Development of Analytic Method for Computing Expansive Soil–Induced Stresses in Highway Pavement
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 20, Issue 2
Abstract
Highway pavements with longitudinal cracks are often seen on expansive subgrade soil. This paper proposes a model using the Winkler foundation theory to analyze the pavement by considering it as a beam resting on expansive soil. To integrate the heave/shrinkage of expansive soil in the model, the concept of virtual load is introduced by expressing it as a Fourier series. The virtual load is formulated following the inverse theory of mathematics by taking the Fourier constants as material parameters from the beam deflection equivalent to the heave/shrinkage of expansive subgrade soils. As an example of the model application, a case study was performed by incorporating the measured field moisture contents from research Roadway FM 2 in Texas. The extreme heave or shrinkage displacement of the expansive subgrade soil was estimated from the calculated moisture contents, which were obtained using software VADOSE/W. Locations of the cracks observed in the field matched well with the locations where the maximum bending moments were discovered from the established model.
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Acknowledgments
The research presented in this paper was sponsored by the South Plains Transportation Center (SPTC) under Contract Nos. SPTC14.1-76 and SPTC15.1-23. Support and assistance of the SPTC office and personnel are gratefully acknowledged. The first author thanks the Shannon & Wilson Word Processing Department for its careful English improvement work.
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Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 20 • Issue 2 • February 2020
Copyright
©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 17, 2018
Accepted: Apr 18, 2019
Published online: Dec 5, 2019
Published in print: Feb 1, 2020
Discussion open until: May 5, 2020
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