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This study presents the results of one of the first attempts to characterize the pore water pressure response of soils subjected to traffic loading under saturated and unsaturated conditions. It is widely known that pore water pressure develops within the soil pores as a response to external stimulus. Also, it

This study presents the results of one of the first attempts to characterize the pore water pressure response of soils subjected to traffic loading under saturated and unsaturated conditions. It is widely known that pore water pressure develops within the soil pores as a response to external stimulus. Also, it has been recognized that the development of pores water pressure contributes to the degradation of the resilient modulus of unbound materials. In the last decades several efforts have been directed to model the effect of air and water pore pressures upon resilient modulus. However, none of them consider dynamic variations in pressures but rather are based on equilibrium values corresponding to initial conditions. The measurement of this response is challenging especially in soils under unsaturated conditions. Models are needed not only to overcome testing limitations but also to understand the dynamic behavior of internal pore pressures that under critical conditions may even lead to failure. A testing program was conducted to characterize the pore water pressure response of a low plasticity fine clayey sand subjected to dynamic loading. The bulk stress, initial matric suction and dwelling time parameters were controlled and their effects were analyzed. The results were used to attempt models capable of predicting the accumulated excess pore pressure at any given time during the traffic loading and unloading phases. Important findings regarding the influence of the controlled variables challenge common beliefs. The accumulated excess pore water pressure was found to be higher for unsaturated soil specimens than for saturated soil specimens. The maximum pore water pressure always increased when the high bulk stress level was applied. Higher dwelling time was found to decelerate the accumulation of pore water pressure. In addition, it was found that the higher the dwelling time, the lower the maximum pore water pressure. It was concluded that upon further research, the proposed models may become a powerful tool not only to overcome testing limitations but also to enhance current design practices and to prevent soil failure due to excessive development of pore water pressure.

ContributorsCary, Carlos (Author) / Zapata, Claudia E (Thesis advisor) / Wiczak, Matthew W (Thesis advisor) / Kaloush, Kamil (Committee member) / Sandra, Houston (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
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Recent research efforts have been directed to improve the quality of pavement design procedures by considering the transient nature of soil properties due to environmental and aging effects on pavement performance. The main purpose of this research study was to investigate the existence of subgrade soil moisture changes that may

Recent research efforts have been directed to improve the quality of pavement design procedures by considering the transient nature of soil properties due to environmental and aging effects on pavement performance. The main purpose of this research study was to investigate the existence of subgrade soil moisture changes that may have arisen due to thermal and hydraulic gradients at the Atlantic City NAPTF and to evaluate their effect on the material stiffness and the California Bearing Ratio (CBR) strength parameter of the clay subgrade materials. Laboratory data showed that at the same water content, matric suction decreases with increasing temperature; and at the same suction, hydraulic conductivity increases with increasing temperature. Models developed, together with moisture/temperature data collected from 30 sensors installed in the test facility, yielded a maximum variation of suction in field of 155 psi and changes in hydraulic conductivity from 2.9E-9 m/s at 100% saturation to 8.1E-12 at 93% saturation. The maximum variation in temperature was found to be 20.8oC at the shallower depth and decreased with depth; while a maximum variation in moisture content was found to be 3.7% for Dupont clay and 4.4% for County clay. Models developed that predicts CBR as a function of dry density and moisture content yielded a maximum variation of CBR of 2.4 for Dupont clay and 2.9 for County clay. Additionally, models were developed relating the temperature with the bulk stress and octahedral stress applied on the subgrade for dual gear, dual tandem and triple tandem gear types for different tire loads. It was found that as the temperature increases the stresses increase. A Modified Cary and Zapata model was used for predicting the resilient modulus(Mr) of the subgrade. Using the models developed and the temperature/moisture changes observed in the field, the variation of suction, bulk and octahedral stresses were estimated, along with the resilient modulus for three different gear types. Results indicated that changes in Mr as large as 9 ksi occur in the soils studied due to the combined effect of external loads and environmental condition changes.
ContributorsThirthar Palanivelu, Pugazhvel (Author) / Zapata, Claudia E (Thesis advisor) / Kavazanjian, Edward (Committee member) / Houston, Sandra (Committee member) / Underwood, Shane (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017