Seasonal Variation of Backcalculated Subgrade Moduli

Abstract

Seasonal variations in pavement material properties and behavior due to variations in temperature and moisture conditions are known to affect the structural performance of pavement. Temperature, subgrade moisture content, and falling weight deflectometer (FWD) deflection data were collected monthly on four asphalt pavement test sections for a year. Subgrade moduli were backcalculated using the elastic layer theory with two calculation schemes and pavement models. Backcalculation of subgrade moduli by subdividing the subgrade into a compacted subgrade layer and a natural soil subgrade layer resulted in compacted subgrade moduli that are more sensitive to the seasonal variation for all sites. It was found that for almost all sites, the patterns of subgrade response, in terms of subgrade moduli versus subgrade moisture content, simulated sine-shaped forms signifying a temperature effect. The temperature effect was confirmed by the strong correlation between backcalculated subgrade moduli and pavement surface temperature during FWD tests. The lowest backcalculated subgrade moduli were obtained for two sections during months when asphalt surface temperatures were excessively high (greater than 40°C). Both backcalculation schemes showed similar trends in variation of subgrade moduli over seasons. When the AASHTO relative damage concept was used to compute the effective roadbed soil resilient modulus for design, similar values were found for both schemes for most of the sites. The minimum frequency of FWD testing to capture the seasonal variation of subgrade was found to be three tests per year, or testing every fourth month, assuming that unusually high temperature regimes could be avoided.