Investigation of Performance Requirements of Full-Depth Reclamation Stabilization

Abstract

This research investigates the relationship between the mechanical properties of SFDR and the final performance of the rehabilitated pavements. The study involves two computational tools (MEPDG and MnPAVE) for the simulation of the long-term rutting behavior of pavements containing SFDR layers. Based on the simulations of three existing MnROAD cells, it is shown that for MEPDG the SFDR layer is best modeled as a bounded asphalt layer. To further investigate the applicability of MEPDG, a series of laboratory experiments are performed on cores taken from several sites constructed with different stabilizers including engineered emulsion, foamed asphalt with cement and CSS-1 with cement. The experiments include IDT creep and tension, semi-circular bending, dynamic modulus and disc compact tension tests. The measured mechanical properties are inputted into MEPDG to predict the rutting performance of these sites and it is shown that the simulated rut depth agrees well with the site measurement. However, it is found that MEPDG may suffer a convergence issue for some ranges of the values of the mechanical properties of SFDR. Due to this limitation, MnPAVE was used as an alternative. It was shown that the results simulated by MnPAVE are consistent with those obtained by MEDPG. A parametric study was performed on the three sites constructed with SFDR to determine the relationship between the long-term reliability of the rut performance and the mechanical properties of the SFDR.