Load bearing capacity of a national road with base course made of mineral-cement-emulsion mixture after 12 years of exploitation

Abstract

The paper presents analysis of pavement structural performance on the section of national road DK 19 in 2000. FWD tests and analysis of elastic deflections were made after the first and thirteenth year of exploitation. The pavement stiffness moduli were calculated using author’s programmes SF-PL and ELMOD, adopting two- and three-layer elastic half-space models. The evaluation of stiffness moduli of base course made of mineral cement-emulsion mixture (MCEM) with addition of 5% (m/m) cement and 3% (m/m) asphalt emulsion was carried out. Statistical analysis of calculations and traffic analysis were made to determine the load-bearing capacity of the pavement construction and to estimate fatigue damage. It was found that the results of calculations with the three-layer elastic half-space model are characterized by a large variation, about 2-fold higher than in the case of the of the two-layer model. The calculated mean values of stiffness moduli at average surface temperature of 22°C in 2001 and 2013 were 6,191 MPa and 4,584 MPa respectively in the model of a double-layered elastic half-space.