Design of Low-Volume Pavements against Rutting

Abstract

Roads that connect remote communities to each other and to urban centers are essential for community survival, yet they often must be funded from a small taxation base. Because of their thin, often unsealed, construction, the pavements forming these roads typically fail by rutting. A simplified means of designing pavements against rutting that is usable by engineers in these remote locations is proposed. The causes of rutting are identified, and simple methods of material assessment suitable for use by local road engineers having limited resources are discussed. An advanced testing and analytical approach is reported that uses repeated load triaxial testing of aggregates and nonlinear finite element analysis of chip-sealed pavements. The results are used to develop a permissible stress approach for design purposes. This approach uses simple stress analysis, by chart and PC-based computations, with readily available in situ evaluation of materials.