact elements is complicated and can be found elsewhere. When one component comes in contact with another component in the pavement system, an interface between the two components is formed. Shear and normal forces are generated between two surfaces across their interface when they come in contact. The nodal points in one contact surface (master surface) are constrained in their movements so that the master surface does not penetrate

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into the second surface. These constrains make the system of equations highly non-linear. While nodal inter-penetration is constrained, there can be relative sliding at the interface according to pre-dened frictional characteristics. The relationship between the shear and normal stresses across the interface is expressed in terms of friction developed between the two contacting surfaces. The coefcient of friction primarily depends on the slip rate and contact pressure between the contacting bodies. The contacting bodies are free to slide over one another when no shear forces are developed at the interface i.e., at coefcient of friction equal to zero. In this study, interfaces were assumed to have friction. The frictional properties at the interface can be changed to simulate actual conditions. Results obtained from these nite element analyses were compared to the results obtained from laboratory experimental work. Both three-dimensional and axi-symmetric nite element analyses were performed. Three dimensional nite element analyses for the reinforced and non-reinforced pavement sections were carried out using ABAQUS (ABAQUS 2006). All the layers except the glass grid were modeled by using three-dimensional deformable solid homogeneous elements. Glass grid was modeled by using membrane elements. Table 1 shows the material properties used in the nite element analyses. Thickness of the asphalt layer was assumed to be 76 mm. Thickness of the glass grid was assumed to be 2.5 mm. Four-noded quadrilateral membrane elements were used to mesh the glass grid. Eight-noded linear brick elements were used to mesh all the other layers in the test set-up. Figure 11 shows the nite element mesh used in the analysis of the pavement section. Sides of the box and the bottom of the box were constrained and a tire pressure of 551 kN/m2 was applied on the surface of the circular loading plate. In some cases, frictional properties were assigned at the interface between the loading plate and the HMA layer.
Table 1 Material properties used in the nite element analysis Layer HMA Gravel Subgrade Glass grid Elastic modulus, kN/m2 1,860,300 316,940 41,340 28,972,450 Poissons Ratio 0.35 0.30 0.30 0.30

Fig. 11 Finite element mesh for laboratory pavement section

Fig. 12 Vertical stress distribution for reinforced pavement sections

Figure 12 shows the vertical stress distribution for a thin reinforced pavement section (t = 76 mm). Observations show that the inclusion of a reinforcement layer spreads the circular load (wheel load) over a larger area in the lower layers of the pavement section slightly reducing vertical stresses. However, this reduction is insignicant for the material properties used in the analysis. Figures 13 and 14 show the vertical deformations in the pavements sections for non-reinforced and reinforced thin pavement sections (t = 76 mm), respectively. In this analysis, relative slip was not allowed between the HMA and the reinforcement layer. Finite element results do not show a signicant inuence of the reinforcement on vertical stresses and displacements in thin asphalt sections. The computed displacements under the loading show that the reduction in vertical displacement due to reinforcement was about 1%, which is insignicant. This indicates that the stiffness of the pavement section did not change signicantly due to the reinforcement used in the study. This could be due to the small thickness of the reinforcement.

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Fig. 13 Vertical deformations in a non-reinforced thin pavement section. (a) Top surface. (b) Gravel surface. (c) Subgrade surface

The modeling method presented in this paper can be used to study the inuence of any type of reinforcement such as geogrids and geotextiles that are embedded in pavement sections. Moreover, the inuence of interface properties on the pavement performance can be evaluated by using this modeling methodology with the use of contact/interface elements employed in the present study. In some cases, glass ber grid was allowed to slip within the asphalt layer. This was accomplished by assigning proper properties for the interface between the reinforcement grid and the HMA layer. Figure 15 shows the deformed shape of the glass ber grid on an exaggerated scale. The reinforcement grid undergoes deformations that depend on the interface properties at the grid-HMA interface. The interface properties can have a signicant inuence on the pavement performance. This study shows that such complex behavior can be modeled by using contact elements and the reinforcement layer can be modeled with membrane elements.

