REPORT L782 #) TRANSVAAL ROADS DEPARTMENT MATERIALS BRANCH THE APPLICATION OF THE PAVEMENT DCP TO DETERMINE THE BEARING PROPERTIES AND PERFORMANCE OF ROAD PAVEMENTS A PAPER SUBMITTED TO THE INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON BEARING CAPACITY OF ROADS AND AIRFIELDS AT TRONDHEIM, NORWAY, JUNE 1982 £.G.KLEYN P.F.SAVAGETHE APPLICATION OF THE PAVEMENT DCP TO DETERMINE THE BEARING PROPERTIES AND PERFORMANCE OF ROAD PAVEMENTS E.G. Kleyn — Assistant Chief Transvaal Roads Department South Africa Materials Engineer P.F, Savage — Professor in University of Pretoria South Africa Geo-Mechanics Dept. of Civil Engineering This paper describes a design model developed mainly for thin surfaced unbound gravel pavements, based on the pavement Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (DCP). Utilizing developed parameters such as DCP Structure Number, Pavament Strength-Balance and Loud Sensitivity, the number of load appli- cations to produce a 20mm rut depth in the pavement under various drainage conditions may be predicted, The model was correlated against Heavy Vehicle Simulator (HVS) results on a variety of relatively light pavements in South Africa. 1, Introduction Road pavements generally deteriorate with time, mainly due to the interactive effect of traffic foads and environmental conditions. In an attempt to ensure satisfactory service over its desig ti pavement design models are used to predict a pavement’s behaviour and performance, The idee! pave ment design model would be one which can be used to predict pavement performance over a wide range of traffic and environmental conditions. ‘The extensive use of the pavement Dynamic Cone Pene trometer (0cP)23 on thin surfaced unbound gravel road pavements has enabled such a model to be developed which in turn has been correlated against Heavy Vehicle Simulator (HVS)' results on a variety of rele: tively light pavements in South Africe. 2, The Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (DCP) ‘The instrument, weighing approximately 12 kg, consists of a 16 mm diameter rod! with a 60° cone at one end, which is driven into the pavement using an 8 kg built in hammer falling 575 mm (Fig ure 1). The penetration rate of the DCP in terms of mm/blow, called the DCP Number (ON), gives an indication of the in situ shear strength of 2 material. The OC? is highly correlated to the Catifornia Bearing Ratio (CBR)2° as well as to the Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS)2: of cemented materials. These relationships together with a typical Layer-Strength Diagram? obtained from 2 OCP sounding are shown in Figure 2. Recent Developments The DCP has been used over a period of 9 years in South Africa, mainly by the Trensvaal Roads Department, and work is presently being done to relate the results of DCP soundings to pavenent distress and performance. A number of intuitively deduced phenomena regarding pavement behaviour became increasingly apparent and were later verified by the HVS program.3.1 Genera ravemens benevwur Although pavements are constructed in discrete layers of approximately uniform streng:h, traffic may gradually mould the pavement so that these relatively abrupt inter layer strength variations are smoothed out. The extent to which this phenomenon manifests itself depends on the strength and composition of the various pavement layers relative to the traffic load - the load sensitivity of the pave. ment. This was borne out by DCP monitoring of a large number of pavements. Thus it may be observed that @ particular pavement exhibits no traffic associated deformation for many years, whilst another pavement may show early signs of traffic moulding, This moulding of the pavement usually results in the densification of one or more of the layers, thus increasing their strength. Alternatively, depending on the quality of the material, a layer may not reach sufficient strength and further moulding may cause the layer to fail in shear or, the moulding deformation may be of such proportion that the layer above cannot tolerate the strain, is itself overstressed and fails, This phenomenon may thus cause the bearing capacity of the paverent to either increase or decrease but it is always accompanied by a loss in riding quality, A decrease in riding quatity therefore, does not alvays constitute a decrease in pavement bearing capacity but 2 continuing or accel lerating decrease in riding quality certainly may. Also, since the strength of material is effected by environmental conditions, pavement mouldability or load sensitivity shows seasonal variation. Consequently it was deduced that the ultimate aim of this moulding phenomenon is the achievement of a continuous smooth strength vs. pavement depth relationship, or Pavement ‘Strength: Balance. Quantifying of this phenomenon and its relationshi}» to pavement load sensitivity and perform: ance, using the DCP, was investigated. 