Evaluation of Structural Performance of Pavements under Extreme Events: Flooding and Heatwave Case Studies

Abstract

The recent increase in the frequency of extreme weather events has raised awareness and interest in the need for transportation infrastructure resilience. In this paper, the issue of pavement resilience is discussed with the goal of refining the idea for its use in pavement design. It is argued that one critical knowledge gap to advancing the state of the art in this area is distinguishing between functional and structural resiliency. The arguments here are framed using floods and heatwaves to demonstrate the importance of structural resilience. Under extreme event disruptions, structural damage is inevitable. The case study simulations in this paper suggest, depending on the pavement structure, intensity, and frequency of flooding events over the analysis period, that pavement rutting performance can decrease by 15.5% in the case of a structure with sand subgrade and 18.8% in the case of a structure with clay subgrade. In the case of heatwaves, the increase in rutting was found to be 2.9% in a structure with sand subgrade. To move toward more resilient pavement infrastructure, it is important to continuously monitor pavements after extreme events, develop methodologies to predict their performance, incorporate the findings in the current pavement management systems, and adapt design and management strategies accordingly. Future design and management of pavement systems should consider both structural and functional resiliency. This study shows that pavement performance simulations predict a long-term decrease in structural performance as a result of extreme events.