Abstract
This study introduces a mechanism for initial assessment and future development to improve understanding of expanded polystyrene (EPS) behavior as a super-lightweight material for road construction. Large scale cyclic plate load tests on model pavements were performed. The effect of several factors including thickness of soil, thickness of subsequent EPS layers and density of EPS on the surface deformations, resilient modulus (Mr) and interlayer pressure transfer were investigated. The results indicated that, compared to a covering soil layer of 300 mm, the rut depth on the loading surface reduced by 13.5% and 40.8% when the soil thickness was increased by 33% and 100%, respectively. With a constant soil thickness, increasing the thickness of an upper (denser) EPS layer with respect to a bottom (softer) EPS layer, from 200 mm to 600 mm, would only result in a 20% decrease in the peak settlements after loading. Resilient modulus of the system was found to be dependent on soil thickness. A designer can choose an appropriate resilient modulus assuming the soil-EPS composite acts as subgrade or subbase. In order to extend the results to a wider range of geofoams, soils and layer thicknesses, a simple stress analysis method was also trialed.
Highlights
In recent years, various methods and materials have been implemented for improvement of pavements subjected to cyclic traffic loading
When the top and bottom layers are EPS 30, the mentioned reduction is 52%
Measured pressure at different layers of EPS geofoam for 100 cycles of 275 kPa and 400 cycles of 550 kPa pressures
Summary
Various methods and materials have been implemented for improvement of pavements subjected to cyclic traffic loading. While sustainability considerations are of prime importance nowadays, there are circumstances where maximum possible reduction in the weight of material becomes a priority Recent examples of these situations are reported by Özer & Akınay (2019), Duškov et al (2019) and Vaslestad et al (2019). In such cases, EPS geofoam has been introduced as a super lightweight cellular geosynthetic material comprising several advantageous characteristics for application in geotechnical and highway engineering. In the past 40 years, many countries including, but not limited to, Norway, Sweden, USA, Japan and Turkey have befitted from ultra-light weight of EPS in a variety of projects
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