Evaluation of In Situ Pavement Material Properties and Behavior through Field Instrumentation and Load Testing
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 137, Issue 7
Abstract
State highway agencies have been experimenting with new concrete mixtures and pavement design features for improving the behavior and performance of concrete pavements. This paper presents the results of a field study undertaken in Maryland with alternative concrete mixtures. The objective of the study was to evaluate the in-place material properties for three concrete mixtures: a control, a fiber-reinforced, and a low-shrinkage concrete mix. Field instrumentation was used for monitoring the deflections and strains of the concrete slabs built with these concrete mixtures. Nondestructive testing (NDT) and back-calculation analysis were then used to evaluate the in situ material properties immediately after construction. Although traditional back-calculation analysis is based primarily on deflection measurements, in this study an iterative approach using NDT methods and measured strain and deflection data was employed for estimating the in situ modulus of subgrade reaction, . This analysis provided a base model for future comparisons of the behavior and performance of the pavement test sections after prolonged exposure to in-service loading conditions.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
Funding for this study was provided by the Maryland State Highway Administration (MDSHA) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)FHA. The writers acknowledge the assistance and technical support of MDSHA and FHWA engineers and the contribution of Construction Technologies Laboratories, Inc. for the field instrumentation and testing.
References
ASTM. (2009). “Standard test method for pulse velocity through concrete.” C597, West Conshohocken, PA.
Fwa, T. F., and Setiadji, B. H. (2006). “Evaluation of backcalculation methods for nondestructive determination of concrete pavement properties.” Transportation Research Record 1949, 83–97.
Goulias, D. G. (2002a). “High performance concrete materials for pavement structures.” High performance structures and composites, WIT Press, Southampton, U.K., 329–334.
Goulias, D. G. (2002b). “High performance concrete pavement project in Maryland.” Concrete 2002—2nd Annual Conf., Maryland Ready-Mix Concrete Association, Baltimore.
Goulias, D. G. (2004). “Characterization and performance of high performance concrete for pavements.” High performance structures and composites, WIT Press, Southhampton, U.K., 353–360.
Goulias, D. G., and Schwartz, C. W. (2003). “High performance concrete pavement.” Final Research Rep. #430003, Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD.
Huang, Y. H. (2004). Pavement analysis and design, 2nd Ed., Pearson/Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Qing, L., Ulidtz, P., Basheer, I., Ghuzian, K., and Signore, J. M. (2009). “CalBack: Enhancing Caltrans ME pavement design process with new backcalculation software.” J. Transp. Eng., 135(7), 479–488.
Rufino, D., Roesler, J., and Barenberg, E. J. (2002). “Evaluation of different methods and models for backcalculating pavement properties based on Denver International Airport data.” Technology Transfer Conference, Federal Aviation Administration, Atlantic City, NJ.
Setiadji, B. H., and Fwa, T. F. (2009). “Examining -E relationship of pavement subgrade based on load-deflection consideration.” J. Transp. Eng., 135(3), 140–148.
Yoder, E. J., and Witczak, M. W. (1975). Principles of pavement design, 2nd Ed., Wiley, New York.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 137 • Issue 7 • July 2011
Pages: 466 - 473
Copyright
© 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 1, 2010
Accepted: Sep 21, 2010
Published online: Jun 15, 2011
Published in print: Jul 1, 2011
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.