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Pavement Repairs Long-Term Performance over Expansive Soil

Samer H. Dessouky, PE, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
University of Texas at San Antonio
One UTSA Circle, San Antonio, TX 78249
Voice: (210) 458-7072, Fax: (210) 458-6475
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[email protected]

ABSTRACT
Expansive soil is considered one of the most common causes of pavement distresses. Depending
upon the moisture level, expansive soils will experience changes in volume due to moisture
fluctuations from seasonal variations. The objective of this research was to evaluate existing
repair projects on selected roadways. Those roadways experienced failures in the form of fatigue
and rutting in the wheel path, and longitudinal (faulted) cracking including edge cracking. The
causes of those failures were mainly linked to high plasticity expansive soil and narrow
pavement. The study involved visual survey, field and laboratory testing, surface condition/ride
data and structural design calculations for three project sites. The study concluded, from 3-14
years of performance records, that geogrid reinforcement, lime-treated subgrade and cement-
treated base were found to be effective treatment options for low-volume roadways where high
plasticity expansive soil exists.

Keywords: Geogrid, Expansive soil, Cement-treated base, Lime-treated subgrade, GPR, FWD

INTRODUCTION
High-plasticity expansive soil is considered one of the most common causes of pavement failures
(Puppala et al. 2004). During high moisture seasons expansive soil swells underneath pavement
structure. Conversely during dry seasons, soil contracts and depends on severity may result in
shrinkage cracking. This shrinkage propagates through the pavement structure causing
longitudinal, transverse and block cracking and edge failure distresses. Expansive soils located
in regions where cool and wet periods followed by hot dry periods are more prone to such
distresses. In Texas, the majority of the roadways network is classified as low-volume roads.
Those constructed over expansive subgrade experienced frequent maintenance problems.
Zornberg et al. (2008) grouped the methods used in expansive soils treatments into three
categories; Mechanical/chemical stabilization of base and/or soil (e.g., soil lime stabilization and
base cement stabilization), geogrid reinforcement and moisture control barriers. The stabilization
tends to increase strength and stiffness, reduce swelling, decrease permeability, and moderate
suction of the soil (Harris 2008 and Freeman and Little 2002). Geogrid reinforcement tends to
increase lateral stiffness of base materials against soil expansion/shrinkage. Vertical barriers are
used along the pavement edge to prevent moisture infiltration.

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Studies on lime treatment suggested lime stabilization for subgrade/base materials with a
plasticity index (PI) greater than 10 (Little 1995). The main concern with lime treatment is the
resulting slow strength gain immediately after application. Due to the necessity of reopening to
traffic on the same day, lime treatment may be an option for lightly trafficked FM roads, but is
not a good candidate for higher trafficked roads (Sebesta 2002). Cement-treated base is one of
the most used applications for stabilization. However, the major concern is that it causes
block/longitudinal cracking when used over expansive soil, due to a brittle layer formed on a
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weak subgrade.
The geogrid can also be combined with lime-treatment resulting in an effective method to
prevent longitudinal cracking caused by the shrinkage of expansive soil. Chen (2007) proposed a
rehabilitation procedure for existing surface treated pavements at high plasticity subgrade areas
(PI > 35). Sebesta (2004) remarked that the geogrid serves as an initial barrier to upward crack
propagation and the flexible base overlay on top of the geogrid serves as a stress relief layer.
Vertical moisture barriers with impermeable geomembranes could reduce the moisture
variation in expansive subgrade and restrain pavement roughness (Jayatilaka and Lytton 1997).
The vertical moisture barriers isolate the soil from the climatic changes and thus minimize
moisture variations. In dry season, the barrier prevents subgrade access to free water.
Nowadays with limited financial resources and an extensive road network to maintain
there is a press need to find cost-effective long-lasting treatments that rectifies the main cause of
these failures. The significant of this study is to evaluate three long-term existing projects with
various treatments that target failures due to expansive soil in low-volume roadways. The
performance life of these projects ranged from 3 to 10 years. All projects were built on expansive
soils and exposed to traffic volume ranged from 400-11200 Average Daily Traffic (ADT). More
details on site characteristics are listed in Table 1.

