Investigation of Thermally and Mechanically Balanced Structural Design of Insulated Pavements for Cold Region Applications
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part B: Pavements
Volume 148, Issue 2
Abstract
Adding an insulation layer above the frost-susceptible layer in regular pavement structures was proved to be an efficient way to mitigate the influence of climates, such as frost heave and thaw weakening, on pavements in cold regions. However, there is limited research in the area of insulated pavement performance evaluation and design procedures. To bridge the gap and design the structure of insulated pavements, we developed an approach that integrated the selection of the failure criteria, the generation of a trial structure, the evaluation of the thermal and mechanical responses based on a finite-element (FE) model, and the prediction of the pavement rutting and cracking performance. To calibrate the heat transfer process and the thermal field of the FE model, four large-scale pavement boxes were constructed, with one as the control box (no insulation layer) and three others insulated by extruded polystyrene (XPS) boards, tire chips, and foamed concrete, respectively. The spatiotemporal variations of temperature distributions in each box using thermocouples were monitored, and the thermal properties of the insulation materials were back-calculated by a simulated annealing method. Based on the mechanical and thermal responses of various insulated pavements, we calculated the maximum axle load repetitions and developed a sample design table for insulated pavements. The design table indicates that the pavements insulated by XPS boards and foamed concrete can bear more load repetitions than uninsulated pavements, while the tire chips insulated pavement can bear more traffic repetitions only when the overlay thickness is greater than 35 cm. The temperature of the subgrade layer in the insulated pavements is more stable than that in the uninsulated pavements, and a thicker insulation layer results in less temperature variation in the subgrade layer. This study provides new insights into the behavior of insulation layers under cold temperature conditions and helps guide the design of insulated pavements in cold regions.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request, including the COMSOL model used in this study and the measured and predicted temperature distribution.
Acknowledgments
The experiments described and the resulting data presented in this study, unless otherwise noted, were funded under PE 0602784A, Project T53 “Military Engineering Applied Research,” Task 08, under Contract W913E518C0008, managed by the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC). The work described in this paper was conducted at Rowan University’s Center for Research and Education in Advanced Transportation Engineering Systems (CREATEs), Mullica Hill, NJ. Permission was granted by the Director, Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory, to publish this information. The gauges used in the experiment for density and moisture testing were supplied by Troxler Electronic Laboratories. The tire chips were supplied by Lehigh Technologies. The foaming agent and equipment were supplied by Aerix Industries. The foam glass aggregates were supplied by Aero Aggregates. The authors confirm contribution to the paper as follows: study conception and design: Ayman Ali, Zhuang Zhuo, Yusuf Mehta, Wade Lein, and Christopher DeCarlo; data collection: Zhuang Zhuo and Zhaoxing Xie; data analysis: Ayman Ali, Zhuang Zhuo, Cheng Zhu, and Zhaoxing Xie; and draft manuscript preparation: Ayman Ali, Zhuang Zhuo, Zhaoxing Xie, and Cheng Zhu. All authors reviewed the results and approved the final version of the manuscript.
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Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part B: Pavements
Volume 148 • Issue 2 • June 2022
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 14, 2021
Accepted: Nov 21, 2021
Published online: Jan 24, 2022
Published in print: Jun 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Jun 24, 2022
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Cited by
- Zhuang Zhuo, Ayman Ali, Cheng Zhu, Yusuf Mehta, Wade Lein, Christopher DeCarlo, Mohamed Elshaer, Danielle Kennedy, Evaluating the potential of using foamed concrete as the insulation layer for pavements in cold regions, Construction and Building Materials, 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2022.127903, 341, (127903), (2022).