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Accelerated Pavement Testing to Evaluate the Reinforcement Effect of Geogrids in Flexible Pavements

This study presents an accelerated pavement testing (APT) to evaluate the reinforcement effect of geogrids in flexible pavements. A full-scale conventional three-layer flexible pavement structure was constructed, and was divided into one unreinforced section and two reinforced sections with base reinforced by geogrids placed at different depth of base course. The testing program was divided into three parts: performance testing, response testing, and forensic evaluations. The performance testing recorded the development of surface permanent deformation with the number of loadings. The falling weight deflectometer (FWD) was employed to investigate deflections and moduli of flexible pavements in the response testing. The excavation of pavements was to further analyze reinforcement mechanisms. Test results demonstrated the benefits of incorporating geogrids in base course in reducing the permanent deformation and improving the modulus of base course. Compared with the unreinforced section, accumulated permanent deformations in the two reinforced sections decreased significantly, with a drop of 13%–37%, and the back-calculated moduli of the reinforced base increased by 58%–78% after APT. It was possible that sufficient permanent deformation was needed for mobilizing geogrids to constrain lateral movements of granular particles, to increase the overall structural behavior of the reinforced base course, and to improve the stress distribution on the subgrade. These interaction mechanisms were also confirmed in the pavement trench. For a pavement system consisting of a thin surface and base layer, the proper placement position of geogrids was at the base–subgrade interface for this test and loading arrangement.