Table 1. Selected Projects for Field/Laboratory Evaluation

Road- Surface Soil type Treatment Service Failure mode in Traffic
way type life control section (ADT)
(years)
FM 471 Asphalt Expansive Cement-treated base 3 Base failure 11,200
concrete clay and asphalt overlay
FM 1915 Seal Lime-treated subbase 14 Severe Longitudinal 400
coat and Geogrid cracking
FM 734 Asphalt Lime-treated 10 Longitudinal and 7,400
concrete subgrade and Geogrid transverse cracking
ADT: average daily traffic

PROJECT SITES
The FM 1915 site is one of the earlier efforts constructed in Bryan District to rehabilitate rural
roadways using geogrid reinforcement. All sections in the site have 10 inch lime treated subbase
(5 percent lime), granular base layer and a seal coat surface. The FM 471 site consists of two
sections; control and reconstruction. The reconstructed section was built to sustain high ESALs
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truck loading. Cement treatment was used to stabilize 8 inch base layers topped with 8 inch of
asphalt concrete (AC) layer. The control section consists of a two-layer structure with 8 inch
untreated base and 3 inch AC layer. FM 734 is a divided two-direction four-lane highway
consists of two sections; control and geogrid-reinforced at base-subgrade interface. Both
sections have lime-treated subgrade to reduce shrinkage cracking. All sections in the site have
10 inch untreated granular base layer and 8 inch AC. Severe surface cracking is evident in the
control section with poor ride quality while the geogrid section has only minor surface cracking.
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Complete summary of visual survey is shown in Table 2.

Table 2. Summary of field visual survey

Site Original (control) condition Performance of repaired section
Faulted surface cracking due to and cycles of Longitudinal cracks continue to appear in
shrinkage /swelling of high PI expansive clay. the geogrid sections in lesser degree.
FM 1915

Fatigue cracking and rutting in the wheel path Reconstructed sections are in good
due to base failure and expansive soil. conditions with distress-free surface.
FM 471

Frequent swells and dips and faulted shrinkage Section is in good conditions with minor
cracking due to heave and seasonal soil swelling. surface cracking in the geogrid section.
FM 734

FIELD AND LABORATORY TESTING

The field and laboratory testing was implemented to evaluate the effectiveness of the applied
treatment to alleviate the distresses related to expansive soil. Non-destructive field testing
included; Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and Falling Weight Deflectometer. Laboratory
testing included; Atterberg limits, shrinkage, sulfate concentration, suction and three-
dimensional (3-D) swelling. The shrinkage test was used to determine the linear shrinkage of
soil. Sulfate concentration test was performed to determine the presence and amount of sulfates
and they cause a heaving problem in soils (Chen et al. 2009). Soil suction is an indicator of
3

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moisture susceptibility and/or retention capability measured with the tube test. The soil-water
characteristic curve is used to represent the relationship between moisture content versus soil
suction. The tube test was used to determine the suction and pressure plate extractors were used
to establish the curves (Dessouky et al. 2012). The 3-D swelling test was conducted on soils to
gauge soil potential volume changes due to moisture variation (Harris 2008). More details on the
laboratory testing can be found elsewhere (Dessouky et al. 2012)
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FIELD TESTING EVALUATION

The GPR images were able to capture the distinct layers structure of each section as shown in
Figures 1. Layers thicknesses from GPR images were estimated and compared with the coring
samples taken from the sites. Irregularity in the layers profile may be used as signs of substantial
movements in the pavement structures. For instance, the FM 471 control section suggested a
heave action due to the wavy signals in the subgrade. The reconstructed section showed an
evident of moisture entrapped zone between the AC and cement-treated base. However, the
presence of the moisture has no damage effect in the pavement system which may be attributed
to the thickness of the AC layer and base stabilization.
At the FM 1915 site, control sections showed higher variability due to the soil
movements compared to 1915-R. These results are in agreement with the visual survey. For
instance, the control section (1915-C) had a total of 47 observed distresses with a total
longitudinal cracking length of 688ft. Section 1915-R was found to perform better as indicated
by the shortest length of longitudinal cracking of 425ft and 21 observed distresses.
At FM 734, the control section experienced severe shrinkage cracking due to the frequent
movements of subgrade soils. Nevertheless, there were no signs of moisture entrapped between
the layers. On other hand, the geogrid section is showing almost cracking-free surface and
uniform GPR signals suggesting improved performance.
The layers moduli determined from the FWD as shown in Table 3, suggested that the
reconstructed section has higher base and subgrade strength compared to their control sections
counterparts. The increase in base layers strength in each site is due to the geogrid reinforcement
in the FM 1915 and FM 734 and the base cement-stabilization in FM 471.

