Deterioration mechanism and rapid detection of performances of an existing subgrade in southern China

Abstract

To relieve the increasing traffic load, many early built highways need to be widened or reconstructed. The rapid performance detection to existing subgrades is important to their reasonable evaluation and maximized utilization. Based on five kinds of soils taken from an existing highway in southern China, three commonly detecting methods were used to determine their moisture contents, compaction degrees and resilient moduli. The results showed that the measured moisture contents were greater than the design value, and the compaction degrees decreased sharply compared to the original ones. The moisture and heat exchange produced a decrease in the resilient modulus of plate loading test (PLT) from the standard 60 MPa down to 40 MPa. Afterwards, the portable falling weight deflectometer (PFWD) and dynamic cone penetrometer (DCP) were used to evaluate the subgrade performances. The measured PFWD moduli and the DCP penetration rates were correlated with the resilient moduli of PLT, deflections of the Beckman beam test, compaction degrees and moisture contents. The correlation analysis indicates that both of two methods are suitable in rapid detecting subgrade performances, but PFWD method is more recommended for it has higher accuracy and efficiency.

Keywords

humid and hot areas / existing subgrade / deterioration mechanism / rapid detection / portable falling weight deflectometer / dynamic cone penetrometer

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