National Concrete Pavement Technology Center

Project description

Inadequate subsurface drainage tremendously impacts pavement performance. Pavement foundation models in various degrees of superposition and complexity including the Winkler foundation model idealized as a dense liquid, the two-parameter Vlaslov model and the three-parameter Kerr foundation model are indispensable idealizations in the mechanistic-empirical design processes. These design idealizations of foundation types are confounded by undrained or poorly drained subsurface conditions of erodible base and subgrade materials associated cracking, faulting, and accelerated degradation of surface ride quality. In concrete pavements, in particular inadequately drained bases have caused surface joint-spalling, mid-depth joint-cavitation-induced-scouring, and bottom trapezoidal-erosion of the concrete. In addressing this challenge, research examined characteristics of a geocomposite joint drain (GJD) as a subsurface drainage material. This research showed that the numerous benefits of geocomposite joint drain are not limited to lateral stability under load, lateral transmissivity as well as ease of construction and reduction in overall pavement structural thickness.