LABORATORY TESTING EVALUATION

The test results showed that the sulfate content was not significant (< 3000) for the tested soils.
The subgrade properties in all sections suggested that soil with high plasticity exhibits high
shrinkage, swelling potential and sulfate content.
The subgrade at the FM 1915 site is classified as highly plastic soils according to
Wattanasanticharoen (2000) classification. Particularly, the 1915-R exhibited an extreme high
value of PI, determined to be the primary cause of soil movement and higher deflection. This is
in agreement with the field visual survey that indicated a significant damage despite the geogrid
reinforced treatment. Table 4 indicated that the subgrade of 1915-C was more prone to
shrink/swell than that in section 1915-R. This is in consistent with GPR data interpretation,

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FWD deflection data analysis, and field visual survey. Considering the severe shrinkage
potential of 1915-R soils, geogrid reinforcement alleviates soil movement to some extent, where
a relatively lesser extent of damage was observed compared to control section.

Control Reconstructed
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471-C
Heaving

471-R

Pavement
movemen
1915-C 1915-R

734-R
734-C

Figure 1: GPR processed images

Table 3. Summary of layers moduli using FWD analysis

Site/section FM 471 FM 1915 FM 734
Layer 471-C 471-R 1915-C 1915-R 734-C 734-R
Base Modulus (ksi) 128 728 147 190 110 145
Subgrade Modulus (ksi) 23 28 11 13 15 19

The subgrade properties at FM 471 site seem to support the results of the visual
inspection, FWD and GPR. For instance, the control section 471-C has the highest plasticity
index, shrinkage strain, sulfate content and swelling potential. These properties attributed to the
severe longitudinal and transverse cracking in the pavement surface as determined by the visual
survey. Although the sulfate content is insignificant, it is five times higher in the control section
compared to the counterpart sections.
In FM 734 site, the soils were part of lime stabilized subgrade resulting in low shrinkage,
plasticity and sulfate content. The measured shrinkage strain was below 5%, sulfate content was
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less than 200 ppm and plasticity index was less than 10%. The 3-D Swell Test suggested that soil
samples from both sections exhibited a similar volume expansion due to moisture absorption.
Compared to the percent swell observed on FM 1915 soil, FM 734 exhibits a lower level of
swelling potential due to addition of lime.
Table 4 suggested that the subgrade properties in 471-C and 1915-C are slightly
comparable. Considering the same weather conditions, the section with AC layer (FM 471) out-
performed the one with seal-coat surface treatment suggesting the significance of the AC layer to
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improve overall pavement performance.

Table 4. Summary of Subgrade Laboratory Testing

FM 471 FM 1915 FM 734
Testing Reference
471-C 471-R 1915-C 1915-R 734-C 734-R
Plasticity Index (%) Tex-104E 35 14 39.2 55.8 8.7 9.3
Shrinkage (%) Tex-107E 25 4 25 31 2 3
Sulfate Content (ppm) Tex-145E 576 <100 <100 <100 <100 190
Swelling (%) Harris (2008) 19 30 27 12

The soil water characteristic curves in Figure 2 suggested that the 471-C soil yields the greatest
change in gravimetric water content against the matric suction. This seems consistent with the
highest shrinkage potential that indicates severe volume change occurs with the change in
moisture content. In FM 1915, the variation of moisture content was not sensitive to the change
of matric suction. This suggested that the soils tend to have a high capability of retaining water
and a higher possibility to yield larger movement in case the soil encounters considerable amount
of rainfall. In the FM 734, the Pressure Plate Test suggested that the control section soil seems
to be more capable of releasing water than the treated section soil. This explains the potential of
control section soil to retain water resulting in the heave and dips spots noticed in the visual
survey.

