Developing Implementable Climatic Input Data and Moisture Boundary Conditions for Pavement Analysis and Design

The main objective of this study is to develop a practical and implementable numerical model for predicting the moisture (suction) regime within the pavement subgrade system. The research quality and uniformly-dispersed climate data over short distances from Oklahoma Mesonet and the Mitchell based moisture (suction) prediction methods establish the main background of the research study. The study involved numerical modeling and statistical analysis of climatic weather data. The proposed moisture variation model predicts the suction distribution throughout the soil subgrade by solving the diffusion equation and incorporates the measured suction from the Oklahoma Mesonet to estimate the diffusion coefficient. The research study resulted in a practical prediction model that could be used to determine the moisture boundary conditions within the pavement structure.
Tran-SET Project No. 18POKS03