Use of wicking geotextile to dehydrate road embankments
“Excess water within a pavement structure is the major cause of pavement deteriorations. A roadway is often constructed with soils compacted at the optimum water contents to achieve the best performance. After construction, the soil water content variation is controlled by the ambient environment. The base course aggregate is very sensitive to water content variations. Unfortunately, conventional drainage system can only drain gravity water, but not capillary water, and it cannot work under unsaturated conditions. Consequently, no matter how well the road is constructed, the water content is expected to increase with time and the excess water will inevitably accelerate pavement deteriorations under repetitive traffic load. This study aims at solving the excess water induced problems using a new wicking geotextile. Firstly, a series of laboratory test results were performed to characterize the mechanical and hydraulic properties of the wicking geotextile, the soil, and their interactions. After that, the laboratory test results were used as numerical simulation inputs to evaluate the performance of the wicking geotextile under different working and climatic conditions. The benefits of the wicking geotextile were quantified and incorporated into the existing pavement design methods. Then, the field performance of the wicking geotextile was continuously monitored and potential issues that might influence the long-term performance of the wicking geotextile are evaluated. Eventually, a new-bio-wicking system is proposed to further improve the drainage efficiency of the wicking geotextile. The results from laboratory tests, numerical simulations, and field observations validated the efficiency of the wicking geotextile to dehydrate road embankments”--Abstract, page iv.
Engineering Application, Geosynthetics, Material Characterization, Numerical Simulation, Pavement Design, Unsaturated Soil, Civil Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering
Missouri University of Science and Technology
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations