Search results for "Subgrade"
showing 8 items of 8 documents
A comparative life-cycle assessment of asphalt mixtures for railway sub-ballast containing alternative materials
2018
Abstract Bituminous sub-ballast in railway track-bed can mitigate the variation of the moisture content in the subgrade and reduce vertical stiffness variations of the track leading to a more durable infrastructure. Nevertheless, durability is only one of the aspects that affects the sustainability of an infrastructure. Other relevant aspects are related to the environmental and economic issues. This research work joins the worldwide effort towards a paradigm shift in civil engineering devoted to assess the sustainability of infrastructures at the design stage. With this in mind, in this study different alternative bituminous sub-ballast mixtures containing recycled materials, namely crumb …
Comparative life-cycle assessment of conventional (double lane) and non-conventional (turbo and flower) roundabout intersections
2016
Abstract This research studied and compared different construction techniques for the road subgrade, embankment and pavement of different types of roundabout intersections in order to assess their environmental sustainability. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was carried out on double lane, turbo- and flower roundabouts. We considered virgin materials and reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) for the pavement construction. Also the environmental effects due to in situ lime stabilization of fine-grained soils were assessed in order to reduce the use of virgin material in road subgrades. The use of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) can lead to a significant reduction in pollutant emissions and energy …
Simplified model for compressive response of RC column footing with square cross-section
2017
Abstract In this paper, a simplified calculus model for the prediction of the compressive response of RC column footing with a square cross-section is presented. As it is well-known RC concrete footing are designed adopting uniform contact pressures on the substrate and assuming a strut and tie model in deep members and a cantilever beam or slab model in flexible members. Deep and flexible members are distinguished in literature only based on the tangent of the angle expressed as the ratio between the depth and the shear span of the footing. In this paper, several subgrade contact pressures distribution for column footings (rigid or soft soils) were considered in developing a mechanical mod…
Embedding “roadside equipment” in the environmental assessment of transportation system: the case of safety barriers
2014
The work arises from the consideration that the environmental impact of a road cannot be limited to the analysis of its constituent materials, even if correctly analyzed in their life cycle. In fact, a given road not only consists of the pavement and subgrade, but also includes several different components and accessories (e.g., road marking, drainages, safety barriers, etc.) that contribute to set a road infrastructure in operative condition. As a matter of fact, only limited attention has been paid in the scientific literature to roadside components, unlike pavement and traffic flow. In the present work, the environmental burden of one of these components, i.e., the safety barrier has bee…
Environmentally appraising different pavement and construction scenarios: A comparative analysis for a typical local road
2015
Abstract The aim of this work is to carry out a comparative analysis of environmental impacts for different scenarios of a typical local road. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the modeling tool used to quantify and characterize comparative environmental impacts. In carrying out this specific application of the LCA, different road construction techniques were considered with regards to the whole structure and compared in order to identify the best alternative in terms of environmental sustainability. So far, in fact, typical LCA frameworks of roads have focused on recycled materials for pavement layers only, thus neglecting study of the materials used in the embankment or in the subgrade. In t…
Evaluation of Subgrade Resilient Modulus Predictive Model for Use in Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide
2006
The characterization of unbound materials in the mechanistic–empirical pavement design guide (MEPDG), also known as the 2002 design guide, is reviewed, and this characterization is applied to Minnesota subgrades. The main emphasis is on the collection of k1-, k2-, and k3-parameters for Minnesota fine-grained soils and the procedure for the interpretation of the resilient modulus test to provide an input to the multilayer elastic theory (MLET) analysis (Level 2 input). This is an important aspect of adaptation of the MEPDG, because the guide recommends measurement of resilient moduli from laboratory testing, but the procedure does not specify how to interpret the test data to obtain an input …
A Non-Local Two Dimensional Foundation Model
2012
Classical foundation models such as the Pasternak and the Reissner models have been recently reformulated within the framework of non-local mechanics, by using the gradient theory of elasticity. To contribute to the research effort in this field, this paper presents a two-dimensional foundation model built by using a mechanically based non-local elasticity theory, recently proposed by the authors. The foundation is thought of as an ensemble of soil column elements resting on an elastic base. It is assumed that each column element is acted upon by a local Winkler-like reaction force exerted by the elastic base, by contact shear forces and volume forces due, respectively, to adjacent and non-…
Design Procedures for Soil-Lime Stabilization for Road and Railway Embankments. Part 1-Review of Design Methods
2012
AbstractWhen selecting the appropriate materials for constructing road infrastructures, an important way for minimizing both the economical and environmental impact is to make use of lime for treating soils that are not suitable for road or railways construction.Advances in lime stabilization technique allowed the successful use of this technique also for improving the bearing capacity of the subgrade, with noticeable savings on both aggregate and disposal charges.In this paper a review of internationally adopted design methods for soil-lime mixture is presented, in order to compare testing methods and requirements of the adopted criteria, as discussed in Part 2.