MECHANISTIC EVALUATION OF SATURATED BASES UNDER CONCRETE PAVEMENTS

A mechanistic method for predicting the response of concrete pavements overlying a multilayer soil system is proposed, The method incorporat es a finite-element discretization of a concrete slab and a variable f oundation support that depends on the nonlinear resilient moduli of th e underlying soil layers. The method allows for determination of exces s pore-water pressure in saturated granular layers and the correspondi ng loss of foundation support under the pavement structure. To illustr ate the idea, the proposed method was applied to investigate the behav ior of a concrete pavement supported by granular bases over a soft cla y layer. Moist-compacted and saturated conditions were examined for ty pical dense-graded and open-graded unbound granular bases. Pavement de flections, stresses, excess pore pressure, and compression settlement associated with pore-pressure dissipation for the different support co nditions were evaluated and compared.