3.2. DCP Structure Number The “DCP Structure Number” (DSN) was postulated as being a function of the thickness (h) of a particular layer or zone of materiat and its DCP Number (DN such that: h Layer DSN =~ 2a) DN Thus the DSN is equal to the number of hammer blows to penetrate a certain thickness di rectly. The DCP Structure Number for the total pavement is the sum of the separate Layer DS's, or the number of hammer blows required to penetrate the considered pavement, nh h h PavementOSN = So to 4 12g fn (2) ON, DNy ON, Since it was initially decided that a depth of 800 mm would be sufficient to evaluate the significant strata of most pavements, the Paverrent DSN may in this cese be written as DSNego, 3.3. Pavement Strength-Balance In an endeavour to obtain a function which would typify the general in situ Strength-Balance of a pavement, various relationships were examined. At present the relationship which seems to be the most workable is obtained when the cumulative DSN at any point in the pavement, expressed as a percentage of the DSNggo, is related to the pavement depth, This method results in a graph [Figure 3), the basic shape of which seems to characterize the Strength-Balance af a particular pavement irrespect. ive of pavement strength {DSNgog)-Extensive evaluation of various thin surfaced unbound and lightly cemented gravel pavements was carried out. This investigation resulted in @ nest of curves similar to Figure 3, illustrated by Figure 4, vihich represents the most common Pavement Strength-Balance relationships found. Identification of the various Strength-Balance conditions represented by Figure 4, is by means of the percentage of DSNggg at 100 mm depth (PSj9q)-. Curves having a PSjqq value of 12,6, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 are illustrated in Figure 4. Other curves may be interpoiated, Curves having @ PSioq value below 125 or above 80 were very seldom encountered. Note thut the Strength-Balance, contrary to construc. tion practice, is a continuous smooth progression avoiding stress concentrations, illustrating that opti mum performance should result from Strength-Balanced pavements. This should be considered when choosing layer thicknesses, especially within the first 150, and even more so with higher PS1gq values, Economics and practicability, of course, play an imiortant role in the transfar from theory to practice. The concept of Pavement Strength-Batance confirms what has long been believed by pave ment engineers - that it is possible to obtain the necessary bearing capacity by a virtually unlimited number of pavement compositions. It also affords 2 methou which largely reduces the possibility of unjudicious paverment consposition. Strength-Balancad pavement compositions thus may range {rom a relatively “Deep” pavement (tending towards a PS4 9 value of 12,6) to a relatively “'Shallow" pavement (tending towards a PSj99 value of 80). The average PSy9q for the Transvaal Province seems to bi the order of 35-45, Note that a PS;qq of 12,5 is effectively the Boussinesq type homogeneous stratum, Thus a Shallow pavement is composed of one or two thin strong and rather rigid upper layer/s with rapidly diminishing support-atdepth from the underlying material (v.g, eemented gravel base or concrete on natural material support). A Deep pavement will tend to be composed of a number of rather less rigid layers of relatively equal strength, affording generous support at depth, Examples of relatively Deep pavements are full depth natural or cemented material. 3.4 Pavement Load Sensitivity Since the DCP was already extensively used in conjunction with the Heavy Vehicle Simulator (HVS) in the Transvaal, correlation between the HVS wheel loads, the DSNggg and the actual pave: ment performance was sought, The HVS! is essentially # transportable machine capable of applying varying whee! loads (0-100 kN) to a limited area of an existing pavement surface. The terminal condi: tion for a pavement thus trafficked! is defined as a rut depth of 20 mm. Normally the damaging effect of a particular load on a pavement relative to the standard load may be expressed by the equivalency factor F P Fa(=y? (3) 80 Where P = the applied load 80 = the standard 80 KN axle load l= an exponent normally taken as 4,2 in South Africa, which describes the sensiti Pavement to loads which are heavier or lighter than 80 kN. ty of the Applying equation (3) and endeavouring to obtain optimum correlation between OSNegg and actual pavement performance for various HVS wheel toads, Figure 6, relating the sensitivity expon- ent ‘'n"' to the Pavement Strength-Balance in terms of PS gq was obtained, In other words, the loading effect of a given traffic spectrum is different on pavements differing in PSygq. This effect should conse quently be taken into account and the “Effective” E80 calculated for design or evaluation purposes, For this reason it is advisable that details of the full traffic spectrum be available rather than just a simple count plus percentage heavies. To this end an axle weight analysis or simulation? may Le warranted depending on the importance of the route.