Pre-Design of Pavement Behavior of Nailed-Slab System to Soft Soils Due to Eccentric and Lateral Axial Loads

Abstract

Under natural conditions, low to medium-density soils tend to experience considerable deformation when crossed by repeated loads from vehicles. Therefore, a pavement structure is needed to protect the soil from excessive loads caused by vehicles. Rigid pavement is one of the common types of road pavement used on soft subgrade soils. A proposed method to address road pavement issues on soft soils is the nailed-slab system. This research is a quantitative study through an experimental method conducted in the laboratory using a 1:1 scale. A container houses a prototype of rigid pavement featuring a nailed-slab system. Strain gauges are installed at specific points on the pile and pavement slab, and they are connected to a computer to record any changes in deflection that occur on the pile and the pavement slab when subjected to eccentric and axial lateral loads. Numerical analysis is also performed using Plaxis for comparison. It is found that lateral loads can affect the interaction between the soil and the pile. Repeated lateral loads can create gaps that reduce the soil friction against the pile. These gaps tend to become larger as the lateral loads are increased and applied repeatedly, thus causing a greater settlement of the slab above them as well.