Fig. 14 Vertical deformations in a reinforced thin pavement section with no slip. (a) Top surface. (b) Geogrid surface. (c) Gravel surface. (d) Subgrade surface

Three-dimensional analysis with contact interfaces (contact surfaces) can be quite complex and takes a signicant amount of computational effort because of the interface nonlinearities. Therefore, a two-dimensional analysis was performed to explore its accuracy in comparison to a fully three-dimensional analysis. All the layers except the glass grid were modeled by using two-dimensional deformable elements. Figure 16 represents the nite element mesh used for the axi-symmetric case. Figure 17 shows the vertical stress distribution obtained from various computer analyses. As can be seen from this gure, the vertical stress distribution obtained from all these methods seems to be similar.

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Vertical Stress (kN/m2)

120 100 80 60 40 20 0 0

Measured Stress # 1 at 500000 cycles (Experiment # 3) Measured Stress # 1 at 500000 cycles (Experiment # 5) Predicted Stress # 1(Upper Bound) Predicted Stress # 1 (Lower Bound)

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Applied Load (kN)

Fig. 18 Comparison of measured and predicted vertical stresses in a thick asphalt section with reinforcement

Table 2 Assumed lower and upper bound values of elastic modulus Fig. 15 Deformed shape of the glass ber grid within the asphalt layer. (a) Undeformed glass ber grid. (b) Deformed glass ber grid with no slip Material Lower bound value (kN/m2) 223,236 20,670 Upper bound value (kN/m2) 413,400 82,680

Gravel Subgrade

CL
0.000 0.076

Circular Loading Plate

GLASS GRID HMA 0.076 m GRAVEL BASE 0.216 m

0.292

SUBGRADE 0.254 m
0.546 0 0.152 0.304 0.609

Radial Distance (m)

Fig. 16 Finite element mesh for axi-symmetric case

0 0.1
AXISYMMETRIC
3D FEA

Vertical Depth (m)

Therefore, it can be stated that a two-dimensional analysis can be used to compute stress distribution in a reinforced pavement section subjected to a single load with reasonably good accuracy. Figure 18 shows a comparison of experimentally measured vertical stress with those obtained from the KENLAYER program (Huang 1993), which is based on the theory of elasticity. More details of this analysis can be found elsewhere (Kutuk 1998). While keeping the material properties of glass grid and the HMA unchanged, the material properties of the gravel base and the subgrade were varied between a lower bound and an upper bound values which are shown in Table 2. The comparison between the measured stresses and the computed values can be considered as reasonable.

Vertical Depth (m)

0.2 0.3

5 Discussion and Conclusions

0.4 0.5 0.6 0 100 200 300 400 500 600

Vertical Stress (kN/m2)

Fig. 17 Variation of vertical stress with depth

Because of the need to extend pavement service life, use of pavement reinforcements has received increased attention during the last few decades. Experimental and computational studies were performed to investigate the inuence of synthetic grids in the hot mix asphalt (HMA) layer on the

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performance of pavements. Experiments were conducted in a container in the laboratory. Numerical modeling analyses were performed by using both two-dimensional and three-dimensional nite element models of the experimental setup. The thicker asphalt layer leads to lower vertical subgrade stress. Reinforcement in the asphalt layer also causes a slight but insignicant reduction in the vertical subgrade stress. Inclusion of a reinforcement layer spreads the circular load over a larger area in the lower layers of the pavement section slightly reducing vertical stresses. Even though a non-reinforced thicker asphalt layer causes lower subgrade stress than that corresponding to a thinner reinforced asphalt layer, the measured displacements indicate that the thinner reinforced asphalt section performs better than the non-reinforced thicker asphalt section. The computed vertical stresses from the nite element analysis compare reasonably well with the measured values at selected locations. In the threedimensional nite element analysis, the reinforcing material was modeled as a membrane. The interface properties between the reinforcing material and the HMA layer have an inuence on the computed displacements and the stress distribution in the pavement section. More computational modeling work needs to be performed to study the inuence of interface properties and the inuence of material degradation (damage) due to repeated loading on the pavement performance.
Acknowledgements The paper contains results from a research project funded by the West Virginia Department of transportation (WVDOT), Division of Highways through a research contract to West Virginia University. The authors acknowledge the support provided by WVDOT.

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