1366809 - Quantifying the Influence of Geosynthetics on Pavement Performance against Rutting

Transportation agencies and DOTs continually strive to provide good quality pavements for effective transportation of public and goods. It is obvious that pavements experience critical distresses, such as rutting and fatigue. Compressive strain and tensile strain at the bottom of the base and asphalt layers influence major distresses. Adopting geosynthetics is one of the recent innovative approaches to limit distresses by introducing reinforcing materials in asphalt and base layers of pavement structures. The objective is to evaluate the performance of geosynthetic reinforcements in flexible pavements. The computer program, Composite Geosynthetic Base-Course Model, was employed to mimic the pavement layers’ responses and as a result, various strains at the bottom of asphalt and base layers were recorded. The findings show that the reinforced pavement layers with geosynthetic materials experienced a significant reduction in compressive strain at the bottom compared to the conventional pavement structure. This indicates that the geosynthetic pavement structures can limit rutting, and hence, the service life of pavements could be increased. In addition, the study aimed to quantify the ability of geosynthetic pavement structure to withstand rutting by developing a novel parameter, Rutting Resistance Ratio (RR). RR was calculated based on the compressive strains of conventional and reinforced pavement structures. Geosynthetic-reinforced pavements can be considered for roads that are not feasible for regular maintenance due to their longer life span. Due to geosynthetic reinforcement, rutting as well as potholes can be reduced, which leads to a reduction in maintenance costs.