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Challenges due to problematic soils: a case study at the crossroads of geotechnology and sustainable pavement solutions

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Abstract

Geotechnical characteristics of subsoils should be adequately incorporated in the rehabilitation strategies of existing pavements which have performed poorly due to problematic subsurface conditions. However, there appears to be a disconnect between the advances in our understanding of the mechanics of soft or problematic soils and the rehabilitation design of the overlying pavement structure, leading to repeated cycles of premature distresses, underperformance, and failures. A case study is presented for the rehabilitation of a flexible pavement built over soft organic soils in Southeastern Florida, USA. The study incorporates forensic investigation of the deteriorated pavement structure, subsurface investigations with cone penetration testing, design and construction of reinforced overlays in field test sections, and long-term performance monitoring with non-destructive dynamic tests. Efforts are made to correlate site characteristics with pavement performance. Based on the secondary compression behavior of the organic soils, cement deep mixing criteria are proposed for a more durable and sustainable solution.

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Acknowledgements

The Phases I and II of the project were partially funded by grants from the Florida Department of Transportation. This support is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Marine Structures and Geotechnic, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, 33498, USA

    Khaled Sobhan

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  1. Khaled Sobhan
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Correspondence to Khaled Sobhan.

Additional information

This paper was selected from GeoMEast 2017—Sustainable Civil Infrastructures: Innovative Infrastructure Geotechnology.

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Sobhan, K. Challenges due to problematic soils: a case study at the crossroads of geotechnology and sustainable pavement solutions. Innov. Infrastruct. Solut. 2, 40 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41062-017-0070-y

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