04-03-20

MODULUS OF
RESILIENCE
Resilient Behavior of Unbound Granular Material

What is Resilient Modulus?

The modulus of resilience is defined as the
maximum energy that can be absorbed per unit
volume without creating a permanent
distortion. It can be calculated by integrating
the stress-strain curve from zero to the elastic
limit.

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Resilient Behavior……(cont.)

• Proper characterization of the mechanical

response of unbound aggregate materials is a
crucial factor in the
• design and
• rehabilitation of pavement structures.
• Among the many parameters that exist today
for characterization, the resilient modulus
appears to be the most suitable.

Resilient Behavior……(cont.)

• Resilient modulus, MR, is an important

parameter which characterizes the subgrade’s
ability to withstand repetitive stresses under
traffic loadings
• Resilient modulus means the ability of the
material to return to its original form after being
loaded at certain level of stress.

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Resilient Modulus

• Resilient Modulus (Mr) is a fundamental material

property used to characterize unbound pavement
materials. It is a measure of material stiffness
and provides a mean to analyze stiffness of
materials under different conditions, such as
moisture, density and stress level. It is also a
required input parameter to pavement design
method

Elasticity vs. Plasticity

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Resilient Modulus

• Mr is typically determined through laboratory

tests by measuring stiffness of a cylinder
specimen subject to a cyclic axle load.
• Mr is defined as a ratio of applied axle deviator
stress and axle recoverable strain

Resilient Modulus
• Brief
The modulus of resilience is the maximum
elastic energy absorbed by a material
when a load is applied

• Detail
The modulus of resilience Mr is the area
contained under the elastic portion of the
stress-strain curve. It is the elastic energy
that a material absorbs during loading and
subsequently releases when the load is
removed.

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Resilient Modulus……(cont.)

• The modulus of resilience is equal to the area

under the portion of OY of the stress-strain
diagram as shown:
and represents the
energy per unit
volume that a material
can absorb without
yielding.

Resilient Modulus……(cont.)
• Resilience can broadly be
defined as "the ability [of a
system] to cope with
change. Particularly in
material science, it is the
ability of a material to
absorb energy when it is
deformed elastically, and
release that energy upon
unloading.
• The units of the modulus of
resilience are in J/m3

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Resilient Modulus……(cont.)

• Resilient modulus, MR, is an important

parameter which characterizes the subgrade’s
ability to withstand repetitive stresses under
traffic loadings
• Resilient modulus means the ability of the
material to return to its original form after being
loaded at certain level of stress.

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Resilient Modulus……(cont.)

• Due to the non-linear behavior of granular

materials, their resilient moduli appear to be
influenced by several factors. Some of them
are
• Deviator stress
• Confining Pressure
• Soil Dry Density
• Soil Moisture Content

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(σ1) Deviator Stress

(σ2 & σ3) Confining Pressure

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Major Principle Stress

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Deviator Stress
• Deviator Stress = q
•q = σ1- σc
• Where
• Δσa = q , i.e.,
Axial Stress is equal to the deviator stress.

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Mean Normal Stress

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Poisson’s Ratio
• Elastic dimensional change
will occur transverse to
applied uniaxial load:

Poisson’s ratio

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Resilient Modulus

• The new 2002 AASHTO Guide for Pavement

Design advocates the use of the resilient
modulus parameter for the characterization of
granular materials used as base and sub-base
layers in flexible pavements.
• This mechanistic parameter is known to be
influenced by the material physical conditions
and the state of stress the material is subjected
to.

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Resilient Modulus

• The resilient modulus is a key element in the

design and rehabilitation of pavement
structures.
• It was introduced by the American Association
of State Highway and Transportation Officials
(AASHTO) in the design of pavements in 1986.
• It closely simulates the in-situ conditions in
terms of traffic and environmental loading.

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Resilient Modulus

• Suitability of resilient modulus is due to the

ability to closely simulate the material in-situ
conditions under traffic loading.
• The resilient modulus, Mr, is a mechanical
property of the material that describes its
stress – strain relationship under dynamic
loading and specified physical conditions.

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Resilient Modulus

• In repeated tri-axial load tests, Mr, is defined as

the ratio of the peak cyclic deviator stress to
the recoverable measured axial strain as given
in equation below.

Mr = δd / εr

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Resilient Modulus…..

• Under cyclic loading, unbound granular

materials exhibit elastoplastic behavior,
characterized by increases in stiffness and
permanent deformation with load repetitions.
• The repeated load tri-axial apparatus was
developed in order to investigate the
mechanical behavior of unbound pavement
materials.

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Repeated load tri-axial apparatus

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Resilient Modulus…..
The apparatus aims to simulate traffic loads by
subjecting a cylindrical specimen to repeated
cyclic stresses.

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Repeated load tri-axial apparatus

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