Evaluation of resilient and permanent deformations of geogrid reinforced pavements

Abstract

Geosynthetics have long been used for reinforcing unbound base/subbase layers in paved and unpaved roads for improving its performance and carrying more loads. Field applications demonstrated that geosynthetic reinforcement can help reduce various types of distresses and extend the service life of pavement structures. Geogrid, a two dimensional planar geosynthetic is used in unpaved roads to to carry the superimposed load such as traffic load and to well distribute the load safety to the subgrade. In the current paper experimental studies are conducted on geogrid reinforced Granular Sub Base to see the effectiveness of reinforcement in the field by allowing the load for very large number of repetitions. The performance of the reinforcement is monitored by studying the plastic and elastic deformation and then comparing it with the unreinforced cases. The results showed that geogrid reinforces the unbound aggregate thus reducing the deformation along with the reduction in the required thickness of the aggregate layer of unpaved roads. The amount of reduction of permanent deformation was more for reinforced layer with higher thickness.