Numerical Study of Geotextile-Reinforced Flexible Pavement Overlying Low-Strength Subgrade
Source abstract
Abstract
Construction of low-volume flexible pavements on low-strength subgrade poses design, construction, and maintenance challenges. While researchers have generally acknowledged the potential for geosynthetics as reinforcement material, they mainly focused on permanent deformation. Therefore, this paper presents a numerical study of low-volume flexible pavement reinforced with geotextile material under static loading to determine the improvement due to reinforcement based on three criteria: rutting performance, geosynthetic placement location, and base course thickness reduction. Based on the Finite Element Method (FEM), three-dimensional modeling using Abaqus/CAE software was performed. From the study, a significant decrease in rutting of up to 25.2% for the unreinforced pavement system was attained with geotextile reinforcement at base–subgrade and AC–base interfaces. The deflection response behavior of the pavement system is affected by the elastic modulus of the geosynthetic material, placement location, and the number of reinforcement layers. As a result of reinforcement, a base course thickness reduction of up to 30% was achieved without sacrificing the pavement’s structural integrity.
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Research context
OpenAlex topics: Geotechnical Engineering and Soil Stabilization · Geotechnical Engineering and Underground Structures · Geotechnical Engineering and Analysis
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
School of Civil Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, China
Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Eldoret, Eldoret P.O. Box 1125-30100, Kenya
Funding
National Key Research and Development of China
References (35)
Show source-provided references
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