1. On the thermal sensitivity of unbound granular pavement layers
- Author
-
Irene Rocchi and Eyal Levenberg
- Subjects
050210 logistics & transportation ,Materials science ,Structural material ,Transcendental equation ,05 social sciences ,0211 other engineering and technologies ,Temperature independent ,Resilient modulus ,02 engineering and technology ,Mechanics ,Moduli ,Mechanics of Materials ,Deflection (engineering) ,021105 building & construction ,0502 economics and business ,Thermal ,Civil and Structural Engineering ,Parametric statistics - Abstract
The reversible mechanical behavior of unbound granular layers (UGLs) is commonly characterized by a stress-state dependent resilient modulus. This paper investigated the dependency of in situ resilient modulus upon a change in temperature above freezing conditions, i.e., the thermal sensitivity of UGLs in pavement systems excluding frost action. Such sensitivity is usually ignored in design and analysis because, on a material level, resilient modulus parameters are temperature independent. A model was developed to analyze this dependency by considering the stress-state changes that arise when UGLs are suppressed from thermally expanding or contracting. The formulation was incremental, based on linear thermoelasticity equations, and required as input readily available information; it assumed that changing temperature conditions are exogenous to the model and that no external loads are applied. A transcendental equation was subsequently derived, from which the sought sensitivity of UGLs could be resolved and quantified. Based on a parametric investigation of the model, covering a wide range of representative parameters, it is concluded that UGLs exhibit non-negligible thermal sensitivity. The extent of the calculated sensitivity coincides with field observations based on deflection testing, and also with seasonal factors that are traditionally applied to adjust field-measured moduli. Ultimately, the study shows that resilient modulus of UGLs is governed by an initial stress-state that is associated with a certain reference temperature level, and also by the temperature change compared to the reference.
- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF