HKIE TRANSACTIONS 2018, VOL. 25, NO. 3, 208–216 https://doi.org/10.1080/1023697X.2018.1499445 Estimating the remaining life of airfield flexible pavements considering environmental factors Hongduo Zhao, Lukuan Ma and Jiake Zhang Key Laboratory of Road and Traffic Engineering of the Ministry of Education Department, Tongji University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China ABSTRACT The mechanistic-empirical analysis approach assumes a fixed environmental condition in esti- mating the remaining life of airfield flexible pavements, which may introduce some errors with the real situation. This paper investigated the influences of moisture and frost on resilient modu- lus of subgrade soil and unbound materials, as well as the influences of temperature on modulus and Poisson’s ratio of asphalt mixture. A time-sharing damage accumulation method, which considered the environmental factors in pavement damage calculation, was provided in this research. Based on the method, this paper proposed a methodology to predict the remaining life of in-service airfield flexible pavements, and a case study was conducted using this method- ology. The result shows that environmental factors significantly affect the damage calculation of airfield flexible pavements. Besides, it has been found from the case study that the methodology is applicable for estimating the remaining life of airfield flexible pavements. The final result of the case also indicates that the methodology provides a relatively accurate result of the remaining life of in-service airfield flexible pavements. ARTICLE HISTORY Received 1 June 2017 Accepted 10 June 2018 KEYWORDS Airfield; flexible pavements; environmental factors; time-sharing damage accumulation; remaining life 1. Introduction The airport managers and engineers juggle many com- peting funding demands [1–2], and maintaining the airfield pavements in a satisfactory condition is one of the largest expenses of an airport. Regular pavement evaluations performed as part of a pavement manage- ment programme allow airport managers to track the pavements’ conditions. From the airport manager’s per- spective, the main objective of pavement evaluations is to determine when the pavements need to be renewed and how much it will cost. The answers of the two questions are very impor- tant. Frequent renewal of pavements may waste money. However, long waiting time for restoration will increase the cost, and it is also a risk for aircraft operation under unsafe conditions. In more common terms, the first question is asking about the remaining life of pave- ments. This concept is based on the fact that a new pavement is designed to carry a certain number of loads during the service life. Over time, as those loads are applied, the pavement deteriorates to the point where it is said to have little or no (structural) remaining life. By then it is a candidate for either renewal or reconstruction. Currently, several approaches for estimating the remaining life of pavements are available, which include design-based or traffic-based approach [3], pavement condition index (PCI) approach [3–5], and mechanistic-empirical analysis approach [3,6–11]. It is well accepted that the mechanistic-empirical analysis approach is the most theoretically rigorous means of estimating the remaining life, and accurate results can be obtained when sufficient field performance data are available to calibrate the model predictions [3]. Mechanical responses are the basis of the mecha- nistic-empirical analysis approach. It is essential to obtain pavement layer thicknesses and properties (such as modulus and Poisson’s ratio) for analysing mechan- ical response. However, modulus and Poisson’s ratio of pavement layers are sensitive to changes in cli- matic parameters and environmental conditions such as temperature, moisture, and frost, especially for flexi- ble pavements [12,13]. Since asphalt is viscoelastic and temperature sensitive, the stiffness and fatigue char- acteristics of bituminous layers are very sensitive to temperature. Furthermore, moisture and frost primar- ily influence properties of subgrade soil and unbound materials, especially the resilient modulus. Thus, envi- ronmental factors must be carefully considered in esti- mating the remaining life of flexible pavements [6,14]. The mechanistic-empirical analysis approach for estimating the remaining life of pavements is the reverse process of the mechanistic-empirical design method. At present, the NCHRP Project 1-37A [15] CONTACT Lukuan Ma [email protected] © 2018 The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers
Estimating the remaining life of airfield flexible pavements considering environmental factors
Jun 28, 2023
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