Figure 2. Soil water characteristic curves of a) FM 471, b) FM 1915 and c) FM 734

CONCLUSION
Three low-volume roadway sites were investigated to evaluate the effectiveness of existing
repair against distresses related to expansive soil. Those roadways experienced failures in the
form of fatigue and rutting in the wheel path, and longitudinal (faulted) cracking including edge

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cracking. The causes of those failures were mainly linked to expansive soil and narrow
pavement. Each site was evaluated using visual survey, field and laboratory testing, surface
condition/ride data and structural design calculations. At least three years of field performance of
each treatment were available and used to investigate each site.
• Geogrid has shown to be an effective treatment by increasing the lateral stiffness of base
layer and hence its vertical stiffness. In this study, the geogrid has proven beneficial when
used in combination with subgrade stabilization. The geogrid sections in FM 734
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indicated good pavement performance with combined treatment.

• Cement-treated base showed the best performance as indicated by surface conditioning
survey. Their performance over expansive soil could lead to higher cost-effectiveness
treatment. The reconstructed section in FM 471 experienced good performance for 3
years after construction.
The projects examined in this report are examples of how TxDOT might choose to
address severe pavement failures on low-volume roadways under certain conditions. These
projects do not represent the only options for treatment of these pavement conditions. It is
important to mention that this study did not cover all possible treatment options for expansive
soil. The effectiveness of the treatments mentioned here was limited to the selected sites
including their climatic, soil and traffic conditions.

REFERENCES
• Chen, D. H., Si, Z., and Saribudak, M. Roadway Heaving Caused by High Organic
Matter. Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities. ASCE, Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 100---
108, 2009.
• Dessouky S., Yang M., Ilias M., Ho J., Freeman T., Bourland M., and Jao M. (2012)
"Pavement Repair Strategies For 2R and Routine Maintenance (RMC) Projects."
FHWA/TX-11/0-6589-1, Technical Report for Texas Department of Transportation,
University of Texas at San Antonio, TX.
• Freeman T. J. and Dallas N. Little (2002) ‘‘Maintenance Strategies For Pavements With
Chemically Stabilized Layers’’ FHWA/TX-01/1722-6, Project 0-1772, Texas
Transportation Institute, College Station, TX.
• Harris, P. Evaluation of Stabilization of Sulfate Soils in Texas. Research Report No.
FHWA/TX-08/5-4240-01-1, Texas Transportation Institute, College Station, TX, 2008.
• Jayatilaka, R., and R. L. Lytton (1997). Prediction of Expansive Clay Roughness in
Pavements with Vertical Moisture Barriers. Research Report FHWA/TX-98/187-28F,
Texas Transportation Institute, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX.
• Little, D. N. Handbook for Stabilization of Pavement Subgrades and Base Courses with
Lime. Kendall Hunt Publishing Company, Dubuque, IA, 1995.

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• Puppala A. J., N. Intharasombat, S. Qasim (2004) ‘‘The Effects of Using Compost as a

Preventive Measure to Mitigate Shoulder Cracking: Laboratory and Field Studies’’
FHWA/TX-05/0-4573-2, Project 0-4573, Arlington, Texas
• Sebesta, S. ‘‘Reworking Base’’. Presented at 2002 Statewide Maintenance Conference,
San Antonio, TX, April 16, 2002.
• Sebesta S. (2004) ‘‘Finalization Of Guidelines For Maintenance Treatments Of Pavement
Distress’’ FHWA/TX-05/0-4395-2, Project 0-4395, Texas Transportation Institute,
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College Station, TX.

• Wattanasanticharoen, E. Investigation to Evaluate the Performance of Four Selected
Stabilization Methods on Soft Subgrade Soils of Southeast Arlington. M.S. Thesis, The
University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, 2000.
• Zornberg, J. G., Prozzi, J., Gupta, R., Luo, R., McCartney, J. S., Ferreira, J. Z., and
Nogueira, C. Validating Mechanisms in Geosynthetic Reinforced Pavements. Research
Report No. FHWA/TX-08/0-4829-1, Project 0-4829, Center for Transportation Research,
Austin, TX, 2008.

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