Effect of Granular Subbase Thickness on Airfield Pavement Structural Response
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 20, Issue 5
Abstract
The effects of variable granular subbase thickness on the structural responses of flexible airport pavement test sections subjected to six-wheel and four-wheel multiple-wheel heavy aircraft gear loading are discussed. Four low-strength subgrade flexible pavement sections at the National Airport Pavement Test Facility (NAPTF) with different subbase thicknesses (406, 610, 864, and ) were considered. Heavy weight deflectometer (HWD) tests were conducted prior to traffic testing to document the uniformity of the test pavements. Surface deflection basins were obtained and the layer moduli were back-calculated. Traffic tests were conducted on test sections with the intention of failing the subgrade; in the meanwhile, rutting was monitored periodically. A two-dimensional pavement finite-element program was used to model the NAPTF test sections and compute the critical structural responses. Test sections with lower subbase thicknesses showed higher HWD maximum surface deflections and higher computed subgrade deviator stress. However, an increase in the subbase thickness did not reduce the deviator stress in the pavement. Test sections with lower subbase thicknesses showed higher levels of early life rut depth development. The development of surface rut depths with increasing number of load repetitions was characterized using the Power model and regression models were developed to predict rutting model parameters as functions of measured and computed initial structural responses.
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Acknowledgments
This paper was prepared from a study conducted in the Center of Excellence (COE) for Airport Technology. Funding for the COE is provided in part by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The COE is maintained at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which works in partnership with Northwestern University and the FAA. Dr. Patricia Watts is the FAA Program Manager for Air Transportation COE and Dr. Satish Agrawal is the Manager of the FAA Airport Technology R&D Branch. The writers gratefully acknowledge Dr. Navneet Garg of SRA International Inc., Dr. David Brill and Dr. Gordon Hayhoe of FAA for their valuable help in conducting this study and for supplying the photographs related to the trench study. The contents of this paper reflect the views of the writers who are responsible for the facts and accuracy of the data presented within. The contents do not necessarily reflect the official views and policies of the FAA. This paper does not constitute a standard, specification, or regulation.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 20 • Issue 5 • May 2008
Pages: 331 - 342
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Jan 19, 2006
Accepted: Sep 18, 2007
Published online: May 1, 2008
Published in print: May 2008
Notes
Note. Associate Editor: Shin-Che Huang
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