In-situ and numerical investigation on the dynamic response of unbounded granular material in permeable pavement

Abstract

Permeable pavements have been widely used as an effective means to improve hydrological characteristics and the ecology of the urban environment. This study aims to investigate the response of fully permeable pavement (FPP) subjected to dynamic loading under dry and saturated conditions. A full-scale test track topped with polyurethane bound permeable material (PUPM) was built to obtain the stress response with an accelerated pavement test (APT) system. In addition, comprehensive analyses were performed based on the coupled Stress-dependent Moisture-sensitive Cross-anisotropic Elastoplastic (SMAEP) model in FEM. The APT test showed that the worst state was observed when the pavement structure was fully saturated, and that and brittle failure of the pavement surface occurred when the critical load level was achieved. The prediction of vertical stress predicted by Stress-dependent Cross-anisotropic Elastic (SAE) and SMAEP were both validated with the field data. The horizontal stress predicted by SAE gave a very high and unreasonable tensile stress prediction at the bottom of the unbounded granular base (UGB) layer when subjected to the high load level. With the consideration of moisture effect and the plastic properties of the material, the prediction made by SMAEP is effective to estimate the dynamic response of the UGB layer. Based on the sensitivity analysis, the optimized designs for FPP based on PUPM were suggested.